Russian River

     A beautiful day for a leisurely ride along the Russian River. This bridge is called the Wohler bridge, it was completed in 1922.

     July in Sonoma County is a great time of year. People flock to the river to swim, canoe and escape the heat of places farther inland.

        The Russian River has multiple personalities depending on the season. Weather in Northern California is dictated by the Pacific Ocean. Many years Northern California is dry. Little or no rain falls but sometimes weather conditions on the Pacific Ocean line up to drench the northern part of the state. This duality certainly gives the news agencies something to talk about, it's either the "killer storm" or the "killer drought" that is on its way. 

     These signs on Wohler Rd are not on the Russian River itself, but on a tributary called Mark West Creek. The following two photos show the height of flood levels during "wet" winters. 

     Imagine how much higher Mark West Creek would have to rise to be two to four feet over the guard rail of the roadway. 

     Imagine the lake that would cover the vineyard if the flood gauge was at two to four ft.

     During summer when people come to the river, it appears deceptively tranquil. Every year multiple people drown while swimming or wading in the Russian River. This year I am aware of three deaths. Two deaths were during this Fourth of July holiday.

   The Russian River dangerous at times, yet compellingly beautiful. Nature as nature is.

Eclipse 2024 - The Trip Home

 

It's over, that celestial clockwork has moved on. Now it was time for me to ride home. There was now no reason to hurry. No need to be anywhere at any certain time.

However there were several reasons not to tarry. First, the speed limits in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are quite high and largely ignored as though gas mileage was not important. If you are traveling at 70 mph, you are going to be holding up traffic.

Next, there's really not that much to see. Due to the vastness of the scenery, there is plenty of time see it all as you drone along at 80 - 90 mph.

Lastly, it is still 2000 miles to my driveway and that is going to take a few days in the saddle.

After leaving the comfort of Comfort, Texas, I rode to El Paso and got a nice hotel. The hotel had a bar with food. Very relaxing, especially in light of the fact that I had no time crunch.

Every employee at the hotel was Mexican. Not surprising as El Paso is only miles from Mexico. The bartender told me that she was working on her English. She also said that she prefers to live in Mexico but had moved to El Paso because her Daughter had just graduated from med school and would be working in Texas. She showed me photos of her other daughters, one an engineer and the other an accountant. 

Next day I arrived at my Brother's in Apachee Junction, Arizona. We spent the day lounging around the pool and had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant.

After leaving Apachee Junction I stayed on Hwy 10 into California. As I approached the Indio/Palm Springs area I remembered the two mountains from my childhood. On the left is Mt. San Jacinto and on the right Mt. San Gorgonio. 
Both mountains are over 10,000 feet tall, and I've been to the top of both. 

When I arrived in San Bernardino, I took Hwy 15 over the Cajon Pass and then cut off to Lancaster. Just north of Lancaster is a state route 138. 138 goes to Gorman through the California Poppy Reserve. 

Because of the amount of rain California has had this winter, I expected to see a poppy super bloom. The poppy bloom had started and was beautiful, but hadn't filled the valley as it had the last time I saw it. (See, California Poppies of the Western Mojave, Tuesday, May 13, 2014)

The trip had been a fairly hard one. Cold, bad weather and long days in the saddle made the trip a lot less fun, yet every trip is an adventure, and every trip teaches lessons for the next trip. It was good to be home and Marie was happy that I got home safe.

Eclipse Trip 2024

The total eclipse was to occur on April 8, 2024. I decided that I was not going to miss this eclipse.

Yet, traveling by motorcycle in early April can be iffy. Remember April Showers...so as I went south on Hwy 5, I had to pass through one rain cell after another. I even got a little hail, which sounds a lot different on the helmet than rain. 

 

  

     By the time I went through Tehachapi, there had been a few flakes of snow. There was snow on the hills and some snow on the ground and on some cars. And it was cold.

My Triumph, a modern motorcycle, gives me all kinds of information that my Harley Sportster does not. I knew that the Triumph tells the temperature, but I had no idea that it would warn about possible ice on the roadway.

 I have good cold weather gear. I was wearing my First Gear jacket with the liner over my electrically heated jacket. I had insulated jeans under waterproof First Gear riding pants. My very old gauntlet gloves, with the heated grips turned up kept my hands warn and aside from my feet, which were a little cold, I was fairly warn and comfortable.

After a little over 600 miles and 10 or so hours, I got a room in Laughlin, Nevada. Next morning I rode to Apache Junction and stopped for a couple of hours at my brother's home. The weather was pretty cold barely getting into the low 60's and I was beginning to think that maybe seeing the full eclipse wasn't really such a great plan. My brother convinced me that in only fourteen or fifteen hours, I would be in San Antonio. A call to my wife further motivated me to get tougher, so I was off again. 

I passed Las Cruses in the dark and pushed on to El Paso, where, exhausted, I got a room. A 650 mile day.

 

On the morning of the third day, I headed to San Antonio, Texas, only 550 miles away. San Antonio is just outside the area of total eclipse. I had a plan to leave early and head west about 60 miles to the center of the total eclipse.

There was a slight hitch, the San Antonio freeway system seemed to me to be a confusing maze and news reports speculated on massive congestion due to the normal commute mixed with eclipse watcher traffic. So I left my overpriced hotel before dawn and headed west. After about sixty miles on Highway 10, I saw and exit for the town of Comfort, Texas. That seemed like a natural, how could I resist. I stopped at the McDonald's and tried to stay awake over a cup of coffee.

On the map above, Comfort is located between San Antonio and Kerrville. I had intended to go closer to Kerrville but as I left the McDonald's, I saw that the roadside would be a good place to watch the eclipse. The roadside was grassy and the field beyond covered in wildflowers. I set up my camp chair and settled in to watch the show.

As time passed more people began to stop. The day was more overcast than I would have preferred. Still I could see the sun,

Then at about 12:15 it began, the total eclipse of April 8, 2024.

I knew it would get dark during the eclipse, but I was surprised just how dark it got.

Then almost suddenly the clockwork that caused the eclipse, moved on.

Scorpion EXO-AT960, My New Helmet

     When it's time to buy a bike, it might be time to buy a new helmet. I checked and my last new helmet was in 2009.                                                                                                       

     This is my Scorpion EXO-AT960. It's a modular ADV (adventure helmet) and has a large viewing port, which makes it a lot easier for me to look over my shoulder. 

     

     It has a peak visor that really helps to block the sun, especially at this time of year when the sun is low in the sky.  A criticism of this peak visor is that it vibrates at speed, and it does vibrate a small amount, but I find that very easy to ignore. The peak visor can be removed for a more aerodynamic shape; however, I don't think I will be taking it off, I like it. 

        

    The helmet also has a dropdown sun visor lens. It eliminates having to fiddle with sunglasses. 

     I do have a few problems with the "no-fog Everclear face shield." It's true it doesn't fog easily, but condensation does form on the inside of the lens when it is cold. The droplets of water distort vision through the lens. 

     

    The helmet face shield detents are too far apart. The first stop leaves the face shield too far open, The real problem starts around the second detent, where the edge of the shield distorts vision to funhouse mirror proportions. Kinda dangerous if you ask me.

     I picked the Hicks version of the helmet in white and orange. It goes good with the bike's colors.

     

     I think the Scorpion EXO-AT960 is a good helmet and a good value. I think it was likely a redesign to meet the European ECE 22.06 standard. I also think the Scorpion EXO-AT960 should have had a few other details refined. I think that could have been done without adding a lot of cost. I think Scorpion missed an opportunity to make the EXO AT960 a great helmet.

Also see - My New Helmet, November 2009

El Diablo Run 2023

     I haven't been keeping up. I've been riding but not writing. One of the things I didn't write about was the El Diablo run for 2023. The El Diablo was a lot different than it has been.

     The ride to San Felipe hasn't changed. Greg rode his new KTM adventure bike. I rode my old Stampede bike, yea, still good.

  

     This year Ruben's Camp charged admission. There were no races. Rumor had it that because there had been racing injuries on the previous El Diablo, there would be no racing. The events would be low speed, like the keg push. the balance board and tire throw.

     So this year it was a rented house south of town. Very nice, on the beach. 

  

         I spent more time in town this year. Enjoying the less hectic life.

Triumph Tiger 850 Sport

I just bought a Triumph Tiger 850 Sport. I've been comparing bikes and thinking about what kind of bike I would like.  Here's what went into my decision to go for the Triumph Tiger 850 Sport.

I do still travel far and while I travel light, the bike had to be able to carry the stuff I need, change of clothes, sleeping bag, maybe my tent, etc.. The bike needed range and all-day cruising speed. I do want to explore unpaved roads, for which my hard tailed Sportster was unsuited.

I considered the large adventure bikes, they were all too tall, too heavy, too wide for that matter. I just couldn't see myself riding any of them.

 Then came the midsized adventure bikes, still too tall and most were more off road oriented. I want to explore some off road but don't want to bash around a 450ish lb. adventure bike. If I wanted a dirt bike, I'd get a Yamaha YZ250.     

Is that a KTM in the background?

l also considered value. Most of the midsize adventure bikes are around $5k more than the 850 Tiger. Seems that that extra cash goes into a lot more electronic rider aids and off road worthiness at the expense of long-distance comfort.

 I really like the grey with orange trim colors. The 2021and 2022 had red or blue trim, I think the only year for the orange trim will be 2023. Triumph has dropped color for the 2024 models, which will be all black and grey. I'm going to have to say, maybe black and grey with a little orange is pretty attractive.

Adventure Bike Ride

 

     I had a chance to borrow a Kawasaki KLR 650 for a day in the dirt.  My friend, Greg, rode his BMW R 1250 GS.  We rode on Highway 101 north about 75 miles to Potter Valley, California. The end of the paved road begins a vast network of Forrest Service Roads in the Mendicino National Forrest. 

          The road from Potter Valley to Lake Pillsbury is a well-maintained dirt road. 

          From Lake Pillsbury at an elevation of 1800ft, Mt Hull road heads north and rises steeply to about 6800ft. This road is poorly maintained, rocky and rough, in other words, perfect adventure bike road. 

          Near the summit of Mt Hull, I started seeing some snow and eventually the road was blocked by snow, or at least more than I was ready to deal with.

     

     

     The views on the ride back down were pretty spectacular.

     We rode about 150 miles of pavement and another 75 miles of dirt roads. Some well-maintained some rough. I liked the KLR, it is very tall, but comfortable. It's a little slow for long distance highway travel but on dirt roads it rocks.

     I have considered heavy weight adventure bikes to be great on the highway but way too heavy and tall for anything but good dirt roads. While I haven't changed that opinion, I think I'll have to give middleweight adventure bikes another look.

El Diablo Run 2021

     It's true we aren't really free anymore. So the question was would those who make the rules allow the El Diablo Run. So when I heard that the 2021 El Diablo Run was on, I was in.

My Sportster has done some traveling, I have a extra 3 gallon gas tank and saddlebags that I bolt on when I travel. The headlight is, typical of Sportsters, pathetic, so I bought some LED lights and made a couple of brackets. I'm happy to report that they worked very well. 

It's about 800 miles from home to San Felipe. South of Mexicali it gets pretty barren. San Felipe is 125 miles from the border between the United States and Mexico. Going south, on the right there are dry and barren mountains and a lot of mining going on, beautiful but exposed, barren and windswept.  On the left, to the east, dirt and salt flats that extend to the horizon.

But finally, the ocean comes into view and I arrived in San Felipe.

Ruben's Campground gets packed with bikes and campers. 

                                                                                                       Photo by Andy Sweet

Next day, let the games begin

You may think you are cool but not as cool as this guy who raced a Royal Enfield in shorts and flip flops.

One of the Biltwell Inc. guys handed me an El Diablo beer. I was so surprised I didn't really know what to say. So thanks Biltwell guy whoever you are.

 

During the 2019 El Diablo Run I didn't go downtown or eat anything besides deep fried shrimp at Ruben's campo. I guess I have always heard it was not safe to eat or drink in Mexico. I am very happy to say that the food was delicious. In the downtown area, along the malecon, there are many really good restaurants. Still, I did not drink local water.

I rode with friends about twenty five miles south of town to a place called Laguna Percebu. Down a mile of dirt road there was a small enclave of homes and a restaurant. I had the one of the best margaritas I have ever had, maybe the best. 

 Monday morning after a quick photo on the malecon in front of the San Felipe sign it was off for a long ride home.