 |
Riders (left to right)
|
|
|
Riders (left to right)
|
(click on picture for more)
Unbound '13 is in the books at 2,137 miles. It was another great ride with great weather -- but for a little fog on the coast. Thanks to Tim & Darla, Mike, Bill and Russ for joining me, with a special welcome to Darla on her first Unbound.
The route took us up to Lake Tahoe where Tim & Darla lined-up lunch at a country club on the lake shore (nice!). We then did a loop around the lake with a stop at Emerald Bay to take in all the beautiful sights and take some pictures of the crew. We also did a detour into Nevada to visit the oldest bar in Nevada -- the Genoa Bar, which has the bra of Raquel Welch hanging from the ceiling and a funny story to go along with it. From Lake Tahoe our route took us north along the Sierra Nevada Range to Mt. Shasta, CA with stops in Truckee; then Quincy at the Morning Thunder Cafe for lunch, and then Lassen Volcanic Park for Ice Cream. The day started out in Tahoe with temps in the high 30's and ended in Mt. Shasta with temps in the low 100's. By the way, if you ever have the occasion to spend the night in Mt. Shasta, CA make sure you stay and dine at the Best Western Tree House. What a find!
From Mt. Shasta we headed north to Crater Lake, OR to take in the scenery and take some group photos. What a beautiful place, but located in the middle of nowhere... The From Crater Lake we headed north to Bend Oregon where we took a turn west on Route 20 with a scenic detour on McKenzie Pass. McKenzie Pass took us up through an incredible lava flow and then through some great twisties through the forest on our decent into central Oregon and Corvallis where we met up with Bill and Russ.
From Corvallis we headed west to the Oregon coast. It took a while for the fog to burn off, but once it did it was spectacular. The weather was predictably crisp on the Oregon coast for mid-September and lunch in the little seacoast town of Bandon hit the spot. We overnighted in Eureka, CA and the full crew enjoyed dinner at a local brewpub -- with Bill and Russ heading back north the next morning. After an obligatory stop at a lonely GOP Headquarters in Eureka by Captain Unbound, we headed inland to ride the "Avenue of the Giants" that winds through the redwood forest for about 30 miles. It's a "Jack and the Beanstalk" experience that brought out the "tree-hugger" in Captain Unbound and something else in Mike. Just a little further down the road in Leggett, CA we made the obligatory stop at the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree.
From Leggett, we picked up Route 1 and headed back out to the CA coast and rode the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down to Bodega Bay (the movie "The Birds") before we headed back to Marin County on the north bay. While Tim & Darla needed to head back to reality a little early, Mike and Captain Unbound headed down the coast to Big Sur where I was supposed to have lunch with Michelle... We missed you Michelle.
I'll continue to update this page as new photos show up and time permits.
Here was the route:
