Visiting the US by motorcycle

My new favorite mode of transportation... Here is a collection of motorcycle roads that you can follow. It is currently ajust rather lame chronological list of all of the major rides I have completed (or are planning to in the near future) which means it is largely limited to the Sacramento area and Northern California. Most of these roads (and some routes) are courtesy of Tim (pashnit) at pashnit.com but he encourages exploration so I have deviated some and recorded by own experiences.

It seems silly for me to duplicate any of the words that he has so wonderfully written already to describe these roads so I will just present you with my routes and stories in order to save you the bother of coming up with them yourself.

Please please please... if you take any of these journeys, please ride safely and respect the local homeowners and observe posted speed warnings in populated areas and especially cruising through small towns. While I encourage a little fun and a little speed, I also encourage police and neighbors cracking down on unsafe riders.

As you'll soon see, I have a general rule against riding the same road back if at all possible. You'll note I sometimes throw in one extra road that will put me further away just to take a different route home. Living in Elk Grove, I find myself on Hwy 16 often, which is fine if you like that sort of thing but not my cup of tea.

Date	Destination
June 16th, 2004	Serrano and Salmon Falls
Description
Doug and I did our first ride heading up towards Cool via Serrano and Salmon Falls. Still on my permit, we had to head home before dark, so we'll save Cool for another day. This was a nice mellow ride through Folsom and up to the East edge of the lake. We stopped at a little park area that seems to be a take-out point for some of the kayak trips. Salmon Falls is a popular route among the sportbike crew, so I'll definitely be heading up there in the future.

Date	Destination
Late July 2004	Volcano-Wilton
Description
I was supposed to ride with the DFR crew out to Volcano on "Scotts Loop" which may have included Mokelumne Hill. Being still a little inexperienced, I chickened out and decided to ride it on my own and take whichever road suited me well and meet Sarah out at the barn in Wilton. So we'll call this the "Volcano-Wilton" route. The roads were great fun, with a few loose pieces and some bumps along the way. Early in the morning the shadows were peaking through the trees which scared me more than it should have. I should have gotten gas in Jackson, but my reserve light wasn't on, and for some reason I felt like I needed to get heading towards home. Taking 104 home allowed me to stop at the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant (and recreation area). I decided to skip the $3 admission to the lake/park and instead just admired the cooling stacks. Quite impressive! Can you believe that they've planted wineries all around that area????!?!?!?

Date	Destination	Pic
August 28, 2004	Volcano short route
Description
Doug wanted to pick up his bike from his sister's house in Elk Grove, so after he finally woke up and drove down there, we headed off to Volcano to explore some other roads Pashnit had listed. Due to the late start, we cut short of Volcano and headed back home via an unscheduled road. It was a nice road, with little patches of population. Jackson highway seems like such a waste sometimes, but there's so much to explore out there. This is a great route if you live in Rancho Murieta and want a quick blast out and back.

Date	Destination	Pic
September 18, 2004	Volcano again
Description
A small group of Sacramento riders from the Bay Area Riders Forum wanted to meet up for a quick ride. Nobody had any definitive plans, and Pashnit had warned us to graduate from Wentworth and Salmon Falls, so I made up some routes out to Volcano again from In-N-Out via White Rock, Latrobe, Willow Creek, Sutter Ione Rd, lunch at the EXCELLENT diner in Sutter Creek, Shake Ridge road up into Volcano (watch for the swichbacks). I left the group there so that they could continue north via Fiddletown home while I took the easy route south into Pine Grove and on to Jackson and through Ione. I really don't mind 104 that much, but it is long and boring. Cutting out Wilton didn't seem to subtract much time as I was still late returning home. Riding in groups makes planning times tough!

Date	Destination
September 25th, 2004	Delta Loop
Description
This is a route to Rio Vista that a couple of the Elk Grove Online folks run to get breakfast early Sunday mornings. Rio Vista itself is a dump (and infested with cops), but the Delta ride does have its own special charm. Sure there were bumps and bugs as promised... but this was actually quite a nice mellow ride. I followed a nice Yellow Ducati 996 with a passenger for a while. Once he started darting around cars on the twisty narrow roads I let him go. He was staying on 160 past my turnoff to 12 anyway. On the way back, you'll notice that there's supposed to be a way to get onto a road called Tyler Island. Either Microsoft is wrong, or that road isn't accesible anymore or I just just plain missed it. However, I did find positively the BEST delta road I've ever ever ever been on. It's a newly paved stretch of perfectly cambered beautifully twisty road that goes between what I think is Terminous Rd. and the backside of Isleton. I doubt I'll be heading back there anytime soon, but if anyone else finds it let me know. I did manage to find the Oxbow Marina, which looked nice, so I must have been on the right track. The ride back through historic Franklin was a quaint trip back through time. It's amazing how far South Elk Grove has started building! This is definitely a route I'd recommend! p.s. You can't see it in the picture, but next to the historic Rio Vista Hotel is a bar/restaurant called Striper's. You can guess why I stoppped... I thought one of the bugs on my visor was an extra P!

Date	Destination
February 13th, 2005	EGO Delta Run
Description
Dan (nodonutz) posted looking for Harley riders to take a ride with. I responded that Harleys are junk, but I'd like to ride anyway. :) We got together with kevin and headed down the delta for a couple of hours. We met IrisTattoo at It's a Grind, and she said that her daughter was working at Freeport Bar & Grill and that we should stop by. A plan was made. We stopped in Isleton (group pic) and watched the apparent mayor of the town walk around the busy street (he's the dog). We then dodged all the cops and ended up at the above mentioned Freeport Bar & Grill (here's Dan to prove it). All in all, a great day! Excellent pace and no rain at all!

Future rides planned:

Date	Destination
Spring 2005?	Livermore Loop
Description
A nice loop around the favorite roads near Livermore will allow me to meet up with my very good friend Catherine who just bought a Ducati 748S. Maybe end up with lunch at Hooters in Dublin? Hopefully other Bay Area folks will be able to join us???? Kian?

Date	Destination	Pic
February, 2005?	Mokelumne Hill
Description
I have to hit Mokelumne Hill if only to find out how to pronounce it! This route is ready to go, who wants to join us? Leaving from "It's a Grind" in Elk Grove.