I'm leaving bright and early Saturday morning to meet up with some buddies of mine in Crescent City, CA. I cannot wait to get out of the 110° heat here and ride around the northern CA coast.

I've got 3 days to get there, 3 days in the Crescent City area, then 3 days on the return trip.

Day 1 - Phoenix to Castaic, CA (near Magic Mountain) this will be the worst of the trip, due to the desert heat. The Coachella Valley (Indio, Palm Springs area) is one of the few places that can get hotter than Phoenix.

Day 2 - Castaic to Yuba City will be a ride up SR 99, through the central valley cities of Bakersfield and Fresno, with a lunch stop in Merced to visit my older brother. After lunch, it's back on 99 N through Sacramento to Yuba City.

Day 3 - Yuba City to Crescent City I'll travel north through Chico along the foothills of the Sierras, then veer west to Red Bluff. After Red Bluff, I'll take SR 36 west to Fortuna on the coast. I've heard 36 is a gorgeous motorcycle road. Then it's north on the 101 to Crescent City.

Return trip:

Day 1 - Crescent City to Livermore, a nice ride south on the 101, through Marin County and across the Bay at San Rafael. Then ride through Oakland to Livermore.

Day 2 - Livermore to Camarillo, starts out with a ride across San Jose to the 101 and then south through Paso Robles, Atascadero, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and through Ventura to Camarillo.

Day 3 - Camarillo to Phoenix - self explanatory. Starts with a Sunday morning ride across Los Angeles to I-10.

 

Sounds like fun wish I could go with you.

 

That's gonna be a righteous ride dude....some beautiful country your going through.

 

I was stationed in Crescent City over 10 years ago. Beautiful rides there!

 

UGH> hope day 2 wasn't too boring and nasty.. I lived in Fresno for a few years..

 

I made it back home to Phoenix on Sunday, August 28th. As I figured, the worst part of the ride was from Redlands CA to Phoenix. It was HOT, after Palm Springs it was around 110° for the rest of the way home (~300 miles).

I did get to see a lot of California I had never seen before. I have a new respect for the contribution the Golden State makes to our nation's agriculture industry. Crescent City and the surrounding area was beautiful. Only had 1 day of sun and 2 days of foggy, cool, damp weather. It was colder than it is in Phoenix during the winter. Rode up the Oregon coast to Coos Bay, which was a great ride.

3620 miles in 9 days. This was the first long trip on my 2011 Limited and it performed flawlessly.