May 2019 California on my Cooley

[trevor]

What a great trip and crew. Its always interesting pulling into places with that many bikes. It's fun to see the look of fear from a bunch of bikers, then the huge smiles when you leave after dinners, stories and a nice tip. When I traveled on my Cooley, to this day it was probably one of the most comfy bikes I have ever spent time on. Perfect seat, low bars but not to low, plenty of leg room, little fairing to cut the wind. Why don't they make seats like that any more?....

Thanks my friend, my Cooley is the most comfy bike in my garage...I have done many 700+kms days...even a 900+ day...love that bike!

[allojohn]

Full of envy here Trevor, you live life the way it should be lived. Thanks for posting you b@st@rd!!!

[trevor]

Full of envy here Trevor, you live life the way it should be lived. Thanks for posting you b@st@rd!!!

Lol...thanks John! Life has certainly thrown me some curve balls...but life is great right now and I’m making the most of it!!

[bonanzadave]

Just plain COOL !

[trevor]

Ok...where was I...

Day 8...the plan was to ride from Monterey to Fort Bragg, taking the coast from San Fran all the way to Fort Bragg...the 3 guys from Ontario said good bye to us in Monterey so we were now 10...
The weather was going to turn to heavy rain when we arrived in Olema Ca on the coast...we decided to have a break there and plan our next move...we decided getting off the coast would be the best move, so we headed inland to Petaluma...

Olema



Another Motel 6....I am not staying at motel 6's anymore...lol....

Now to start drying everything out...



Greg was having fun though...lol



So unfortunately day 9 started in the pouring rain..so again no coast but rode down the 101...where after just a few hours we stopped in Willits Ca...a few of the guys were pretty miserable riding in the this heavy down pour....I wanted us to push on to Fort Bragg but the consensus not to go on ...the road to FB is number 20 and it is awesome, very twisty ...so it was a good idea to tackle it in the morning when the weather was to break finally.

So that takes us off the road at 1pm.....uh oh....as I said to everyone...."this might be the day we remember the most...lol...starting drinking at that time of day is always fun....lol



The motel was owned by an awesome East Indian couple that drove us to get beer and food...they even offered to make us dinner!

My buddy Gary getting ready..lol



Me and my cousin Danny...getting comfy..lol



Clothes hanging everywhere...



Are buddy Kent was having electrical issues and as luck would have it our buddy Bucky is an electrical engineer ....

[trevor]

So here we are at day 10..Friday....Me, my cousin and Terry were not in a hurry to get home....Greg, Kent and Rob decided to try and get home for late Saturday...and Gary and Bucky were going to Vancouver and Revelstoke....so we split up into 3 groups

My cousin, Terry and I took 20 to Fort Bragg....glad we did.







On our way to Willow Creek where we will stay for the evening







Sasquatch cage!

[derwood]

FYI Trevor
That Joe Rocket tank bag you have is as waterproof as a screen door. ( i have the same bag)
The thing about it is the heavy carry handle will wear through the paint on the fuel tank from vibration over time.
The handle is redundant anyway,... I cut mine off , I can carry it by the tether.

[trevor]

FYI Trevor
That Joe Rocket tank bag you have is as waterproof as a screen door. ( i have the same bag)
The thing about it is the heavy carry handle will wear through the paint on the fuel tank from vibration over time.
The handle is redundant anyway,... I cut mine off , I can carry it by the tether.

I you look you can see in one of my pics I have a rain cover for it. And the handle doesn’t touch my tank. I have used it many times, including this almost 6000kms trip with no issues

[derwood]

I you look you can see in one of my pics I have a rain cover for it. And the handle doesn’t touch my tank. I have used it many times, including this almost 6000kms trip with no issues

I didn't think the handle touched either, just depended on load i guess. it rubbed through the clear coat in 3 trips on the CBR900RR (9000? km)
I had a rain cover, it's long gone.
The tank bag is 20 years old probably 80000 km of use on it.
I don't miss the handle.

[storm 64]

I'd never put a tank bag on any paint I care about... what do you put in them things anyway?

[derwood]

beer mostly

[storm 64]

beer mostly

I have saddle bags for that. Or a couple of bungie cords when I'm on the GS.👍

[derwood]

...actually....

earplugs, sunblock, spare gloves and glasses.
socks, underwear, t-shirt and a pair of shorts.
toothbrush, razor, corkscrew, lighter, bit of a first aid kit, needle and thread.
bread bags, bottle of water
pretty much everything needed for a week....

(but that little tank bag will hold a dozen beer)

[trevor]

I'd never put a tank bag on any paint I care about... what do you put in them things anyway?

Things that I need accessibility to ....wallet, cellphone, passport, ear plugs, a remote charger, maps, medication, utility knife, pen and paper....
And as far as the paint...I think I have lots to worry about..lol that's why I added extra clear coat to it.

I travel a lot and love a tank bag...even have one for my DR

[trevor]

Next we left Willow Creek Ca. for Eugene Or.

Hwy 96 out of Willow Creek to Happy Camp is a favorite road of mine....very little traffic and amazing views....and that road!

Somes Bar




Happy Camp

Gray Back Pass had just opened a few days before we got there...very beautiful..



We rolled into Eugene for the night....20 min after getting there it started to pour....lucky.





The next day we planed to get to Raymond Wa...Todd from here was watching our progress on facebook and mentioned a vintage show going on in nearby Benton County Fairgrounds...so we started our day there...thanks for the tip Toad.