| Author | Message | ||
     Goldtooth |
Posted this on ADV also and even though it has some Harleys in it, I rode the Uly! NO issues the entire time on the bike, was the perfect tourer for me It started as a trip for my Dad and I to take sometime in the summer. A multiday trip down south to the Redwoods on the bikes as our first of hopefully many moto trips together. As some of his friends heard of this, they became interested in joining. They are all coworkers (former, as he is retired) of my Dads who have worked construction with him for many, many years. In fact, John has been friends with my Dad for nearly 37 years, before I was born. You couldn't have asked for better people to ride with. The final count was 5 total, 4 on Harleys and me on my Buell Ulysses and we would leave on August 12th and return when we were done. The route:  The cast: Me, 36 years old, rides the Buell, (peg scrapper as my Dad calls it) and by far the best looking of the bunch  My Dad, just turned 64, Harley rider for as long as I can remember, rides a 1996 Harley Wide Glide with 96K miles, been to all lower 48 states on it.  John, Dad's oldest friend. Known member of not so nice motorcycle groups. Rides a Harley FLHT?  Bill, the carpenter from Hell. Overall baddass and toliet punisher. Rides a brand new Harley 96 CU IN something another.  Ron, the newest rider and Karate black belt, rides a Harley softtail.  My bike ready to go that morning.  The plan was to meet at the gas station in North Plains Oregon at 12:00 on Friday. My Dad comes to my house and we say our goodbyes to my family and promise to keep the plundering and chaos down to a reasonable level. We arrive at the gas station and to our suprise, everyone is there on time! We vow to never do that again. We must always have one person lagging and slowing us down. It worked. On the road.   We decied to grab lunch in Forest Grove at a place my Dad frequents. It of course took an hour to eat and talk.  We finally got on the road and took Hwy 47 to Hwy 18. Stopped outside of McMinville at the casino to pee. Now the old guys have two rules, never pass up an oppritunity to get gas or piss. We had been on the road of total of 58 minutes before the after lunch piss.  Got back on the road and I was leading us to Newport, no stops. Hwy 18 kinda blows but we made the best of it. Got to Lincoln City and turned left for south.        The 101 was pretty busy but we made it through to an early dinner stop just short of our hotel. Good sandwhich, slow service.  Got to the hotel and they had a room with 3 beds! So me, Dad, and John split the room to save money. Basically hung out in front of the room and harrassed all passer bys and made plans for the next day. Turned in with little terrorizing done. Must do more tomorrow.    John and I went where all badass bikers go in the morning, Starbucks. We had our half whip, extra hot, soy milk fraps and were ready to go. Oh execpt John left his wallet there and I had to run back to rescue it. Then some local girls checked me out but this wild hog had to hit the road, you know how it is. On our way south with Cali on our minds and Biggie Smalls on the iPod, we made pretty good time.   My Dad looking fly  Just headed down the 101 and enjoyed traffic free roads most of the way. Decided to stop in Florence for late breakfast at a small diner that served fantastic food at great prices. They also had braclets that said "I love Boobies" in support of breast cancer. Unfortunately, they were all out of them!  Got back on the road with full tummies and empty bladders with only one toliet repair at the diner. We left a big tip.       Along 101     Stopped for some photo ops along 101. At one point, John and I hit 100mph just to do it. Saw a cop a few minutes later and wised up.     Lunch in Gold Beach Oregon. Decided to push all the way to Rio Dell that day. I called and made reservations at the only hotel in town so we had no choice then. Some were not happy.  More roadside photos      Damn I look hot huh?  Reached the Cali border! Now it is an adventure! Cali had no idea what it was in for.  Down the coast, pushing down through some traffic and boring parts of 101 headed for Rio Dell just north of the Avenue of the Giants.    Rule #2  Our hotel  Downtown Rio Dell and dinner   Bad motha f@cker!    Got up pretty early and headed back to Fortuna for breakfast as there was nothing open Sunday morning in Rio Dell. Ate here  There was a bangin waitresss there but not in our section. Our's was pretty good and the old guys were on it. Completely harrassing her and generally embarrassing me. Just what Dad's are for. Sorry, no pix. Gassed up  Down to the Avenue of the Giants. I have been there twice in a cage but first time on a bike. Pretty quickly I ditched the AARP gang and wanted to have some time to reflect by myself in these giant trees. Took some great pix and video. It was nice to be alone for a while.     Me making this tree look small. It knows who is boss.  Ron needed to do this. Don't know why, didn't ask.     Moving shots      I heard some guy was taking credit for my shots? Darth something?  Made it to Myers Flat and went to a coffee shop to relax.  A little while later, these two young men stopped by with huge backpacks on. We struck up a conversation and they were hitchhiking around the US! Had been on the road for almost 90 days. They wanted to walk the A of the G and camp. Good kids. Then this girl came over and we were all talking for a while and then she started rolling a joint and asked if anyone wanted any. I didn't but Blake and Casey did so they all went behind the coffee shop. All this right on the streets of Myers Flat. Crazy place.  This dog acting like a Boss  The old guys finally showed up (an hour and half later!) and we got moving.  stopped in Leggit for a quick snack and route recommendations from the locals. Colorful is an understatment. Tried to get a few pix but they were looking at me funny and I have a very pretty mouth. I want to keep it mine.  Ron wanted to change the route a bit to go to Auburn Cali to see his daughter so we headed that way south. We decided to stay in Ukiah for the night at a Motel 6. Cheap enough rooms to get my own! Very nice.  Ate at a bebop type place behind the hotel and my Dad harrassed the waitress again. Getting used to it by now.  Next morning cut accross to Hwy 20 so Ron could drop down to Auburn. It was decided he would leave the group and stay with his daughter for the night and catch up with us in Tahoe.    Around Clear Lake. Nice but too crowded and slow cars on the nice curves.   Some parts of 20 were fantastic. 75 mph through sweepers passing everyone. Too fun. Some road construction.      Gas stop in the middle of nowhere.   Yuba City for lunch. Hot and crowded.    More 20  Stop on top of the pass      I <3 Oregon  The gang thought they saw some gold in the rock here and tried to get it out. FAIL.  We took 20 to 80 to 89 as 267 was closed from a concrete truck spilling all over the road. A lot of construction around here.   Entering Tahoe   Nevada!  We stayed at the Biltmore in NV. $40 per night for a double. Good and cheap. We walked over to the CalNeva resort for dinner overlooking the lake. My Dad and his friends told stories all night about the old days in construction and I have never seen my Dad laugh so hard before. I enjoyed that soo much. One of the best nights of the trip. Oh and more waitress harrassesing took place.  The next morning we rode back into Cali to go to the Log Cabin which supposedly had the best breakfast in the world. It was pretty good.  Saw this sick rock crawler out front.  Headed back to the hotel to get ready for the day. We decided to take a day trip to Carson City to go to the Harley dealer then off to Reno for Junlgle Java then to Virginia City for a gun fight. Well not really but it felt like we should.   Got to Carson City and immediately felt like I should have a leisure suit on. We got lost 65 times trying to find where they moved the Harley dealer and had to ask a local. Even he had trouble telling us how to get there but we were finaly victorious. We all went in to kick tires and bother sales men and harrass female workers. Everyone got their typical Harley gear and I picked up a cool non Harley branded work shirt. Bill purchased a leather pouch thingy for the front of his bike. We went outside to install it while others were strutting around the store.      Liked these XR1200's. Lot's of Buell influence. Thanks for shuttin us down HD!  Got our pic taken by a passer by. Yes we are badasses.  On to Reno which smells like heat and cigarettes     Jungle Java. Hot barista and I suck and taking pix of them  Hey you!  Behind the joint   Back on the road towards Virgina City. The road up there was quite possibly the best road we took the entire trip. No traffic going up, 25mph corners, long sweepers stupid good scenery, we tore it up pretty good. Had to be careful of the oncoming traffic rippin into the pull outs to look at the view but we made it.  Virginia City   Cool Beemer that was parked by us  Walked up to the famous Bucket of Blood saloon for a bite.   I wasn't that hungry so I decided to go for a walk. This was after my Dad tried to get the waitress to sit on his lap for a pic. Well played old man.     This was the floor of an old shop. Cool!       Spent a few hours there takin in the old west along with 8000 other old time peeps. It was getting late so we decided to head back to our man caves in Tahoe. The road down was almost as good as up. Was a bit chilly over the pass to Tahoe. Saw this fire somewhere out there.  The pond  Back to the hotel for the night and headin north the next day. Our time in Cali has come to an end. We decided to head out Hwy 267 (now open) and up to Hwy 89 to Hwy 70 to Hwy 395 to Susanville.     Rule #2. We made it almost 34 miles before we had to stop! Does my bladder hold the same fate someday?    Road construction       On the turn off for 395, Bill somehow zoned out and went towards Reno as we honked and yelled at him. He soon realized his error and decide to correct it by going the wrong way down the onramp seconds before a state trooper zoomed by. Crisis averted! We all met back up at the gas station where my Dad and Ron decided to buy sick american flag doo rags. I decided to pass as it clashed with my yellow bike (and fashion sense).   Off to Susanville for lunch at this great little BBQ joint.   Back on the road.    As we were winding up this great section of road, I was behind John who was going a bit slower than I wanted. A thought crossed my mind to pass him and enjoy some of the nice twisties ahead. Just then I heard something behind me. Looked in the vibrating mirror and saw the dreaded red and blue lights. I thought to myself,"self, you are not really speeding, but are going faster than you should be here". I pull off to the side of the road and he passes me! Then I think he is going after John to pull all of us over together. Nope, passes John too! Must be something more important than us terrorizing the countryside. we would soon find out. Road construction again. See a theme?    We soon came to another stop but this time it was not construction. It was were the cop was. There was a single car accident along Eagle Lake that looked like the person may not have made it. Rolled off of the road into a tree. Don't know how it happened. We were also in an area that they just (like today) laid new tar snakes on the road. Man I hate those things!     Came to a small store and stopped for water and rule #2.    Back on the road to Klamath Falls Oregon. Down the 139.        More road construction! At this point it was 189 degrees out and we were getting pretty tired and crabby. Had to wait here for a while then be escorted down about 5 miles of construction at 5 mph.     Finally past that and smooth (slow) sailing to K Falls. Looking for a Motel 6.   Welcome to Oregon! You can barley make out the sign. Hey my timing was off. I was melting and tired.  At the hotel we met some other wild hogs. These guys made us look like princesses.   They liked the Buell of course. Dinner at a local bear themed place. Great food, huge portions, and decent prices. Saw two other Buells pull into the hotel that night and went to talk with them. They are from Olympia Washington and made a pretty big Cali loop also. We wanted to get on the road early to make it through PTown at a decent hour so breakfast was at 7:00. A guy asking for change for the bus greated us by our bikes so we had to keep an eye on the bikes as he hung out in the parking lot. Though one look at Bill and he kept his distance. One thing about KFalls is it is infested with bugs. Little green gnat like bugs that are everywhere. Well on the way out we found where they were coming from. As we rode past some lakes, it looked like it was raining with bugs. My face shield quickly was covered and I ducked behind my tiny windscreen to avoid the onslaught. We finally got past the sucicidal bugs and had to pull over to clean the shields.       While waiting   Back on the road. We took Hwy 97 to 58 to Eugene then super slabbed it to PTown on I5.  Rule #2   You guessed it, road construction   Not many pix on the way home as it is all familiar to us. Sorry.    We did around 80mph on I5 to get home and we all started spliting off as we came closer to home. Ron and Bill dropped off first, then my Dad and i peeled off on our exit. John continued on to his. 7 days, 1600 miles, perfect weather, not one mechanical, no one crashed, what more could you ask for? thanks nate | ||
| Rodclement |
Great report! I hope I can report one of these some day! Loved the shots and your good story telling, thanks! Rod | ||
| Pnw_uly |
" . . . went where all badass bikers go in the morning, Starbucks. . . " Awesome comment. . . Great pics, well done. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
That took a long time to get through all those pics. Fun though. | ||
| Dynasport |
Nice report. Looks like you guys had a great time. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"7 days, 1600 miles, perfect weather, not one mechanical, no one crashed, what more could you ask for?" That's about as good as it gets! Have you started planning your next adventure yet? | ||
| Cyclonedon |
great ride report!!! I enjoyed the pictures! Thanks for taking us along. | ||
| Cerk26 |
Great stuff. I've done a few trips with my old man too. Doesn't get any better than that. ...also, love the Bank America sign right under the Bucket of Blood! | ||
| Boogeyman |
Thanks for the read! Looks like an awesome trip! | ||
| Idaho_buelly |
Awesome!  | ||
| Dutton |
Thanks for sharing | ||
| Charlie_zulu |
Very nice. | ||
| Pons |
Looks like ya'll had a great time. Nice pics and write up. Thanks for sharing. | ||
| Badrap |
Great pics and great ride. Did almost the same loop this year as you did but started it in nevada. Had a great time and hope to do again. Thanks for the pics and report. | ||
| Buellerxt |
Great trip report, Goldtooth, and SUPER trip! Thanks for sharing. Beautiful pictures! Well done. | ||
| Road_kill |
Thanks for the ride report ... very enjoyable. Already planning your next trip? | ||
| Goldtooth |
thanks guys, we will most likely be doing another trip next year but in a new place. nate | ||
| Brown_e |
Enjoy the time with friends and family. I use to ride Harleys and now ride my Uly all the time. You had the best bike. | ||
| Balloyd66 |
Bump for "Congrats!" to Goldtooth (Nathan) for being published in the AMA's American Motorcyclist magazine (November 2011.) Nice read (again), although I really like all the pics you posted here on BWB. Good job Nathan!! Thanks for taking us on your adventure. Looking forward to your next journey. | ||
| 7873jake |
I saw that article yesterday and wondered if the two write ups were from the same trip. I saw one shot of a yellow Uly in the print article and thought, "that looks like a familiar trip" | ||
| Goldtooth |
Thanks guys! Yes they approached me after seeing the post on ADV. It was an honor to write the article and get the Uly out there! nate |
