[image: 01 Mt Shasta]
Roads - here are some favourites from this trip:We spent a week riding down to the World Superbike race at Laguna Seca. It is said that every journey begins with a step but living on an island means that it begins with a ferry. Which gives you an hour and a half to contemplate the weather. I must have run out of good karma because it rained for the first day and a half - most of the 700 km to Grants Pass, Oregon. On the last 10-15 km into Woodburn it was so heavy that I-5 was flooded an inch or two deep. The wake from nearby cars was perfect for water skiing - though perhaps not deep enough for a slalom's fin.
How about your gear, you ask. Well, my Aerostich Roadcrafter 2-piece worked great, my gloves succumbed to the monsoon, and my boots - well, air isn't the only thing that gets into vented boots.
Imnsho, crossing Washington & Oregon is a pain in the ass. I mean, why take a ham sandwich to a banquet?
Early Monday afternoon, crossing Siskiyou summit the overcast broke and for the next week we had sunshine. Gotta love California. Unfortunately, we had more rain on our return. From Santa Rosa to Clear Lake in California, though it cleared up from there to Yreka. And the next day from Roseburg, Ore to Port Angeles, Wash was very damp indeed. On balance I prefer heat to rain.
Gazelle-Callahan road (s. of Yreka)
[image: 02 Gazelle Callahan road]
Hwy 3 from Weaverville to Hwy 36 has the most delicious constant-radius curves and grippy pavement
Hwy 36 from Hwy 3 to Red Bluff - especially, the roller-coaster section about 20 km west of Red Bluff
Hwy 70 through Feather River Canyon with several high bridges spanning the river
[image: 03 bridge On Hwy 70]
Gold Lake Hwy
[image: 04 view On Gold Lake Hwy]
Hwy 49 especially the stretch from Hwy 120 to Mariposa has lovely curves on a couple of ascents/descents
[image: 05 Hwy 49]
Hwy 25 from south of Holister to Hwy 198 hugging the west side of a narrow valley has more of the curves & pavement that makes California so great
[image: 06 Hwy 25]
Hwy 198 from Hwy 25 to Coalinga
Hwy 58 from McKittrick to SLO takes you from the oil fields in the Mars-like central valley to the coast
[image: 07 Hwy 33 Vanishing Point]
Hwy 1 the Pacific Coast highway in California has a near perfect combination of curves and ocean views.
[image: 08 Hwy 1 PCH]
[image: 09 Hwy 1 PCH]
The crowds at Laguna Seca were down a fair bit from July's MotoGP and there were fewer vendors. Otoh, we were allowed to access the track via Hwy 68 which cut in half the round trip from our motel in Pacific Grove. The racing was quite good, especially both WSBK events. For some reason Laguna Seca tends to have string-of-pearls races with little passing. Definitely not so this weekend.
My guess is that it suffered from being the last of four International races in the US this year. Since Laguna Seca is off the MotoGP calendar for next year perhaps WSBK will get a summertime date.
[image: 10 Laguna Seca T2]
Views from across the street from our motel on an early morning departure. Pounding surf, sunrise, and an avid surfer:[image: 11 crashing waves]
[image: 12 sunrise]
[image: 13 surf]
Bet you all recognize this view.[image: 14 Golden Gate]
Two long days left us only a quarter mile ride to the Coho ferry on Wednesday.[image: 15 early ferry]