Fortuna CA to Reno NV
Tuesday August 8, 2017
(~336 miles)

I spent another late evening last night on my rally prep for the coming weekend, including dealing with the rear tire issue. My thinking was thus: the PR3 tire being offered the next morning in Eureka was most likely 3 or 4 years old anyway and was a thinner cross-section then what the bike called for. I’ve grown to trust having the car tire mounted, especially for 2-up fully loaded touring, so I had more confidence in its capabilities for this trip, even plugged.

After confirming that I still had full tire pressure and the plug was holding, I decided to see what my options were in Grand Junction CO, the site of rally HQ. We planned to arrive Thursday afternoon and rally tech inspection wasn’t over until 15:00 on Friday. I called ahead to the Honda dealership in Grand Junction to discuss my options there. To my surprise and excitement, they said they would have no problem mounting a car tire on my rim as long as I signed a waiver releasing them from liability. Absolutely! I could remove my wheel in their lot to save time or they’d do it for me first thing Friday morning. I booked the appointment. Then I got on the phone to Pro Tire & Alignment, a Hankook tire dealer listed in Grand Junction. They would be able to get me the tire I needed by Thursday evening no problem.

“Just one?” the guy asked.
“Yep this is for my motorcycle’s rear wheel,” I said, “and I’ll be bringing it right over to the Honda dealership after I pick it up from you.”

That got a chuckle and a “see you on Thursday”. Folks are just so much more laid back out west! I was feeling much more confident at this point. Things were going to work out, though my schedule in Grand Junction would be tight. This morning, I called the Eureka dealer and left a message, thanking them for their willingness to help a stranded rider, but that my plug was holding and I was going to cancel the appointment and keep moving.

After downing our usual Comfort Inn breakfast, we headed out on the road again. I had originally planned to end the day in Fernley NV, but was able to get a hotel for 1/3 the price in nearby Reno, so that was our destination. We would be taking CA Route 36 clear across the state, as this was said to be a wonderful motorcycling road with over a hundred miles of curves and rural California scenery.

We climbed into the hills and passed through some more groves of big redwood trees as we left the towns near US 101 behind us and begin our trek eastward.


Forested areas alternated with open grassy hillsides for cattle grazing.  We noticed some signs warning of construction and a road closure somewhere ahead on CA 36, but I figured there would be signs for a detour at some point and continued on.  We had just completed a particularly nice narrow twisty section up in the mountains between Bridgeville and Dinsmore, with no center line on the road when we came across a construction flagman in the road and a car that was turning around to head back the way we had just come. Oh. Crap.

“Didn’t you see our signs about 15 miles back?” the fellow asked us. I told him that we had, but that in our area of the country,  roads wouldn’t just be blocked off except at the point where you could take a detour. He  laughed and said well this is the only road up here and it’s closed except between 12 and 1pm. After some further discussion, we determined that going around would take just as long or longer than simply waiting here for the road to open. The detour would also involve some sketchy dirt and gravel roads that he seemed doubtful we should attempt on the ST.

So we pulled to the side and chatted with our new friend a while about this and that, giving him a summary of our adventures from yesterday along the coast.  He told us they were straightening out all the curves (!) up here to “improve” the road. I told him not to say that to any motorcyclists as the phrase “straightening out the curves” was too heart-wrenching. Eventually I broke out my HW3 rally pack to read through all the bonus information while Charlotte read an e-book on her Kindle.

Other cars gradually showed up and joined the queue, waiting for the road to open at noon. It’s a good thing we didn’t get here after 1 p.m. or we would have been waiting till evening or making alternate plans. Aside from the kids running around to kill time, there are worse places to get stuck at a roadblock, and we chilled out in the shade for about an hour and a half total until they opened the road again, 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

We had to ride a few miles of single-lane road in line behind a pilot car, past all sorts of construction equipment that were digging, breaking, pounding into the mountainside to straighten out all these pesky curves. 🙁 Finally, we got through that section of construction, having used up a good two hours of the coolest part of our day.

We enjoyed more sweeping curves and vistas as we rode through the open Hills of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest on this wonderful blue highway. Evidence of past wildfires was evident in several places.

Temperatures had climbed into the 90s in the valleys now, and we pulled in to a little general store at the R Wild Horse Ranch, outside of Platina for a quick escape from the heat. We rested ourselves in the shade of their porch while downing cold energy drinks and watching hummingbirds at some hanging feeders.

Then we rode through more beautiful grasslands, making us imagine what the African savanna might look like. The road took on characteristics of a roller coaster at this point as well, with whoop-de-dos going up and down many small hills in a row, making us chuckle aloud.

Then some more construction and one lane sections on sketchy dirt. It appeared that more road widening was going on or perhaps some proactive landslide protection. Either way, the construction zones were adding up to make this road choice a mixed blessing for this trip.

In Red Bluff we stopped for fuel and a cold drink, and I was surprised when the gas pump insisted on wanting to charge me an extra $0.35 for the privilege of using my credit card. When I went inside they told me I could use cash if I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it, nor the attitude, and took my business up the street to another station that advertised you could use your own money without being charged. Apparently this is common practice in these parts, and credit cards aren’t always welcome.

We continued east out of Red Bluff into the Lassen National Forest. For the entire length of our journey on CA 36, we had been looking for the famous sign stating 140 miles of Curves ahead, but had not seen it.  I had even asked a few construction guys about it. I found out later that the sign is visible only while going west from Red Bluff, so I missed that photo opportunity. Will have to return someday, hopefully between construction projects!

We finally ended our bittersweet run on the wonderful Highway 36, turning south on CA 89 by Lake Almanor, which presented us with a nice view at its southern end dam.

 

 

 

 

We joined up with CA 70, which took us the rest of the way through more small mountain towns within the Plumas National Forest and eventually out to US 395. This more traveled route took us quickly into Nevada and the rest of the way south to our destination in Reno.

The Reno Econo Lodge was clean enough, and a decent bargain for a night’s stay. It looked like a remodeled Motor Inn from the 1970s, with multiple outbuildings of rooms, each with a sliding door opening to the courtyards area.

We took care of some laundry and got some takeout Indian food from the attached restaurant, which wasn’t bad and was consumed outside on our mini veranda in the pleasant evening air. I continued to work on my rally planning, but hit the hay fairly early as we had a long day ahead to cross Nevada on US 50.