One bite into an apple-wood smoked sausage from the Corralitos Market, and you will understand why the small store is a favorite stop for people enjoying a twisty ride through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Located in Watsonville, at the junction of some fun two-lane roads, the market has been serving freshly smoked meats for over fifty years.
One of my favorite motorcycle rides in the Sierras is a loop from South Lake Tahoe to Downieville to Donner Lake. The 260-mile loop not only includes scenic beauty but some of California's most historic areas. You'll pass the east and west shores of Lake Tahoe, the beautiful Sierra Valley, the old mining Town of Downieville, Nevada City, Old Highway 40, and Donner Lake. Read on for a description of this route, photos, and video clips of sights along the way.
Envious is the first word that comes to mind when I think of anyone that lives, breathes and rides the surrounding areas that make up this vast state of California and has the pleasure of experiencing first hand the trifecta that is Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur, on a regular basis. For those who may not know, these (at least for me) are three of the most charming points in the shortest distance that line central California’s curvaceous Pacific Coast Highway and are truly spellbinding, each in their own way, in either direction.
Nicole Espinosa and I were caught on camera in the parking lot of the Montbleu Hotel and Casino in South Lake Tahoe, headquarters for the first annual Lake Tahoe Adventure Motorcycle Ride & Rendezvous. We had a lot of fun there, and I hope to see you there next year.
Friction Zone's got a great article with tankbag tearsheet in the October issue about riding to Grover Beach in the Central Coast region, a spectacular destination for Fall motorcycle touring. Editor Amy Holland writes, "California's coastline is 840 miles long, a distance equal to 375 laps around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca or a main-road ride from Seattle, Washington to Salt Lake City, Utah. (California's tidal shoreline is far longer at 3,427 miles — the riding distance between Seattle and Florida's Key Largo.) About 75 percent of those 840 miles can be explored via California's SR1 which runs from tiny Leggett in the redwoods of northern Mendocino County down to the sandy beaches of Dana Point in southern Orange County. And all along the way, that spectacularly beautiful and winding coastal highway is dotted with quaint towns and villages that beg for further exploration. Because of this, any ramble along SR1 usually results in firm promises to pass this way again—and stay awhile next time…" Watch the video!" And pick up Friction Zone at your local motorcycle shop, or subscribe to get it delivered to your mailbox.
Having moved to Davis from Sonoma County over 13 years ago, the drudge of Highway 80 became unbearable, especially when fighting SUVs in peak Lake Tahoe tourist seasons. There had to be a more scenic, motorcycle friendly route to visit family in Healdsburg and to the beaches of the Pacific Coast where I spent many a weekend as a kiddo. It didn't take long to discover that Highway 128 was going to be the two-lane adventure that would to save me from the four-lane monster. After 10 years of happy exploration I've found the perfect path to the ocean with only 12 miles of freeway to land you in the quaint seaside town of Elk, transforming a freeway grind into a day of twisties through wine country and redwood forest to experience all that makes Northern California so very special.
The first annual Lake Tahoe Adventure Motorcycle Ride & Rendezvous was held from August 24-26, 2012 in perfect riding conditions whether you prefer tarmac, dirt, water, gravel, rocks, sand, or all of the above. “The more dirt on your bike, the better,” was the mantra, but my personal goal was to not fall down on my new-to-me KLR dual-sport.
Rising 14,179 feet out of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and just 50 miles south of the Oregon border, the almost 600-millennia-old stratovolcano known as Mt. Shasta is an imposing, grand, and intriguing sight. It is the second highest peak in the Cascade Range (Mt. Rainier in Washington tops it by 232 feet) and the fifth highest out of a dozen California ‘fourteeners' (mountains over 14,000-feet tall). This dormant northern California volcano with its four overlapping volcanic cones, seven named glaciers, and fumaroles (steam or gas-emitting holes) is expected to erupt sometime during the next ‘several hundred years.' While it would be cool to explore this multi-faceted hunk of rock by climbing to the top, let's explore the terrain that lies below the snow line, at the 5,000-foot (or so) level—you know, the part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest that is amenable to dualsport riding… Download the map and GPS waypoints and get the rest of the story by Amy Holland in Friction Zone's August 2012 issue.
A weekend's journey beach-bound to Mendocino, Caspar, Fort Bragg, Gualala, and Point Arena becomes a cornucopia of ride-to-eat destinations. But, the real delectable delight would be our last-minute detour inland, riding the twisties through Comptche and Booneville to Mountain View Road, becoming the unexpected highlight of the tour.
The plan is is motion, the destination set: Ride some of the twistiest roads connecting Mendocino and Lake counties, find a better-than-decent lunch in Lakeport, overlooking beautiful Clear Lake, and ride some more. The only meals I've partaken of in Lakeport prior to today are burgers and fries at the drive-in (Renee’s Cafe with 15 flavors of milkshake, most excellent on a hot Lake County day), burgers and fries at the local chain restaurant, or burgers and fries at Lakeport Speedway (but more on that later). Today we'll be sampling the fare at Park Place Restaurant, reputedly one of the finer eateries in town.
