California Trip; Days 6 and 7

On day 8 we departed Fresno, CA at 8:00 am under blue clear skies with a temperature of 64 and rode directly to Kings Canyon National Park.  It was a beautiful day.

At Kings Canyon we walked around Grant’s Grove and saw numerous humongous Sequoia trees including the third largest tree in the world, the General Grant tree.DSCN1027This tree has a diameter of 40 ft at the base and a circumference of 107 ft.  The volume of wood in the tree equals 159,000 basketballs.

We rode into Kings Canyon, which parallels the Kings River, which was an impressive sight.  Nearly the entire length of the river was rapids.  We had lunch at a picnic site by Grizzly Falls.DSCN1043

Temperatures in Kings Canyon got as low as 52 and there was still snow in places.  Chris enjoyed the colorful wild flowers  in the canyon as well as a cactus, possibly yucca, that she called a “dinger” cactus.DSCN1052

From Kings Canyon we rode into the adjoining Sequoia National Park.  Here we saw the General Sherman tree, which is the largest tree in the world (in total volume of wood).DSCN1061There are taller trees in the Redwood National Park on the coast of northern California.  The General Sherman tree is dead at the top so it does not grow up but it still grows in diameter.

We stopped for the night at a Super 8 Motel in Visalia, CA.DSCN1074 It was a fantastic day of riding (except for the road construction delays in the parks) with great scenery.  We picked up some large pine cones to bring home.  Temperatures ranged from 52 to 86.

On day 7 we departed Visalia, CA a little before 8:00 am.  It was 66 degrees with blue clear skies.  We rode west through the San Juaquin Valley.  There were many vinyards, orchards, and other agricultural endeavors in this area.  We saw large numbers of people working in some of the fields.  The highest temperature we experienced today was 79.

We rode G16 west from Highway 101 to Carmel Valley.  It was quite an experience.  The area was beautiful but the road was quite narrow and rough in many places.  It took us much longer that if we had taken the freeways and main highways on in to Carmel.  That is part of the adventure.

We had lunch at the Hog’s Breath Inn in Carmel.  The Hog’s Breath Inn and other buildings are owned (or used to be owned) by Clint Eastwood.DSCN1075 

After lunch we visited the Carmel Mission.  For pictures of the Carmel Mission click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/CaliforniaTripCarmelMission?feat=directlink

We rode to the Monterey Aquarium in neighboring Monterey, CA, arriving at 4:30 pm.  We found out the place closed at 6:00 pm so we wouldn’t have long for our visit.  We decided to find a motel and return in the morning.  Problem was . . . . the US Open was in progress at Pebble Beach and motels were either full or gouging the hell out of tourists.  We decided to ride north to Santa Cruz, CA for a motel.  Problem was . . . . traffic was terrible due to rush hour and US Open traffic.  It took us 2 and a half hours to drive the 40 miles.  We landed for the night in a Ramada Limited at about 7:15 pm.DSCN1121 We decided not to return to Monterey on day 8.  We’ll make tracks for San Francisco in the morning.

For other pictures from days 6 and 7 click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/CaliforniaTripDays6And7?feat=directlink

Comments

Frank Bryant said…
That seems more like a vacation.
June 29, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We continued east to Walsenburg, LaJunta, and La
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 15

Image
At 7:30AM we drove away from Russellville, AR on a cold 25 degree morning. At least the sun was coming up. Our route was 7 north to Harrison; 65 north to Springfield, MO; I-44 west; 13 north to Clinton; 7 north to Harrisonville; I-49 north; I-435 west to Kansas in the KC area and home. Hwy 7 in Arkansas is a scenic route with hills and curves galore. We stopped several times for photos. On the south side of Bolivar, MO we enjoyed lunch at Smith's Restaurant. It was 39 degrees when we arrived home at 2:20 but we saw a high of 44. It was a good day for our final of the trip. We drove 330 miles today and the total trip mileage was 3,109. I only have 6 photos today but you can click here to see them -  Final Day Pics
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up
Read more