CA 1 Pacific Coast Highway

Lexus LS400
V8 power :-)

A week long road trip across California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and back. Rode for two days with Joy dutta and Priti and was the lone wolf for the rest of the trip. Nevada and its high lonely deserts definitely cast its magic on me. Montana looked lovely, although I couldnt ride much there. Wyoming was pretty and peaceful. Owning a ranch out there must be fun. erm.. not in winter maybe.. Utah was much prettier than I thought it would be. US 89 from Yellowstone through Tetons and down south beside the mountains is a great ride.
A long ride is almost like life. At the end of it, you just wish you had taken it easier, taken more breaks, enjoyed companionship, stayed for an extra day at that lovely campground instead of buzzing fast from one point to the other trying to see it all and getting on time.

About 2750 mi and 6 days.
The route

Check out Joy's blog and pics
Priti - the pillion rider on Joy's bike took some nice on-the-move shots. Check it out pics by Priti
She got a cool pic of me riding too. yay Moi






Merced River near Yosemite. Pretty river.


The sleek ST.


smooooth roads.


Climbing upto Tioga pass.


ok.. I forget the name. But a pretty blue lake. Someone just swam right across it while we were there.


All that sparkles aint diamonds baybe


Lake just before Tioga pass.


Lotsa silver mined outta NV. So silver state. Funny how the golden state and silver state are next to each other.


No one cares if you park the bike in the middle of the highway and take silly pics. erm.. there aint anyone there to care anyway.


In these deserts, one thing of beauty to the biker is the road itself.. I love camping in the desert


US 361 through Nevada is definitely lonelier than the loneliest highway US50. We saw 7 cars in 60 miles. Yep, I counted.


One dollar notes up the ceiling. The bar at middlegate, NV is an interesting place to be in. Check it out if ya pass by..


Around the old pony express route. It is amazing how those men on horseback covered about 2000 mi in 10 days or less. And through these unforgiving deserts of Nevada.


Campground at bob scotts near Austin, NV. The best campground in the trip.. and Free. I'm lovin NV.


That sure looks lonely.. doesnt it


Ok. I admit I have a thing for state borders..


Craters of the Moon, Idaho. weird place to be.. and hot. met a couple from canada who was camping out in the no-shade heat for a week doing voluntary service. some people..


Arco, Idaho. First town to be nuclear powered in the US. The kinda place where you just pass through. I stayed overnight though. I forgot to find out why there are huge numbers on that mountain...


Was this Idaho or Nevada.. I forget.


aint this Alfalfa? seen it all along one road in Idaho


Rain in the distance. Idaho


Montana montana montana! Couldn't spend much time in the state though.. Next time, Montana and Wyoming in more detail.


Inside yellowstone


Yellowstone again


The other end of the lake had a hot water spring. I bet this side was pretty cold.


This is that other end..


coyote or wolf? anyway, he was peacefully stalking some small animal with no care for the tons of tourists clicking pics.


american wild bison. didnt even bother to turn around to face the camera. I need my $20 park fee refunded.


scary dude


guess.. ? yep, the old faithful. dealing with the tons of tourists in the park is pretty tiring. There were about.. hmm.. atleast 500 people to watch this geyser go off. Hopefully first and last visit to yellowstone.


It rained.. a lot.. oh and see mom, the continental divide!


Grand tetons. A much better experience than yellowstone.


A pretty ride along these mountains. The only prettier mountain side ride was the US 395 going south from Reno. Sierra Nevadas are amazing.


Domestic bison in Wyoming.


That is where I stayed in Wyoming after riding late night with little light, through rain and frequent wild animals crossing the small road. Decided not to push luck any further and got in here. Wolfs den at the star valley ranch in wyoming. Nice place. A tad bit on the expensive side.


US 89 through Wyoming. Wonderful experience. The best road in the entire trip. Will try do the whole length someday


I got fascinated by rain clouds in the trip...


I got a shot of this huge rain cloud right overhead and got drenched the next minute. People in cars were giving me a funny look. Hey, rain clouds can be pretty too..


Utah.. and is that the ad for a mormon church? Wait.. a Harley ministry? Imagine priests on harleys. hah..


Rains showed lotsa love in the trip. Always giving me company in the last 2 days. I didn't mind it though. The ST didn't for sure.


Red rock canyon, UT


More red..


Bryce canyon, UT. Pretty impressive.


Jump already! Okay. not part of the trip.. but glider port in San diego. Fun place to hang out.


Birds over the pacific.


That is what I wanna do. Somehow hang gliding is more appealing to me than para gliding.


Tandem flight. $150 for about 30 minutes in air.

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Ride to Sierras

3.5 days, ~1100 miles, Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite.

Trip Route on google maps



























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Cascades, High Sierras and The Death Valley.

~1400mi and 3.5 days.
Route : Pdx - I-5 - Mt.Shasta - CA-89 - CA-44 -Susanville - US-395 - Reno - Carson City - Mammoth Lakes - Lone Pine - CA-136 - CA-190 - CA-127 - Baker - I-15 - CA-78 - San Marcos.

Route on google maps

Some pics..























































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A trip to San Jose and back.

~ 1200 miles. 2 days on California highways.

The route:
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Day 1: ~520mi
San Marcos - CA-78 - Oceanside - I-5 - Lost Hills - CA-46 -
Cambria - CA-1 - Santa Cruz - CA - 17 - I-280 - Sunnyvale.

Day 2: ~60mi
A ride on Skyline blvd.

Day 3: ~600mi
Sunnyvale - I-680 - I-580 - I-205 - I-5 - CA-120 - Yosemite - CA-49 - Mariposa - CA-140 - Merced - CA-99 - I-5 - Oceanside - CA-78 - San Marcos.

The nice Stuff -
* Riding through a thick blanket of fog near Tejon pass on I-5. So much fog that I could see little beyond the car in front. It was very pretty later watching the fog rolling down the mountains into the valleys.
* The ride on CA-46 from Lost hills till Cambria. Excellent roads, not much traffic, very pretty countryside, vineyards, ranches, sweeping curves on some sections.
* CA-1. The famous Pacific coast highway! cradled between the mountains and the big blue. Lots and lots of twisties and beautiful views of the Pacific.
* CA-17. Woo. I always loved to do this road in a car and never done on a m/c before. Nice fast curves.
* Skyline blvd ride with Joy Dutta. Nice motorcycle roads and scenic hills.
* Joy dutta's chicken curry. Reading Proficient and More proficient motorcycling books at his place.
* The ride on the foothills of Sierra Nevada on CA-49. Sweeping curves and twisties on some sections. The beautiful little towns on the way makes me want to stay there forever.
* Watching a beautiful sunset in Santa cruz. There were no clouds and the sky was golden. I love the metallic blue hues in the pacific after the sun has gone down.
* I've never seen anything like this before - On the return trip, I stopped in pitch darkness in-front of the ocean. The sky was lit with a million tiny sparkling lights. The rising moon had cast a veil of light over the rippling waters of the pacific.. and the ocean was calm like a big lake. It was magical.
* Riding a big highway (I-5 in this case) in the night and while the road goes up an elevation and while there is enough space between me and the cars behind me - looking at the rear view mirror, there are lots of these headlights all coming up behind me trying to catch me and I feel like being in a video game and I grin and ride faster trying not to be caught and to prolong the feeling. silly, I know..

Risky stuff -
* Riding CA-1 was dangerous, although fun, considering the amount of gravel on some curves, bad road conditions, the hard turns on the cliffs jutting into the sea and the crosswind surprises. I wouldn't even think of riding this after dusk. There was a section which said - bad road conditions ahead. Luckily, I slow down a little and a after a turn, there was no road! A whole section was only gravel. I survived considering how much ST hates gravel. To add to the fun, this sudden thought popped out of nowhere into my mind - "For the one that is born, death is a certainty." - Words from the Lord himself to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita. No matter how hard I try to ignore this thought, this kept coming back with vigor. Needless to say, I got a little worried about this ominous message. "Negative attachments, Richard. If you really want to remove a cloud from your life, you do not make a big production out of it, you just relax and remove it from your thinking. That's all there is to it." - Illusions. Ah.. those blessed masters of the mind.

* CA-17 was thrilling although risky. I guess for some people, the more the risk, the more the danger.. the more the thrill. Unfortunately, I too have a share of those moments. Riding those fast curves on the faster lane in darkness with this huge concrete divider right next to me and with the feeble headlight of the ST along with the blinding headlights of the oncoming traffic was .. hmm.. thrilling then, scary now.

Stuff I wouldn't want to go through again -
Forever sluggish evening traffic on I-5 in and around LA area and the maniac drivers of LA. There was an 18 wheeler who changed his mind about taking an exit and crossed the double yellow and some section where there is no road straight into the freeway at an angle of 45 degrees and got stuck blocking the traffic behind him... right in-front of me. It is crazy, but people are changing lanes to get in-front, trying to reach exits from left most lanes all the while doing 20 miles over the speed limit of 70. And add about 5 lanes of traffic to that. whew! Why talk about car guys, there was this motorcycle guy wearing a sweatshirt, sneakers, his pants flapping while doing about 90 mph or more and riding split lane in between those cars that were trying to move from one lane to the other. It was all a blur thinking about it now.

Some pics..

































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Since I am paying enough and more for the southern CA weather, might as well enjoy it. A one day trip in and around Palomar Mt. The route was from Escondido to Ramona. Ramona to Julian, Julian to Palomar Mt and back. Nice country roads, wonderful weather, pretty scenery and the old towns made the ride very pleasant. Rode alongside Venky on his Honda Shadow who has been on these roads numerous times. The ride up to Palomar Mt via S. Grade road was in short.. crazy! Never seen more twistier roads than this one. Super fun. Lots of sports bikers and very many cops. I crossed a double yellow line to get infront of a slower car, a sportsbiker behind me did the same and he got busted by a cop on a Beemer. Heard the siren, saw the flashing lights on my rear view mirror and my heart stopped for a second. whew..
Check out how twisted this road is - http://www.lateralg.org/sandiego.htm#1


- Venky and his Shadow -





Met a guy who owns a Honda Sabre, Goldwing, Yamaha R1 and a modified drag racer. Street, Touring, Sports and Drag. Woah! Lesser mortals like me try to be content with the ST.

I got myself 4 wheels last week. It was a long hard battle of Form Vs Function and form lost out to function and the BMW lost out to Camry. I have now graduated to become a fully qualified 'Desi' with this 1998 Camry.. Not that its a bad car, its just that it looks very bland. I like the V6 engine, the leather, fully powered interior and best.. the tinted windows.


- Brothers in Arms -


My friendly neighbourhood cats. The grey one is the most affectionate cat I've ever seen. She begs to be petted, jumps on me, plays with me and comes running as soon as she spots me. I thought I had this effect only on the female homo sapiens. hmm..
The black cat is the not-so-friendly one. They seem to like each other though.


- Kitties getting intimate -