Thursday–Sunday, 6–9 Oct 2016
Rob writes:
Pictures
Thursday
Departed SF after the morning traffic settled to go up to Santa Rosa and rendezvous with long time friend and grammar school buddy Ralf Konietzko at his architecture office . Met up with him around 3pm and he guided me on a tour of NE Sonoma County on the way to his house.
It is really a journey in and of itself to find and get to his compound/estate, mini forest/animal farm/domicile. Winding our way up the west side of the Mt. St Helena I did not know it but this is how he commutes from downtown Sonoma to his property which consists of over 200 acres. Wow!
Up up and more up we go past rolling vineyards and onto a dirt and narrow road that takes you to his location. The final half mile is unpaved and he had warned me knowing I was on my 800 pound Indian which is not quite the adventure tourer some folks own.
Rolled into his property and saw a home I assumed was his nestled on the west side of the mountain with some good views for sunsets. That turned out to be just the guest house!
Continuing down past fruit orchards, horse pens and landscaped grounds we finally pulled into the actual drive way of his house. His fiancé Jennifer helped design and build this beauty in 2008. “Hop on the quad” said Ralf before unloading our gear.
I sat on the back of the Honda and he took me to his barn where I then got my own quad for a tour of the land. About a mile down the trail we blazed with his german shepard behind and he tells me this is just one third of his property. Unreal. Beers on the viranda and watched the sunset and felt like we were a million miles from civilization.
Friday – Destination Gardnerville Nevada
On the road at 7:30AM cool and good. Road along Silverado Trail into Napa Valley first thing in the morning. Took 128 east through Berryessa and into Winters for a good breakfast and chat with the candidates see photo. Ralf by the way is riding his 2004 BMW GS.
Good bfast at the Putah Creek café then headed east on 131 past Davis and up 80 to Auburn, ca. then 49 south to Placerville via cool and Coloma site of gold discovery fame way back when. Stopped for ice tea at The Levee Zydacco bar in Placerville. Weather good and in the 70s and comfortable. 50 up to south shore over echo summit with a side detour to echo lake see photo which is over 7000 feet up. Gorgeous. Pioneer trail to south shore cross the state line to Kingsbury grade. Motorcycle rider down on side of road so we stopped to lend a hand. Sheriffs trucks on hand, ambulance and fire truck all there and we were in the middle of it for an hour. Harley rider taken a left turn bottomed out and he and his son went down. Hope no bones broken but they went to the hospital for inspection. Arrived at Westerner motel to un load and then I took Ralf to JT bar for drinks and good dinner. Stopped at Sharkeys casino and it is all electronic with no more tables to play black jack. The one and only actual roulette table was a cloth mounted on the wall. So much for the digital age. Good news I did not lose a dime.!
Saturday
Up and on the road at 7am at was very cold. 36 so I waited to take Ralf on a scenic ride to and went straight to Carson City to pick up Glenn Fritz at our designated café next to the Nuggett. Headed North to Reno in search for the Aerostitch pop up sale where Rralf bought new rain pants. This took us out to the west side of Reno where there are hundreds of new homes still being built. Reno continues to expand. Reno north on 395 to the Hallelujah junction for gas then 70 west to Graegle where the Indian Motorcycle club out of San Jose was meeting for a dinner that night. Great scenic riding and no problemos.
First ones there and sure enough they have a pool side bar! We likey.
Smoked a stogie and hung with Glenn while Ralf continued and went for more riding and a hike. Motorcyles and trikes came in after 5 or so after a long ride they had starting in San Jose that morning. Dinner was a sit down catered affair sponsored by the spirit motorcycle dealership. Martin from Argentina was the gracious host. Saw the giants lose game 2 at a tv in the outside pool bar. Very cool that night after the sun went down.
Sunday
Too cold to ride first thing so we had breakfast first and hit the road around 9:30am. Gene Walker from the Indian group joined Ralf and I up to Quincy in the Plumas National Forest up highway 70 one of my favorites. Road south along the Feather river canyon and all of its scenic glory. Very nice ride and the best leg of the trip. Gene broke off from us and headed south past Oroville and we continued into Chico for lunch at the Madison bear Garden. This was one of my old stomping grounds in the late 70’s when I went to school at Chico State.
Took 32 20 miles west to Orland and then hit I-5 to book it home. Ralf exited at highway 20 near Colusa and I went to 80 west knowing I would hit some traffic . Glen lounged in Graegle until it warmed sufficiently to get his butt back to Carson City. A very enjoyable weekend and good riding. 768 total miles for me over 4 days.
Pictures
Candidates
Echo lake at 7000 feet
Glenn Rob Ralf at bar
Feather river
river pines resort in graegle, ca