Last weekend's ride was memorable, although I missed the camaraderie of the rest of the Gang I usually ride with who camped out in Borrego Springs.
Mike Davis and I rode the coast on Friday (April 25th) stopping at Big Sur for the night. Yes, the ride up was a little moist, but not necessarily from rain. At times, it seemed like we were riding in a cloud. We arrived at the site late Friday afternoon. The site that was assigned to us was muddy, but since the occupancy was low, we were able to pick a site that was dry and close to the bathroom. The bonus was that we were able to hear the stream without paying for a river site.
The next morning, Mike headed back home via the coast and I headed north to meet the NorCal club. It took me longer than expected to get across the Golden Gate Bridge (1:30), so I amended my route to stay on the 101 longer than I originally anticipated. By doing this, I discovered an incredible road, numbered 128 from Cloverdale to the coast. In some sections, trees formed a canopy over the gently twisting road on impeccable pavement. I kept saying "wow" to myself.
I got to the NorCal site later than I expected, about a quarter to 5. Everyone was milling around waiting for the meeting to start. I checked out the campsite and was discouraged by the mud and how close the tents were packed in. Faced with the probability of parking my bike in the general store parking lot and hiking my gear through the mud, taking space away from club members and getting my tent muddy, I decided to try something else.
I recalled that some of my NorCal Airhead friends, including Bob Shilling, camp annually in October at the Manchester KOA, 32 miles south of Caspar RV Park. When I got there, I found a nearly vacant campsite with private showers and grassy areas for tents (see pic below). Although a little pricy (what do you expect? It's a KOA), this might be worth considering as a future venue. There is a store, like I said - nice showers and a grassy area for the tents.
Sunday, I rode south on a beautiful stretch of PCH until I reached Jenner, then turned inland on 116, then to 12 then to I-80 to Sacramento where I had some business to take care of Monday morning.
I rode home Monday (on Hwy 99), capping a four day, 1,440 mile spring ride.
The Route
Big Sur with Mike Davis
Manchester KOA
My Campsite at the Manchester KOA
My tent. Yes, it was a little chilly in the morning (a little below 40oF)