Day 12 - Lost Time on the Lost Coast
Day 12
Arcata, CA to Kelseyville, CA
271 miles
We rose to a cool clear morning, somewhat of an oddity in these parts during the summer. After a little map=gazing we decided to ride down the "Lost Coast", a relatively unpopulated area of the Northern California coast not accessible by any major highway.
After a wonderful breakfast in the bucolic berg of Ferndale, we returned to the bikes to discover that Ron's BMW would not start. I had a not-so-private chuckle over this, as my own mechanical problem had been the source of good-natured needling from Ron just a few days earlier. We put our heads together and quickly determined that we had a fuel delivery problem. The fuel pump on a R1150RT is inside the fuel tank, so surgery was begun.
I wish I had remembered that my friends, Mark and Debbie Topping, were "motorcycle people", lived close by and would have been happy to help out.
We found and fixed the problem within two hours - amazing considering the limited supply of tools we had and the less-than-optimum working conditions. Once repaired, we made our way through the unspoiled beauty of the "Lost Coast".
The road was in very poor condition in some places. We were told later that a section of the coastal road gave way under the weight of several motorcycles just a couples of weeks earlier, resulting in rider injuries serious enough to require MedEvac flights to get them to the hospital. The road would be great for a big dual sport machine, something with long travel suspension, but it was taxing and uncomfortable on my stiffly suspended VFR. 
We completed our loop with a run through the redwoods in Humbolt Redwoods State Park. The size and majesty of those trees never fails to leave me awed.
The time lost in making roadside repairs required an alteration in schedule, and we rode Hwy 101 south to Ron's brother's house in Kelseyville. A wonderful dinner was waiting for us on the grill, and I for one was ready to stop rolling for a while.
Arcata, CA to Kelseyville, CA
271 miles
We rose to a cool clear morning, somewhat of an oddity in these parts during the summer. After a little map=gazing we decided to ride down the "Lost Coast", a relatively unpopulated area of the Northern California coast not accessible by any major highway.
After a wonderful breakfast in the bucolic berg of Ferndale, we returned to the bikes to discover that Ron's BMW would not start. I had a not-so-private chuckle over this, as my own mechanical problem had been the source of good-natured needling from Ron just a few days earlier. We put our heads together and quickly determined that we had a fuel delivery problem. The fuel pump on a R1150RT is inside the fuel tank, so surgery was begun.
I wish I had remembered that my friends, Mark and Debbie Topping, were "motorcycle people", lived close by and would have been happy to help out.We found and fixed the problem within two hours - amazing considering the limited supply of tools we had and the less-than-optimum working conditions. Once repaired, we made our way through the unspoiled beauty of the "Lost Coast".
The road was in very poor condition in some places. We were told later that a section of the coastal road gave way under the weight of several motorcycles just a couples of weeks earlier, resulting in rider injuries serious enough to require MedEvac flights to get them to the hospital. The road would be great for a big dual sport machine, something with long travel suspension, but it was taxing and uncomfortable on my stiffly suspended VFR. 
We completed our loop with a run through the redwoods in Humbolt Redwoods State Park. The size and majesty of those trees never fails to leave me awed.The time lost in making roadside repairs required an alteration in schedule, and we rode Hwy 101 south to Ron's brother's house in Kelseyville. A wonderful dinner was waiting for us on the grill, and I for one was ready to stop rolling for a while.
posted by Matt Lewis at 8:17 AM
1 Comments:
Sorry we missed you guys. We love doing that "Lost Coast" loop -- the road is always kinda crappy but I hear it's pretty bad now. Glad you got to see that part of the coast. It's awesome to find a stretch of beach with no one on it. Have a safe ride home. Maybe we'll catch you next time....Deb
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