Pic Heavy Ride Report - MS to Bella Coola & Back 11,000 Miles Heat, Hail & Bears

[consitter]

Dude--your mom looks younger than you.

How is that?

[DK Custom Products]

Dude--your mom looks younger than you.

How is that?

ROFL!

She's 77 and pretty active. She leads several teams a year on international trips.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Mary don't like your Mom at all huh?

[consitter]

ROFL!

She's 77 and pretty active. She leads several teams a year on international trips.

Well, she looks a lot younger than 77. Something has kept her young.

[DK Custom Products]

Mary don't like your Mom at all huh?

Nah.

Well, she looks a lot younger than 77. Something has kept her young.

For sure. I hope I'm going as strong as both my folks are when I'm their age.

[consitter]

Does the swami sense new pictures in the very near future?

[DK Custom Products]

Day-6

Had a great couple of days visiting family. Mom & Dad, 2 brothers, 1 sister, their spouses, their kids, their spouses, and their kids!

When it came time to leave out, mom & dad were there, my brother Greg & his wife Marci, my nephew Ben & his wife Emma.





Mary in the mirror.






Greg kept goading me to do a wheelie...I told him I don't like to so far from home...in case a belt breaks, well, brotherly peer pressure got the best of me and he took a pic and a video.






Click for 5 second Video




Plan for today is to get up to HogPro, get a tire for the front of the TG, then we were going to visit Screwball & Vesta, but they had to be out of town. So we are going to head north from there toward Hearst Castle.


We took the inland route (15)





I met Mary in San Diego 26+ years ago. After we got married, almost 25 years ago, we moved to Mississippi.

If I remember correctly, this road used to be a two-lane back then. It is almost unrecognizable now.


A bit further north and inland....




...the famous Topanga Canyon in SoCal....



...happens to be the exit to take to get to HogPro.


Got to HogPro and got to meet Drew in person. We've known of each other for over a decade via the forums, and been doing business via phone & email for a good bit of that time. Was great to finally meet him in person and spend some time talking bikes. Good people.

I've decided to get a rear tire and mount it reversed on the front of the TG. I was hoping to get a Michelin Commander II, but they did not have that, so I got a Metzler 888.





We took the tire over to a local Indy shop and had it mounted...



...I've been using Dyna Beads for balancing in all tires for 7 or 8 years. So I gave the guy some Dyna Beads to put in the tire, he said he was familiar with them and had used them quite a bit himself. When we left out there was a little low speed vibration, but I figure he used some bead sealer and some of the beads got bunched together. Hopefully they will break up over the couple hundred miles.



Drew gave us directions to Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Hwy. Wow, what a great ride!





More in next post-

[DK Custom Products]

Day-6 continued


Even though it is so close to LA, it is 35 miles of great road, and it is like being out in the country.



I apologize to any LEO's here...but I had a lot of fun on this road...





...with the rear tire up front, it grips so much better than a stock front tire. A lot more meat on the road. The tire barely fits in the fender. It is a huge improvement for curvy roads at speed.



I've been on long, straight, flat roads too long....






....this road is just the right medicine.






A bit of a view of a small part of the road.





Can't tell you how much fun I had on this road!





Gotta mention, not only is Mary great at taking pics...we were hitting these curves pretty hard and she got well over 100 pics on this 35 mile section of road...



...many of them in the middle of the curves. I could never ride as a my passenger, would literally scare the crap out of me. I am most fortunate that she enjoys it.


This is the last pic for today....




...soon after the battery in the camera wore out, but we were back on the interstate, heading north.

Traffic was heavy, so we ended up calling it an early day and stopped in Thousand Oaks.

I should mention-We've been using the onboard nav and it is amazing how this has made our trips so much more enjoyable. No matter how much time we spent with a map, would would not have been able to make all the changes of freeways between SD and Hogpro...but it took us the fastest way, smooth as silk.

Tomorrow we're going to Hearst Castle. Never been and Mary has wanted to see it.


Kevin

[bikerbillone]

Kevin, a joy and a pleasure to follow your posts here, can't thank you enough.

[ride3]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing and look forward to the rest of the trip

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Pretty Kewl stuff.

[Gorilla]

Cool trip guys

[desertclassic]

Keep the posts coming. Let us know how that new (rear), front tire is doing. I am sure I will do the same when it's time for a new tire. Jim

[DblTrbl]

Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Hwy. Wow, what a great ride!

Did you stop at the Rock Store (House) while cruising Mulholland? Nice ride to there. You will also like Hurst Castle......

[retread83]

oops, I will follow this on here instead of the other forum. But my remark about the marble custom paint job stands. Look! No skulls or flames, how refreshing.

[flyswatter]

Really enjoy these posts.

[Mixitman]

This thread gives me

Love it!

[DK Custom Products]

Kevin, a joy and a pleasure to follow your posts here, can't thank you enough.

This is awesome!

Thanks for sharing and look forward to the rest of the trip

Pretty Kewl stuff.

Cool trip guys

Keep the posts coming.

Let us know how that new (rear), front tire is doing. I am sure I will do the same when it's time for a new tire. Jim

Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Hwy. Wow, what a great ride!

Did you stop at the Rock Store (House) while cruising Mulholland? Nice ride to there. You will also like Hurst Castle......

No, did not stop at the Rock Store...did not know about it.

oops, I will follow this on here instead of the other forum. But my remark about the marble custom paint job stands. Look! No skulls or flames, how refreshing.

Really enjoy these posts.

This thread gives me

Love it!

Glad it's being enjoyed...much more to come.

I'm posting tonite, and might post tomorrow...but then the schedule is tight for a few days and I probably won't be posting for that time.

Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Day-7

Got an early (for me ) start this morning. Have about 200 miles to get to Hearst Castle by 12:30 for our tour reservation.

Little bit of freeway riding before we get clear of the cities.



Mary got a few pics of this sweet ride as we slowly passed by it.



Out of the city! Some nice countryside!



The overcast burned off and Mary....



....was able to get a few cloud pics, along with the Pacific at Morro Bay.



We are really enjoying the ride this morning. This is the view to the right....



....and this is the view to the left.



We're getting close, I can tell Mary has ants in her pants about touring the Hearst Castle.



We're HERE! ....



...we've ridden by it a few times in the past years. In fact, a few years ago we actually rode up to the visitor center with the intention of finally taking a tour, only to find out they were booked up. Found out it is best to make reservations well in advance.

So that it what Mary did this year. There's a large parking lot, a visitor center, food shops, gift shops, a museum, and the buses depart from there to take you a few miles up the hill to the Castle.

Here we are on the bus headed up....



...While Mary was excited to do the tour, I did not think it would hold much interest for me, but was happy that she was happy. Well, that changed once we got up there.

More in next post.

[DK Custom Products]

Day-7 Continued.

Once we got up to the Castle grounds, took the tour, and walked around, watched a little move of the history of the place, it was amazing. If you ever get a chance to visit, it is quite the place!

We took a lot of pics, but I am sure there are many on google that are better than we captured.

The sheer size, amount of art, statues and history is mind-boggling.

But here are a few...



...you can see some scaffolding up...there is constant work being done on the place to keep it in shape.



Mary and the view of the Pacific from one of the terraces.



Checking out the flat head engine in the old Dodge fire truck in the Museum.



The view headed back down the hill.



We left the Hearst Castle around 5:30, after being there for 5 hours and not seeing anywhere near all there was to see.

Tomorrow we are slated to be in San Jose to visit our daughter and her husband, so we decided to ride in that direction until we felt like stopping.

We headed back south a bit to get on the 101, taking the inland route up there.



Great roads, weather, scenery, just enjoying the ride...



...I'm not sure I've completely purged all the flat, straight road from last week out of my system. But today seems to be getting things back as they should be.



Look Ma! No Hands!



Sun was starting to get low, clouds starting to get heavy, so after 100 miles or so we stopped in King City...



We stayed in a Super 8 Motel that had a mom & pop diner next to it. Had a Very Good "home-cooked" meal.

Tomorrow we'll be in San Jose for a few days visiting.

Kevin