Tour of the Forest 2005

[redhurricane]

Tour of the Forests 2005 -
Here it is, the next chapter of rides through the roads MADE for motorcycles. Karen, Graham, Bill and I headed out Sunday, July 3rd about noon with bikes loaded in the trailer headed for Sonora, Ca. to see a friend of mine and stay the night before we took off on bikes. Our journey was to take us through Eastern California, then north to Redding, and west to Eureka for the first night.
A map of our route:

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We left Sonora via Hwy 49 through Angels Camp, and spent the next 4 hours passing small gold mining towns on this 2 lane highway. It seemed to be about every 15 minutes that we'd start to pick up the pace and we'd come into another small town with a 25 mph speed limit. Luckily, the towns are about 300 ft long, so we'd be off into the wilderness before long. It was taking a while to get miles past, so we did not stop to take any pictures until the afternoon after we passed Redding, Ca. It's really a shame, because the scenery was unbelievable.

Here's the first lake we passed on Hwy 299 from Redding to Eureka.
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This road is 141 miles from Redding to Eureka, and one of the best roads I have ever ridden. Most of the trip, you're following the river that flows next to the road:

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We stopped for the first night, and headed over to the restaurant in the hotel next to our luxury Best Western. We were one of two tables in the whole place, ate a great meal and called it a night.

We loaded up the next morning and departed for Grant's Pass, Oregon for lunch. Up the coast, it was cold and misty, but once you pick up Hwy 199 you head inland and the fog disappears to show this:

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Soon after, we reached the state line:

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We ended up not stopping at Grant's Pass, but on to Medford for lunch. We ate at "Chaps", a mid sized diner with pretty good food.

the sign from the bar:
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The rest of the day was spent heading east on Hwy 140, final destination Lakeview, Oregon and another Best Western. Next door was a family owned mexican restaurant, the place was packed. We ended up walking out to find another place to eat when the owner came out to tell us he'd open up the bar section next to the dining area that was closed so we could eat. Some killer food and a few margarita's later we called it a night again.

Wednesday morning, Bill was headed for Salt Lake City, and we were headed back to Sonora, Ca. so we said our goodbyes and headed in different directions. Karen, Graham and myself headed south on 395 and stopped at the state line:

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Across the street was this place:

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We headed south to Reno for lunch, then around Lake Tahoe, and back into California. Just south of the California border, there is a stream that follows the road:

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The weather was looking like it was turning bad so we got back to making some time heading for Hwy 108, also known as Sonora Pass. The pass goes from Hwy 395 to Modesto, and reached a summit of over 9600'.

Here's a small sample of the scenery:

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Hard to believe, but in the middle of summer some places still have a lot of snow. Check out the waterfall in the snow:

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After it started raining on us, we headed down the hill towards Sonora to load up and drive 200 more miles to Salinas for the MotoGP races at Laguna Seca.

Total riding in 3 days: 1227 miles.

I have a lot more pictures that were taken with a disposable camera while riding, and will add them in here when I get them scanned.