Previous Years Road Reports

After securing the funds to pay for the repairs, airplane ticket, and hotel/travel expenses, I eagerly awaited the phone call from D&D Discount Motorcycles in Tempe AZ that the trike was ready for pick up.

Approximately 9 days later I got the call and immediately booked a flight and made hotel reservations. This time I was going to leave in the early hours of the morning riding through the desert before the intense heat of the day started. I of course remembered to bring my cooling vest with me.

The flight to Tempe from San Luis Obispo CA happened according to plans and I arrived in Tempe at 3 in the afternoon. The temperature was 113 degrees. There had been a heat wave for the last 10 days with temps over 110 degrees each day.

I called D&D Discount Motorcycles and let them know I had arrived. Mark the owner of the shop came to the airport and picked me up in his car. The damage to the trike was quite extensive and is best described and seen in the video.

After thanking the fine people at D&D Discount Motorcycles I drove to the hotel and checked in.

I planned to get up at 2 in the morning and place all the cameras on the trike and load up all the gear that I brought with me from California, before heading out on my ride home.

 I finally finished my preparations for the ride two hours and 30 minutes later, not even close to the optimistic 20 minutes I planned, and headed towards the road home. 

The ride through the desert was comfortable and the traffic was light. The trike was running perfectly and I had adjusted to the new ride, not flinching when I would hit a bump like I would before getting the new rear end.

At around 5:45 in the morning, the temperature was hitting the triple-digit mark and I decided to pull over at a Rest Area don my cooling vest, and plan the rest of my ride home.

At the Rest Area, I put on my cooling vest and reviewed the route for the rest of the ride home.

My GPS had me going up Highway 5 through the California Central Valley which was having a heat wave of its own, so I decided that I would take Highway 10 (which I was currently on) to Highway 134 then take Highway 101 which would take me close to the Pacific Coast and ultimately home. This route would also create the opportunity to visit my brother-in-law Liam in Ventura CA, which I hadn’t seen for half a year. 

I called Una and checked in and let her know about my plans. She told me that she was meeting up with Vicki and George, a couple of friends of ours, who were going to a concert near where we lived and the plan was to have dinner before the concert. I told her I would call Vicki when I got to Liam’s house and possibly meet them and Una at the restaurant.

The ride to Liam’s house was smooth and I didn’t run into much traffic until reaching Ventura CA. Knowing the area well I took back streets to Liam’s.

The visit with Liam was wonderful and relaxing. I contacted Vicki and plans were confirmed to meet up at an Italian restaurant in Pismo CA. They would be departing several minutes ahead of me going to the restaurant and I would meet up with them shortly after they got there. A phone call to Una meant all the players were in action and looking forward to the dinner.

My visit with Liam went a little longer than planned so I got a late start heading towards the dinner reservation. Approximately 45 minutes into my ride, I got this frantic call from Una. She was very upset saying she got a text from Vicki and George that I had been in a terrible accident and they were headed to Cottage Hospital. After assuring her that I was fine and calming her down she re-read the text. The text was addressed to me and stated "Greg, we have been in a terrible accident and were headed to Cottage Hospital". Meaning they had been a terrible accident and not me.

Plans were made that Una would continue to the restaurant and try to find out what she could about the accident, and I would meet up with her there as I was a long way from Cottage Hospital and traffic leading there was backed up and it would take hours to get there and I was only a half hour away from the restaurant. 

Continuing on Highway 101 I eventually arrived at the restaurant in Pismo CA.

Giving hugs and relieved we were okay and safe, Una and I proceeded to make contact with George and Vicki. They were stabilized at the hospital and were going to be there for a few days while further examinations were performed.

We had dinner and toasted the good fortune that Vicki and George were still with us and going to be okay. After dinner we drove the remaining 45 minutes home, ending this amazing adventure.

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The plan was to ride from California’s Central Coast to Tempe AZ ultimately arriving at the D&D Discount Motorcycles (the Champion Trike Dealer and Service Center) to get new seals on the differential and new shocks and tires. 

The first mistake was thinking the trike was going to be safe to ride with only a blown right shock and a leaky differential. Turns out that it was far worse and possibly life-threatening.

The second mistake was even after planning the route out, and seeing that I would be riding across the Southern California Desert, setting a starting time to leave the Central Coast of California at 7 in the morning. Although this would have me missing most of the traffic in the greater Los Angeles area it would have me crossing the desert in the afternoon.

The third mistake was forgetting to pack my cooling vest before leaving.

The fourth mistake wasn’t checking the weather forecast before leaving. Turns out that a major heat wave was hitting the desert and Phoenix area, breaking records and lasting for weeks.

The ride to Tempe was non-eventful. I did miss most of the traffic problems in the LA area only having to slow down once because of a car being on fire in the opposite direction.

Occasionally I would hear a ringing sound coming from the right rear of the trike, but slowing down seemed to stop this from happening. Turns out the sound was my right wheel rubbing on the wheel well.

During the last hundred miles before arriving at Tempe AZ the temperature had risen to 107 degrees and I had to stop at every Rest Stop to soak my undershirt in water and put it on completely wet, then put on a second T-shirt to slow the evaporation. This worked well enough to get me to the next Rest Stop and repeat the process.

I didn’t arrive in Tempe before the 5 p.m. closing time of the shop so I decided to go directly to the hotel and deliver the trike the next day when the shop opened.

Upon checking into the room I felt completely spent because of the time riding in the heat so I stripped down to my underwear and laid on the bed with the air conditioner on high hitting me directly. It took at least 45 minutes before I was feeling better and was able to fall asleep.

The next morning I woke up feeling fine and drove the trike over to the shop just as they were opening. I left the trike in their capable hands and went back to the hotel room to wait for the work to be completed.

Upon examination at the shop, not only were the shocks blown but several parts of the rear end had broken.

It became abundantly clear that the shop wasn’t going to be able to weld the broken parts to make the trike rideable. What wasn’t clear was how I was able to make the trip there in the first place as the tires had been rubbing on the body and the rear end was barely holding the wheels on the trike. I guess if there is a god then I truly was riding with him.

It was decided that the only thing to do was to replace the rear end so I flew home with my tail between my legs and made plans on how to make this happen while the good people at D&D made this a priority to get it done as quickly as possible. 

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This is part one of a four-part challenge called "The IBA Four Seasons Challenge." The rules for the "Four Seasons Challenge" are simple, 

1. Ride the same IBA Ride 4 times in a calendar year.
2. The rides must occur sometime during the Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, and Fall Equinox.
3. Each ride is individually certified.
4. Upon certifying all four rides you have completed the "Four Season Challenge".

The plan is to ride an IBA Saddlesore (1 thousand miles in less than 24 hrs) only riding during the hours of each Solstices and Equinoxes and to complete each ride while staying within the California State Borders. This purist attitude towards riding only during the Solstices and Equinoxes means that I will have to start my rides shortly after midnight to ensure I have enough time to complete the challenges. To ride each season within the State of California, I will be taking the easy way by riding the same route each time. This will allow me to film the same locations during all four seasons, which will be interesting to see the changes. I will be mainly sticking to major highways both to decrease my riding time and to ensure I will be able to ride the same route each time if we have a wildfire occur, or heavy snows during the winter.

The itinerary is to ride 1070 miles in 18 hours. 32 min. The projected gas stops will only take 10 minutes each and the total nonriding time including a rest and lunch break will be 2 hrs and 53 minutes. The projected fuel cost will be $224.78.

Preparations: 

1. To combat the problem of being sleepy towards the end of the ride which happened on previous Saddlesore rides and meet my personal goal of completing the ride during the 24 hours of the Summer Solstice I did the following: Four days before the ride I would get out of bed at 10 p.m. and stay awake until 11 a.m. when I would take a ninety-minute nap. I would then remain awake until 4 p.m. at which time I would sleep for 6 hours. I repeated this schedule for the four days before my run.
2. To minimize having to use the restroom at each gas stop: Four days before the run was to begin I removed all caffeine from my diet, enduring the headaches that came from the caffeine withdrawal and I drank daily 1/2 gallons of Gatorade. The plan was to be fully hydrated when I started the ride and would only have to sip water to keep my lips and mouth moist during the ride, thus not filling my bladder and needing to urinate.
3. To remove the possibility of getting leg cramps that always occurred during previous Saddlesore rides, 2 weeks before the start of the run I started taking a 1-a-day vitamin with a potassium supplement and ate a banana each day. During this same time frame, I also started doing stretching recommended by the IBA as well as riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes each day.

The ride began with me getting up at 10 p.m. and having something to eat and putting on my riding gear. After loading up the remaining items needed onto the trike I attempted to test all the cameras before departing.

My tablet wasn't responding to all my cameras and I couldn't get them to turn on. This was very strange as just 6 hours earlier everything was working just fine. I finished everything I needed to do before leaving, kissed my lovely bride goodbye, and proceeded to mount up.

I attempted once again to get the cameras to work but wasn't having any success. The time was 1:30 a whole 1 1/2 hrs past my projected start time when I decided I wasn't going to be able to film the ride and set out for my first gas receipt, officially starting the run.

The first stop happened according to plan except the gas pump wasn't printing receipts and I had to go inside to get one. Even with this, I was able to depart on my projected time.

There was minimal traffic on the freeway due to the time of day and I quickly settled into riding mode. At approximately 45 minutes it became apparent that the temperature was too low for me to be using my fingerless riding gloves, and I had to stop at a rest stop and change gloves.

The remaining ride to my first gas stop in Kettleman City went flawlessly and I arrived only 6 minutes behind my projected schedule, due to the stop to change gloves. I performed my gas stop 2 minutes faster than I had projected and was feeling very optimistic while heading down Highway 5 toward gas stop number 2. After approximately 20 minutes it became apparent that I hadn't plugged in my heat controller to my liners at the last gas stop as I was getting cold. I had to pull off on the next exit and attach the liners to the controller before once again heading down Highway 5 towards gas stop number 2.

I was making good time on the highway and had finally settled into cruising mode. The music was playing and I was now enjoying the decaf coffee that I had brought along with me. LIFE IS GRAND.

I arrived at gas stop #2 in Lathrop 8 minutes behind the projected arrival time due to stopping to hook up my heated liners to the controller. I decided that I would take extra time at this stop to make sure I performed my refueling process correctly, and not forget to do something that would cause me to once again have to do another unplanned stop. I also took some time to walk around and stretch my legs, use the restroom, and eat some of the snacks I had brought along. I ended up spending 27 minutes longer than my projected time. This turns out to be the longest gas stop of the entire ride.

This also turned out to be the best thing I could have done. The ride to gas stop #3 in Corning was once again flawless with everything going along as planned. I arrived exactly at my projected time, the sun had come up giving me renewed energy, and this ride was starting to feel like "One of the Great Ones". I decided I was not going to attempt to adhere to the 10-minute projected gas stops and instead make them more casual. I ended up spending an extra 17 minutes at the gas station, once again having to use the restroom and stretch my legs before heading out towards gas stop #4 which would be the halfway mark of the run.

The ride to gas stop #4 in Yreka was wonderful as I entered the mountains with wonderful vistas of forests, Shasta Lake, and of course, Mount Shasta in the distance still wearing a coat of white snow. The run took 8 minutes longer than the projected time due to construction on the highway. I took an extra 20 minutes departure from the projected gas stop itinerary to revel in the fact I had made it to the halfway point of the run and to again use the restroom and stretch my legs, before heading south on my return route and towards the rest stop where I would have lunch and a nap.

On the return portion of the ride, I was able to see Mt Shasta from the other side and preferred this view to the view going north as you could see its dual peaks. The ride to the Lake Head Rest Area was uneventful. I wasn't tired and only took the time to eat my dinner and stretch my legs. I ended up spending 12 minutes less than I had projected in the itinerary.

The remainder of the ride went according to plans and I arrived at my final gas stop with 1 hour and 36 minutes to spare to qualify for riding during the equinox.

The total miles was 1070 miles

The total time to complete was 20 hrs 36 minutes

The projected time to complete was 18 hrs 33 minutes.

The difference between the projected time and the actual time was due to extended gas stops and unnecessary stops to complete things I should have finished during my gas stops such as plugging in my heated gear or changing out my gloves from fingerless to full gloves.

The intervals between gas stops went according to projected riding times and in some cases even less time.

The total gas usage was 37.75 gallons and my MPG average was 29.49

I didn’t find myself getting tired or sore towards the end of the ride which I have to credit my changing my sleeping pattern to match my planned ride, cutting out caffeine four days ahead of the ride, and taking a one-a-day multiple vitamins with a supplement potassium tablet daily a week before the ride.

Taking all things into consideration, I would have to say this was a successful Saddlesore ride with only a few things I have to correct on my next one. 

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The plan was to film the Montana de Oro State Park for an upcoming YouTube Video on the Nomad's Last Ride YouTube channel. The scripts, screenplay, and filming schedule were all completed and ready to go. All the cameras were ready and functioning as planned. Our good friend and subscriber Bertie was joining us to assist in the filming. 

I was to leave early and film riding throughout the entire park while using all 5 cameras. Upon reaching the end of the road the plan was to turn around and film an end-to-end run on the main road back to the entrance. Una and Bertie were to meet up with me later at the Spooner Ranch House, which is the park's headquarters.

 
The weather was a seasonal "June Gloom", with overcast skies that continued for the entire day. It was comfortable with the addition of sweaters. 

The ride to the park was a perfect and comfortable ride allowing me to get myself mentally into the tasks lying ahead. I reached the entrance of the park right on time and proceeded to start filming riding through the park on all the access roads. There were a lot of visitors, which I found interesting as this was a week day but then again, it is June and people were already starting their vacations. Filming went off as planned without a hitch, and when I reached the end of the access roads, I turned around and filmed riding the full length of the park on the main road.

After completing my filming I headed back to the Spooner Ranch House and finished drinking my coffee while setting up the equipment in anticipation of Una and Bertie's arrival, which occurred just minutes after I was finished. We reviewed the filming schedule and made our plans on how we were going to accomplish them. Una and Bertie immediately set off to film the interior of the Spooner Ranch House, where they did a wonderful job of. 

We drove to the farthest point in the park and worked our way to the entrance filming several locations using handheld cameras, and filming a couple of action shots of the trike.

Afterward, we met up at the "Casitas Mexican Restaurant" in Los Oso for a summation of our day and a wonderful lunch.

All things taken into consideration this was a fantastic day of riding and filming in a wonderful park. This being the first attempt at filming with a "crew" I have to say it was very successful and I'm looking forward to sharing the YouTube video with you.

Thank you Una and Bertie - you are the best.

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The weather blessed our second attempt to complete this run with blue skies, pillow clouds, and a temperature slightly on the crisp side where I had to wear a coat while riding but was very comfortable without the coat when I was off the bike.

Una has become comfortable driving the bike and the ride was very smooth and drama free.

The wildflowers did not disappoint and surprisingly with it being a Tuesday, the tourists were out and enjoying the blooms. Hard to imagine what it would be like on the upcoming weekend when the word gets out and more people are off and available for a scenic drive.

The video-taking leaped forward in that we could have two cameras operating. Live streaming was a bust as we lose the ability to stream when we lose our cell phone coverage, often away from the cities where the real action takes place. The plan going forward is to scrap the idea of having a live stream and instead post comments and photos on the "Live Event Page" when we can.

We decided to make this a shorter run and instead of going to the Long Branch Saloon, we went home after spending some time in the grandeur of the bloom. The ride was a fun comfortable run. Una did a fabulous job of piloting the trike to the wildflowers and after all being said, I give it two thumbs-ups.

Below are the many photos we took followed by our 1st attempt at a video of a run. It is all-inclusive of the entire run so it's rather long with a running time of 29 minutes but be sure to see close to the end for the spectacular views of the bloom.

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This was a ride to collect photos of Laguna Lake and Lopez Lake to complete the photo gallery for the "Lakes Run - Slo County" that occurred on March 14th, 2023. To see the added photos click here. This run is Una's 1st time in the driver's seat.

The KSU (starting time) was moved back to noon because we were having issues getting the "Live Video" to operate correctly. The "Live Tracking" and "Helmet Cam" were both functioning correctly. We worked out the bugs in the "Live Video" after the run was completed and should be available on the next run.

April Fool's Day greeted us with glorious sunshine without clouds. The temperature was 70 degrees making for a comfortable ride. We loaded up with our own apprehensions to deal with. Una's being not yet comfortable with the operation of the bike, and mine being comfortable with Una's operation of the bike. All these needless apprehensions slowly dissolved as the ride progressed as the video shows less of my "keep in the middle of the road" comments and more of Una's comments about how well she was doing.

Una did very well and she can truly pilot the trike efficiently. We will need to do more runs on twisty roads to allow her to become comfortable with the shifting. 

By the time we reached Laguna Lake Una had her shifting down and was making her lane changes and turns like a pro. After taking photos of both lakes we went to Arroyo Grande for a nice lunch

The run was a blast and I really love when Una comes along especially now that she can do some of the driving. I'm looking forward to future runs together.

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What was supposed to be a fun, beautiful leisure ride along one of California's Best Motorcycle Roads started quite superbly. The weather was warm compared to what it had been for weeks and the sky was mostly clear with pillow clouds occasionally showing up. Ed had decided to join us in the car following the trike, so now there would be four of us on this run, Una, Marilyn, Ed, and me.

Then things started changing strangely. First off, the email to subscribers wasn't sent out so they could at least track the ride. Secondly, I knew ahead of time that all the parts needed to do a live recording weren't going to arrive in time. So it was decided that we would instead post little videos on the Live Event Page. On the first attempt the battery on the GoPro camera was dead and we had to power it with a cable. Everything seemed ok but when I tried to upload it to the website nothing seemed to want to cooperate. So needless to say the plan to add small videos was scrapped until the battery was charged and time could be spent trying to figure out the snafu with sending video to the website, as we had to hit the road.

We all loaded up in the car and trike and started on our path to see the wildflowers. At the turn-off to Hwy 58, there were several motorcycles headed in the opposite direction. As I was waving to them one of the riders shouted "Roads closed ahead". Just a few seconds afterward my gps announced that Hwy 58 was closed and offered an alternate route, beginning with making a U-turn. I then decided to pull over and discuss the situation with everyone riding in the car.

We came to the consensus that we would continue up the road and if it was open we would go to Margarita Lake and take it from there. When we got to the turn-off heading to the lake I once again pulled over to talk with the car about an alternative idea. Instead of going to the lake we would continue on the road to Pozo and follow it to Hwy 58 hopefully beyond the closed section and then we could continue on our original route.

The road to Pozo was a good ride with the occasional spot where mud had run across the road meaning a lot of slowing down. The whole time riding towards Poze my gps was saying to make a U-turn and head back the way we came. About a mile from the Pozo Saloon, the gps said to turn left on River Road, and no u-turn was involved. In my mind, this meant that we were beyond the blocked portion of Hwy 58 and River Road was going to take us to Hwy 58 and we could continue with our original plan. Even though I wasn't familiar with River Road I decided to give it a shot.

The road was in terrible condition with many potholes to dodge and small ditches to maneuver slowly across. After several miles of this banging around and moving at a speed of 5 mph, we pulled over to discuss our possibilities. No wildflowers were showing up at all and we quickly surmised that we were too early to see any and would try again in a couple of weeks with the hope that Hwy 58 would also be open then. Instead of continuing on our journey to the wildflowers that hadn't shown up yet, when we reached Hwy 58 we would follow it to the turn-off towards Creston and the Long Branch Saloon.

After several more miles crawling along at a very slow pace dodging potholes, crossing ditches in the road, and avoiding flooded sections we finally came to Hwy 58. The highway was a welcomed change from mud and obstacles to a paved road. The remainder of the ride to Creston was pleasant and uneventful.

We had a pleasant lunch at the Long Branch Saloon and all agreed that it was at least "an adventure", and a welcomed break from the cabin fever we were all feeling from the multiple storms that had driven us inside.

Unfortunately with all my attention being required to navigate the torn-up roads no photos or videos were taken by me. I posted a map below that shows the route we took. I will be checking with Marilyn to see if she has some photos that I can post.

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We are currently amid a new atmospheric river and weather warnings have been issued for the area. I can imagine the weatherman saying in layman's terms "The fertilizer is about to hit the ventilator". 

The imaginary weatherman's warning didn't fail to materialize. When I walked out to load the trike with the last bits and pieces needed the shit was hitting the fan. The rain was coming down hard but the wind wasn't blowing at all. Thank god for rain gear and heat liners. No videos were taken as I could only see about thirty yards ahead of the trike due to the heavy downpour.

KSU (kick stand up), "another way of saying leaving", happened on time at 11 a.m. and I started heading toward Atascadero Lake. I arrived at the lake about 5 minutes later and found it to be full and runoff was occurring. On a normal day, you would see a ton of birds, turtles, and people walking around the lake. Not today it was raining too hard for anything to be at the lake.... except for me that is.

The ride to Nacimento was very good. Hardly anybody on the road I don’t know why, but there are also no broken-down trees or dead deer or anything else so you know I progressed smoothly along, in fact, did a little air guitar on the straights to ZZ Top. Nacimento Lake, I am happy to report is full. You can see in the pictures it's maxed as well as the run-off at the dam was shooting 10 feet into the air when it hit the bottom of the slide before going into the creek. Check out the photo.

The ride towards Santa Margarita was for the most part non eventful, but I have to admit that it was raining so hard that I was worried that a car would speed up behind me in the slow lane and not see me in time to not run me over. When I was close to the Santa Margarita exit on highway 101 the winds that my imaginary weatherman was warning about suddenly appeared.

The road to Santa Margarita lake was very windy with lots of branches in the road. Gusts would cause this 900-pound beast of a motorcycle to shift around in the lane. When I got to the lake once again it was full and overflowing. They had the store and launch ramp blocked off so I wasn't able to take pictures there. I went further into the park and found some campgrounds that I could see the lake from and took some pictures.

On the road back from Santa Margarita Lake the rain got heavier and the wind had increased to butt-kicking speed. Heading south on Highway 101 down the grade my paranoia of being run over from behind reared its ugly head again, as I could only see about 20 yards ahead.

When I got off the highway at the Madonna exit the rain had decreased to the point that I could once again see at least 30 yards ahead of the trike, but the wind had shifted into butt-kicking overdrive mode. When I turned off of Madonna road into Laguna Lake park I noticed a metal bar on both sides of the road that they could swing across the road to lock cars out of the park was being blown by the wind. I came to a stop as the bar for my lane was being blown into the lane. Unfortunately, before I could back up the bar swung across the lane and continued until it struck the front of the trike. After uttering some selected adjectives to mark the occasion I got off the trike to examine the damage. Only the smallest piece of the cowl was cracked and would need to be replaced. The trike was drivable and I decided to continue. A man who was in a truck parked near the gate came running up to see if I was okay. He stated, "You are not the first one to have this happen to you, several cars have been hit, and there is no way to tie it off so it won't happen again." The gate couldn't be swung completely in the direction that the wind was blowing it to reach the side of the road, it stopped in the middle of the lane meaning the next car would hit it straight on the edge causing far greater damage to whatever ran into it. That's why the guy was parked there to swing the bar off the road when the wind blew it. Good Samarians do come out in the rain! He said he was going to continue doing it until someone from the parks department came out and locked the two bars together closing the road. He had called about an hour ago but the parks department must have been very busy with all the people utilizing the parks on such a fine day. He also said the road ahead was flooded which meant that I wasn't going to be able to see the lake today. Oh well, onto Lake Lopez.

On the way to Lake Lopez. Thank god I was listening to the weather station because when I got as far as Pismo they stated that the road to Lopez Lake was shut down due to mudslides. so ..... next stop is home where I arrived at 4:30.

All things being considered this was a fun and exciting adventure. Had this been a much longer ride and not so close to home I would have holed up in a motel until the storm had passed.

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