Belden along CalSR 70 If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop in and see this very cute town!
This restaurant is along the road so I stopped to get a picture. When I did stop, a dirt rider, Mike, pulled up on his bike and we had a very nice conversation. I asked him to take this picture and he nailed it.
The next morning it is time for us to check out of our lodging in Big Bear Lake. So while Bev takes a direct route to Solvang, our next lodging spot, I took the scenic route to pick up two roads. This was the first one. It goes to Bakersfield via Lake Isabella.
Then I rode South to do the Lockwood valley road starting at Frazier Park then down to the junction of 33. This was a real fun road as it is quite remote and they were warnings about its remoteness on both ends.
It was at this point of the day that my selfie stick decided to go toes up, so my selfies - which are lacking in the first place - got real bad for these last few pictures.
Tuesday morning I get up prepared to check off two more rides, the first is the Santa Rosa Creek and Old Creek road.
These were unusual in California as the road are extremely rough and poorly maintained. It is also narrow, quite steep in some places and has blind corners along with some very sharp U corners.
All that of course made for a fun and challenging ride. I did have a very close call with an F-150 driver on one of those hairpin turns. He was going way too fast for the conditions - luckily I saw him in time for me to compensate for his recklessness and quickly stopped, which saved me a lot of grief as otherwise he would have skidded into me and at the very least knocked me and the bike over. As it was, he just skidded onto my side of the road right in front of me.
Whew! It was that close! Being safely enclosed in his new truck I don't think the close call bothered him much because he gave me a friendly wave as he quickly went on his way.
At any rate it was still a fun road and I'm glad I had the opportunity to ride it.
Then it was time to ride the Vineyard canyon road. I guess I was extra sleepy as I had a difficult time finding this road but when I did I was rewarded with some great scenery and excellent riding.
aw3When I reach the end of the road I was surprised that there were no stores of any kind open for me to get a receipt. So I took these pictures and rode back to San Miguel and filled up again at the same gas station I filled up before I started this ride.
It was a great day of riding - very fatiguing but I had a good time.
After those two roads were done, since we were still staying in Solvang for a couple of days I parked the bike and we did some touristy things.
The Mission Santa Ines, was very close to us, it actually bordered the property where we stayed.
We then drove about 20 miles to La Purisma Mission.
The bathing and laundry pool.
Moo
And then it was time to leave Solvang. We packed up and made our way to Bass Lake. Bev took the faster, cager way, and I took the bikers shortcut and checked off another road on the way.
While making my way to Bass Lake I saw this fellow pulled over on the side of the road, and flipped to Uey to go back and help him however it took me a long time to get back to his side of the road because it was a heavily trafficed long uphill road.
Eventually I did make it back to him but by then he had called a tow truck and the tow truck had arrived before I got there.
The tow driver jumped the bike and got it started, but it was running a bit rough, so I told the rider I have a battery to jump his bike if it stalls, and I would follow him until one of us turned off the road. It turned out to be about 20 miles or so and he seemed to be doing well so I went my way. I hope he made it to his destination.
Not long after we separated I reached Bass Lake where we stayed overnight.
Apparently there are lots of bears in that area.
The next morning we relocated to Reno Nevada. Once again Bev took the cager route, and I took another bikers shortcut and checked off yet another road - our traveling arrangement is working out very well!
Highway 4 going from Angels camp to Markleeville.
Somewhere along the way it started raining which is not a problem I had my rain gear. (Hurricane Hillary "
When I reached the end, at Markleeville the gas station pump was not printing receipts and no one was in the store (Sunday) so I had to Ride clear into Nevada to get a gas receipt! But that's okay because I had to go to Reno anyway.
Sunday morning and I'm up ready to check off another road.
This road was closed earlier in the year because of rockslides. And when I rode through there were still two places that had traffic control, limiting traffic to one lane at a time. But it was still a great ride I started in Quincy and ended up in Oroville.
When I entered Oroville I saw a sign for a Chinese temple, and followed the subsequent signs to see it.
I was a little disappointed as I had expected a much more ornate building.
Just as I was arriving at the Chinese temple I saw this guy pushing his bike down the road. I asked him if he needed an air pump which he responded Yes he did so I got out my electric pump and fluffed up his tire. However when he departed he was still pushing and walking beside his bike instead of riding it....
And these are the pictures I took halfway through the ride of the tiny Town of Belden.
Eat sleep, get up and I'm soon heading north to get the road in the Shasta national Forest road 15 or California 97.
Hillary was still raining like crazy and as I made my way along this ride I encountered a bunch of closed roads and detours. The rain and mist got so bad in the afternoon, I decided the best idea was to stop for the day grab a hotel room and continue on the next day. I did so and still had to wander around working my way around detours and closed roads for a while before I was able to continue on.
I was hoping after spending the night in the hotel that I'd see some sunshine in the morning but no such luck this is what I woke up to and it looked like this for the rest of the day.
Our plan called for me to stay in Cal for another two or possibly three days and finish the remaining roads. But with Hillary dumping precipitation the way she was I decided to head home and return another day to finish.
After ending the ride in Macdoel, I rode down to Susanville, the next morning (A sunny day!) I rode to the Loneliest Highway (US50) and motored home.
After 640 miles, a midnight nap at a rest stop, and dodging tire carcasses along the way and I pulled into the driveway at 6:10am...whew!! What a day.
Thanks for visiting and reading my blog!!
Life is GRAND isn't it??
(ps I'll finish and post the final Cal 15 Best in a couple of weeks)
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