Those of you who live in the Sacramento Valley know that last week’s 108 degrees was no party. I decided the heck with this and headed for the coast. I left Wednesday around 10 AM heading west on I-80. It was already indicating 102 on the R1200GSA’s onboard thermometer as I went through Vacaville and Fairfield about an hour later.

After a lunch stop in Novato where I was treated to lunch by my twitter pal Motoette (thanks Cindi!), I headed to Petaluma where I gassed up and headed towards Bodega Bay. Through Bodega and up the coast I cruised. My mesh gear was getting cool as temps dropped into the mid 60′s. I wanted to stop and add a layer but didn’t want to have to re-pass all the cars I had gotten around so I pressed on. I reached my overnight destination near Point Arena well  before the sun went down.

When I awoke on day two it was drizzling! Not a real rain but sort of a heavy mist that almost kinda wets the road in places, but doesn’t get you wet while riding. What a contrast! I headed north on CA-1 to visit another twitter pal, Lilredridingliz in Fort Bragg for lunch. Liz and Cindi (Motoette) are alumni from the recent BMW National Rally in Redmond OR.

Liz showed me around Fort Bragg. I was feeling adventurous so we had lunch at a restaurant that serves everything raw. Even the bread is pressed from sunflower sprouts or something. After lunch I enjoyed a scoop of Cowlicks hand made ice cream and was treated to a cappuccino from Headlands Coffeehouse (thanks Liz!).

A few weeks ago I was watching the old movie the Russians Are Coming. I noticed that the fictitious town in New England looked a lot like the Mendocino Coast. It turns out that it was in fact filmed in Mendocino and the surrounding area including Noyo Harbor which is located at the south end of Fort Bragg. So after saying goodbye to Liz, camera in hand I decided to head over to Noyo and take a few pictures.

After Noyo I enjoyed the 40 or so miles back to my lodging. The next morning (Friday) I decided to take the scenic route home. The route was south on 1 to Annapolis Road (south end of Sea Ranch) and left up the hill. At the old bridge (which is still in use) I turned left onto Stewart’s Point-Skaggs Springs Road which takes you to Geyserville.

Are they supposed to be doing this?

From there I went through Calistoga, had lunch at Taylor’s Refresher (now Gott’s) in St. Helena and took CA-128 over Berryessa. With very little traffic it was a quick ride and I was passing “the Corners” before I knew it. Through Winters and onto the freeway in Davis, back to Sacramento and home.

The GSA handles amazing and with that huge gas tank I never even needed gas. OK, well that’s an exaggeration, I did have to fill up a couple of times, but it is incredible having a 300 plus mile range.

It was a great ride.