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We headed off via Suisun Valley Rd. which turns into Wooden Valley Rd., 121, Redwood Rd, Mt Veeder Rd., Dry Creek, Trinity, St Helena, Spring Mountain (talk about some kick a** twisty, beautiful roads!), and finally hit the main route on 128 and into Calistoga for lunch. We munched at the Calistoga Inn where they had misters over the patio area, which we were eternally grateful for – it was HOT up in the area! Morris talked under his breath to John at the lunch table about maggots eating the flesh off of bones and leaving clean skeletons... wonderful lunch topic!! Luckily we were done eating so it didn’t affect anyone’s appetite! After lunch, we headed up 29 and were lucky to avoid much traffic. Hwy 29 has a section of loooonnnngggg sweepers, one after the other, that are SO much fun to ride. From there, we took Butts (yes, that’s really the name) Canyon Rd., Pope Valley, Chiles Pope Valley, Knoxville-Berryessa Rd. The lake was beautiful and blue and beckoned to our weary, overheated bodies. Along Pope Valley Rd, there was about a 1/2-mile stretch of wire fence covered in hubcaps and tires - wonder if they were all found on that stretch of road?? We stopped to take a couple of pics and then Dona started futzing with her iPod… and futzing and futzing! John, who had been up in the front of the pack, even came back to make sure we were okay because it had been awhile since they’d sighted us behind them. Shortly after that, John had a close encounter with a turkey vulture - three of them sitting in the road and as they lifted off, one changed course and grazed his helmet... they are huge birds so it's a good thing there wasn't more contact! At the far end of the lake (Morris said if we didn’t stop soon and go for a dip in the lake, he’d hurt me… what a crank!), we found a nice area to pull off, park the bikes, and entertain our poor, overheated bodies with a VERY welcome and refreshing dip in the lake. And of course, ever the hambones, we did our version of a water ballet, motorcyclist style. John stayed inland, guarding our belongings, playing photographer, and just being generally amused at our antics. From there, we continued along Berryessa Rd. to 128, 121, and backtracked the start of our day along Wooden Valley and Suisun Valley Rd. to the gas station in Cordelia. Lots of happy, smiling faces after a long and wonderful day’s ride. Then we had to do the slab thing to get home which seemed to take hours and went through several climate changes from hot to hotter to cool and finally back over the grade, it settled down to a nice comfortable temp. Our shadows got long as we rode along 237 and there was a golden glow as the sun set in the sky - we had come full circle from a sunrise to a sunset. Awesome roads and people!! Peace,
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While
it was hard dragging my butt out of bed at 6 a.m. (meet time was 7:30
- what idiot came up with that idea?!? Oh, yeah, me... ), there is a
special peacefulness being on the road that early, little to no traffic,
as the sun is rising for the start of the day. The brave early birds
– Dona, Audrey, and myself – met for a very appreciated coffee
jolt in Fremont before heading off along Niles Canyon and then 680 to
the next pickup spot. Waiting for us in Cordelia were Pamela, John,
and Morris, who submitted to the girls feeling up his shaved head (yeah,
he was really suffering). We chatted for a bit until finally, the eager
riders looked at me with their arms crossed and said, “Can we GO
now?!?”