Kitty and I met the tour group Friday
morning at the water's edge of Sausalito at a little cafe.
Tim, the owner of Pashnit, was on a borrowed
BMW K1200R with expandable side bags. Also on the tour were
two brothers, age in their 60's. One was on a 2003 BMW K1200
RT and his brother was on a 2008 H-D SuperGlide with a small detachable
windshield. That was it: 2 BMW K bikes, 1 FJR, and 1
H-D. Tim had mentioned that the economy had effected his
business pretty hard.
Upon leaving the cafe, within minutes we
were in the Muir Woods. We stopped at an incredible thick
forest and went for a 1/4 mile trail walk. But the trail was
on a boardwalk, not on the actual dirt floor. From there we
went to some mountain top where everything was green as far as we could
see. The weather was clear, cool, and wildflowers were
everywhere. Tim told us that by luck, this trip was timed
perfect to see the wildflowers. It resembled the hill tops in
that movie, The Sound Of Music. I told Kitty to run around
with her arms extended out and sing like Julie Andrews
did. Thank goodness she didn't, just imagine how bad she
would butcher up "The hills are alive with the sound of
music".
Also, I want to mention that Tim is a
photography nut. He had all kinds of camera mounts on his
bike and helmet. It got to be annoying since he was always
stopping to change cameras, camera locations and
attachments. Ugggh.
We made our way to Hwy 1 and headed
north. It was nice, but the southern portion of Hwy 1 around
Big Sur is prettier. We stopped at some small market in
Tomales for a break. Continuing on, we rode north on Hwy 1
and then turned off to take some goat trail of a road to bypass all the
slow traffic near Bodega Bay. It was kind of bumpy, but
tolerable. The guy on the H-D complained a bit.
Back on Hwy 1, we then stopped in Little River for lunch. The
weather was still clear, cool, and perfect. Twisting on, we
then stopped at a large overlook area so Tim could add motor oil to his
BMW. Not a good sign in my opinion. Of course he
had no oil, but the other BMW guy carried some and gave it to
Tim. (Who needs to carry motor oil on a Yamaha? - I sure
don't).
Anyway, we continued on to where Hwy 1 turns inland. Nine
miles from where Hwy 1 meets Hwy 101 (town of Leggett), Tim's BMW engine
ate itself. It made more noise than a Ducati with a dry
clutch. Also, it had no more power. Tim admitted
that on the last tour, 500 miles prior, the bike started to
burn oil. Tim didn't return the bike to its owner for
warranty repairs or stay on top of the oil consumption, so waa laa,
fried motor.
There we were, in the middle of a redwood
forest, no cell signal, with a dead BMW. We hid the
bike in the forest, noted the road mile-marker, and then Tim hopped on
the back of the other BMW to ride into the town of Leggett. He
called the owner of the bike (Bill), and Bill contacted the nearest
U-Haul place. It was only about 4 miles north of Leggett on
Hwy 101. We got lucky. While waiting
for Tim to finalize the U-Haul rental, I smelled gas
coming from the other BMW. The leak was not really
noticeable, but the smell was obvious. I immediately thought
of you and our conversations & emails about BMW
bikes. We picked up the U-Haul truck and some rope,
then rode back to the location where Tim's BMW met its
demise. We loaded & tied the BMW in nice and secure (why
is it that no one but me knew how to tie a truckers hitch knot?).
Geez, it was like watching three monkeys trying to mount and hump a
football.
By this time it was dark. I led the way out of the
forest with my H.I.D. flame throwers illuminating the way.
It's amazing how bright those lights are in a dark forest. I
was able to spot deer three times at a safe distance. In my
opinion, they paid for themselves that night. We made our way
to Garberville and stayed the night. During the night, Bill
rode up to Garberville on his other bike, a 2008 Honda
CBR1000. Granted, all of these Pashnit people & their
friends live around the San Francisco area.
In the morning (Saturday) the
tour continued. Bill drove the U-Haul home with his $20,000
rolling paper weight tied inside. We continued north on Hwy
101. The temps got down to 48 degrees as we approached the
Hwy 36 turnoff. Kitty and I were dressed for it so it was
zero problem. Tim and I were way ahead of the other two
guys. The H-D guy was freezing so he had to ride at
about 50 mph. We pulled over at the intersection of Hwy 101
& Hwy 36 to wait for them. He was sure bitching when
he stopped to meet us. I kept quiet (amazing, huh?) but I
thought to myself "Yeah, all that Harley leather
garb, such as chaps & jacket looks cool, but it sure is
worthless in real weather." What is
amazing is that I used to be one of them. What a dope.
We continued east on Hwy
36. This is sport-touring heaven on earth. Dense
forest, most of the road was shaded by the trees, temps
started to rise - a rider's paradise. Other than a few bikes
going the other way and a occasional car, we had it to
ourselves. Some of the twisties got a little tight, but you
know I like those. By the time we reached Dinsmore, the other
BMW needed gas since the fuel leak had become a steady
drip. It was now noticeable where the leak was.
There is a plastic quick-disconnect union in the fuel line on the right
side of the bike near an opening in the fairing. But it was
impossible to tell if it was a split hose or defective
disconnect. His bike was getting about 20 miles to the gallon
now.
We continued on Hwy 36 and then stopped at a trailer-turned into a
diner in the town of Mad River. It sounds really white-trash,
but the chicken sandwich Kitty and I shared was excellent.
From there we rode further on Hwy 36 and then took a small road through
Wildwood to meet with Hwy 3. Going north on Hwy 3, we
eventually made it to Hwy 299. We all got gas in Weaverville
and ate lunch at a nice shady outside restaurant with excellent
food. In Weaverville the temps were in the mid
80's. I was hating it since I'm like Mr. Freeze and need the
cool temps to survive.
After lunch we continued west on Hwy 299. About 20 minutes
into our after-lunch ride, Tim pulled over AGAIN to fiddle with his
camera stuff. He stopped in the sun AGAIN, no shade,
this time he wanted to gather some group photos AGAIN. I had
enough of him trying to further his future business by taking
photos of happy & smiley-faced tour
customers. I rode off and left them. I was riding
at or a little below the speed limit since Hwy 299 is full of CHP
activity. I also figured that the group would catch up to me
pretty soon. They never did, since I later
learned they took some side road up to the snow.
The plan was to continue on Hwy 299 until
reaching Hwy 101, go south, and then stay at the Comfort Inn in
Fortuna. I had the address to the Comfort Inn, but I had no
idea where it was actually located. Fortuna is
larger than most of the little towns we rode through. I
couldn't easily locate the motel. I punched in the address
into my GPS and it gave me turn-by-turn directions to the
motel. So my investment of the GPS did help for the first
time. The rest of the group did finally reach the motel about
1 hour after me. Their bikes were filthy from the wet dirty
roads up by the snow.
We had dinner at a micro-brewery restaurant in Fortuna that was within
close walking distance from the motel. The food was good and
the quirky waitress was cute and wearing the same perfume as my
Jap/Hawaiian ex. Well, you can figure where my mind was
during dinner.
The next morning (Sunday), we all were
ready with kickstands up at 7:45am. The BMW with the fuel
leak developed a worsening leak. It was no longer dripping,
it had a spray of fuel shooting out of the side of his bike when the
fuel pump was running. The spray traveled about 5 feet
out from the bike, it was that bad. There was no way
he could travel. Damn, two BMWs on the tour, and both broke
down. Forget the new K1300GT, I don't need that kind of
reliability. There was enough slack in the fuel line that he
was able to cut out the quick-disconnect.
Upon inspection, we learned that the male portion of the plastic union
developed a split. Isn't that always the case .... the female
makes the male broke. On my GPS, we located a Kragen Auto
Parts store and waited for them to open at 9:00am. He bought
some fuel line, a brass barbed fitting, and some hose clamps.
Once installed, the bike was fine and we were finally able to leave the
motel. We continued south on Hwy 101.
We rode until reaching The Avenue of the
Giants turnoff. It parallels the 101. This is
another road that is motorcycle heaven. Thick dense forest,
90% shaded road. It was beautiful. We stopped after
a while and climbed out on a very long fallen tree that was suspended
about 5 feet off the ground. Then we started to bounce the
tree for a free amusement park ride. We acted like children,
but it was fun. Riding on, The Ave of the Giants ended as we
approached the town of Leggett. From there we rode another 4
miles to Drive-Through tree (aka Chandelier
Tree). Of course Kitty and I had to drive our bike
through the tree opening. That was 3 seconds of
WooHoo.
It was there that the two brothers voiced
that they have had their fill of twisties and decided to take the 101
back down to Sausalito. I followed Tim down Hwy 1.
Bad mistake. It was OK at first, and we had a nice lunch in
Fort Bragg. Not long after that Tim went on his own
since he was heading home. Kitty and I continued south on Hwy
1 riding at our own pace. Tim rides pretty hot when he's not
waiting for his tour group to keep up. Within a few minutes
Tim was gone and out of sight. I never saw him
again.
Hwy 1 became more and more crowded, especially around Bodega
Bay. Now I see why Tim took us on that goat trail road on the
way up Hwy 1 to avoid this area. I couldn't remember where
that little thin road was so we had to endure the traffic. It
was slow, it was hot, and the closer we got to Sausalito the warmer it
was getting. It turns out that San Francisco had record heat
that weekend. Lucky me. We eventually made it to
Sausalito about 2.75 hours after the two brothers arrived.
Meeting with the two brothers that evening
(by chance we were all staying at the same motel in Sausalito), we all
voiced our opinions of the tour. It was unanimous, we all
thought the scenery was the best we've ever seen. But we also
agreed that we traveled too far for too many hours each riding
day. Also, we all were annoyed with Tim's constant stops to
fiddle with his camera gear and group photos. We all stated
that we would never do another Pashnit tour again. Granted,
Tim knew all the cool back roads and great places to
eat. That is unquestionable. But Kitty and I would
rather ride a bit slower and a bit less hours during the day.
I guess I'm getting old. Other than that, it was a wonderful
experience.
On Monday morning I loaded the bike into
my truck. I started by 6:00am. By the time I was
done, it was already starting to get hot. We were sore from
the tour, we were tired from the tour, the last thing I wanted to do
was drive the entire way home all in
one day. We left Sausalito, went through San
Francisco to reach the 101. We took the 101 to the 280 and
got off at the 92. We took 92 to Skyline Drive and ate lunch
at Alice's. From there we drove down the 9 to the 101 and
made our way to Pacific Grove. We stayed at the Lover's Point
Inn again.
After getting our room we walked to the Monterey Aquarium since Kitty
had never been inside. After wandering around inside the
aquarium for a few hours we walked up the street to Kitty's favorite
Thai restaurant in Pacific Grove. We ate an early dinner and
then walked back to Cannery Row since Kitty wanted some ice
cream. It was really warm in Pacific Grove / Monterey
also.
The next morning we headed for
home. We were so grateful that we were inside the truck with
the A/C instead of being on the bike. It was 95 in Santa
Maria and 105 in the Valley at home. I didn't unload the bike
until it cooled off later that evening.
I would like to ride Hwy 36 and 299 again
someday, but the route & day-duration would have to be
better planned to accommodate us 'old folks'.
IN THIS ISSUE...
