Today may have been the best day I’ve had on the motorcycle ever. I got a bit of a late start (I am on vacation after all) and was just loading the bike when I saw the other riders who overnighted in Florence parade by on their way to Highway 101. My general plan was to follow along in their wake, taking approximately the same route.

I departed Florence on 101 along the coast and then headed inland on Oregon’s Highway 38. This beautiful road curves back and forth as it follows the Umpqua River. As I left the coast behind the temperatures began to rise and it finally reached a point where you could consider things “warm.” This prompted me to begin shedding insulation and finally open the vents in my riding jacket to let the breeze flow through.

Highway 38 eventually links up with Oregon Highway 138 and this eventually connects to I5 heading south into California. Normally slogging along on the interstate is an exercise in boredom and while this section of I5 isn’t much better, it does at least have a few high speed sweepers to provide an occasional bit of fun. It’s main attribute is that it is the quickest route to today’s highlight, California’s Highway 96.

This highway in California is considered by many to be one of it’s crown jewels when it comes to motorcycle riding. This curvaceous road winds its way through California’s northern mountains eventually depositing you back on the coast. At times following river valleys and at others sweeping up and over ridges, you’ll lose track of the corners as they all blur together. High speed sweepers, tight technical twisties, 96 has it all. In fact, by the end of the day you might even think that it has too much. It does make for a tiring bit of riding, but you’ll be happy at the end.

My only real heart-in-the-throat moment so far on this trip was on 96 today. Tooling along at a relatively modest pace (only 10 or so over the posted limit) I heard what I thought was a siren, about the last thing I expected to hear in the middle of nowhere, far from any town or anything remotely resembling civilization. Sure enough, a CHP cruiser was in my rear view mirror with his lights running. I hit the turn signal and slowed to pull to the side of the road but he just whipping on by and kept going. Bigger fish to fry somewhere else I guess. I watched my speed for a while just in case but I never saw him again.

As I neared the coast again, the temperate dropped dramatically and pretty soon I was pulling over to put my liners back in my gloves and close up the vents in my jacket. At this point the clouds returned and the sun disappeared. The last 30 miles or so were a stark contrast in weather compared to most of the day. Still, the rain held off so it’s hard to complain.

The evening was spent socializing with riders I’ve met at previous meets, meeting folks I’ve exchanged posts with online but never met in person, greeting a few people new to the STN fold and in general, talking about riding, motorcycles and what we each plan to do for tomorrow’s local area rides. Personally, after two long days in the saddle I plan to do something relatively easy. As of now I’m thinking about riding the Avenue of the Giants and spending a great deal of time with camera in hand.

Tomorrow we have another big dinner and then Sunday we’ll all begin finding our way back to our respective homes.

A few more photos added to Flickr