12 weekends in California.. with tons of pics.

[pauls1150]

Just a minor note about camping around Lake Tahoe-
At the south end of the lake, there is a KOA just west of the junction of routes 50 and 89, on the south side of the road. But if you go a hundred feet east of them, there is another campground right on the Truckee River that has fewer RVs and fewer screaming little kids. I've found that one to be much more comfortable and biker-friendly. Sometimes they have a live local band; last time I was there, they had Yasker's Farm, and they opened with the Moodies' "The Story in Your Eyes". Great stuff.
Paul

 

[crazydrummerdude]

Just a minor note about camping around Lake Tahoe-
At the south end of the lake, there is a KOA just west of the junction of routes 50 and 89, on the south side of the road. But if you go a hundred feet east of them, there is another campground right on the Truckee River that has fewer RVs and fewer screaming little kids. I've found that one to be much more comfortable and biker-friendly. Sometimes they have a live local band; last time I was there, they had Yasker's Farm, and they opened with the Moodies' "The Story in Your Eyes". Great stuff.
Paul

The KOA was PACKED. I was told the other one was, too.

Maybe if I actually planned these things..

 

[crazydrummerdude]

I still like it!, this is a great write up and photos, keep em coming.

Bruce, I've failed you.

I forgot I didn't finish this off!

Where was I? Ok. Another week of work after the Lake Tahoe visit, and I was off again!

The morning of my departure, my friend came over to ride with. Off we went to Oxnard to tour Haas CNC. It was about an hour of heavy fog and pretty dang chilly before we arrived.

Big tool changers:

Cool mill:

After lunch, we decided to ride up Highway 1. I was headed to a tech day on Saturday in Pleasanton. My friend and I rode up to Monterey together.

Some lazy seals..

Once approaching Monterey, the other folks on the road got crazy. Time and again someone was trying to pass someone else at the wrong time, and people got driven off the road. I was glad to get off 1 and head east. My friend said goodbye, and I realized.. I didn't have a map. Nor did I know how to get to my destination.

Oh well! I was getting pretty familiar with San Francisco by now, and made my way to 101 and 680. Just around sunset, I called the guy whose house the tech day was going to be at, and confirmed that he'd have space for me (I emailed him in advance). I arrived. He and his daughter stayed up chatting/drinking with me for a while, and I laid down reading the new BMW ON (which I hadn't yet seen) before I fell asleep. In the morning was the tech day.

There were some nice bikes there.

I actually gave this new airhead some pointers about his 74/75(?) /6. As if I know what I'm talking about! Haha..

R60/6 with a /5 toaster tank:

mymindsok's ride.. Nice!

Well, I ate lunch, shot the breeze, picked up some free tools some guy was giving away to several people, and I headed back to LA. I worked a few more days when on Wednesday, one of my brothers came to California. While I finished out my work week, he went to San Francisco on his own to check out Alcatraz, abandoned bunkers, and other cool stuff. He actually saw more of that than I did, and I'm jealous!

Well, except... he was running late and had to make up some time, so he just ran down a hillside at the Marin Headlands instead of taking the trail. Two days later, some swelling started, and 3 days later, it was time to head home to Missouri! My time in California was over!

During the drive (particularly through the barren stretches of the desert from LA to Williams, AZ) he was suffering from his "poison ivy." I tried to get his mind off of it, but he was starting to freak out a bit. We stayed at a hotel in Albuquerque that night and I was in communication with the guy I eventually bought my /2's from. The next morning, my brother was plump! He's skin-and-bones normally, but his arms legs, and cheeks were about twice their size and puss-y! (Puss e, people!)

His fingers were swelling up and he couldn't bend them (or his arm). We had to stop at an emergency room in Oklahoma City for some treatment and a 3 hour detour. By the time we arrived in St Louis, he was much better, but his less-swollen skin looked like there were purple slimey earth worms on it. Haha. I made the entire summer trouble-free, but got pulled over at 2am about 2 miles from his house for a turn signal out. They caught me.. They finally caught me!

We made it back home in mid-August. My truck rolled over 200,000 miles on the way to LA in May, and didn't punish me at all during the trip. In September, the transmission went out.

I've finally got around to fixing it.

There it is. The end!

PS: My mom wanted pics of my apartment for some reason. I'll include them below. This was while I was living there (before I moved out). I'm a party animal!

Bedroom:

Kitchen/dining room/living room:

What is someone supposed to do with all that space? Give me a shop, not a dining room!

 

[crazydrummerdude]

Nathan, I read some where that Devils punch bowl is where they filmed lots of old star treck episodes from the 1060's, cool place!!

You know, that makes sense! I didn't even make the connection.

It was a very cool place.

 

[pauls1150]

That poison ivy sounds more like a spider bite (unless he's allergic)...

Hey Nathan, now that you're graduating - I'm getting a lot of notifications via my job search agent that Ball Electronics in Boulder has a load of openings for mechanical types.
(If I wanted to move back into the snow, I'd be applying for some of their technician openings.)

 

[crazydrummerdude]

That poison ivy sounds more like a spider bite (unless he's allergic)...

Yeah, he says he saw no poison ivy, but he couldn't recognize the plants he was rolling around in.

"No, it's not poison ivy." - my brother
"Gosh, yes it is, it's just a bad case of poison ivy." - everyone else

 

[UncleMark]

Nathan;

Naw... nothing so petite... Poison Oak...

Wish I had known you were out here.... The EXR gang would have loved hookin' up and doing some riding... Hwy 36 is a thrill ride. And you should have stopped at Ft. Point. Old fort that sits right under (and I mean under) the Golden Gate...

You hit some nice areas while you were here... You ready to do it again???

 

[johntena]

Yes indeed, that would be poison oak, the pacific coast relative of poison ivy. Poison oak contains the same compound, urushiol, as poison ivy. Urushiol causes an intense allergic contact dermatitis in most, but not all, people.
Those of us who like to hike in the hills of the pacific coast, poison oak is the one plant that we have to be most careful to avoid contact with. Like poison ivy, it has the similar three-leaf configuration, but can grow as a shrub, vine, small tree, or even a single stick popping out of the ground. Poison oak is deciduous, so recognition of the plant is more difficult in the winter.

Oh, yeah, this is a motorcycle board.