September 15th 2023 – St George, UT

It was great to get back on the bikes after a day off. That we spent all day on Hwy 1 just made it even better. No cars to slow us down from Leggett to the coast. That stretch of tarmac is close to perfect on two wheels!

The ride south along the coast  towards San Francisco offered a mix of relaxed riding by the sea, charming old towns and sections of fun twisty mountain roads. Most of the time we were riding rather spiritedly. Overtaking heavy loaded GSs in the technical sections became a sport.

We had decided to pay  San Francisco a visit. I had responded well in advance to some of the tent space offers posted here on advrider.  I received no replies.

We had been told several times that we should look for a place with secure parking, if we were going to stay in SF as theft and vandalism had risen dramatically since Covid.

I managed to find a place to stay through Airbnb the day before we arrived. A few hours before we arrived the host canceled our booking. I then resorted to Booking.com. The combination of relatively central location and secure parking didn’t come cheap. Our initial plan had been to stay in the city for 2 nights, but we simply didn’t have the budget for that when forced to stay in a hotel. It took me a moment to reconcile with that.

I did manage to arrange for a late checkout the following day and we made good use of the time we had.

We followed the flow of weekend traffic across the bay and east out of the city. The weather was unpleasantly warm for riding. Soon urban areas were replaced by scenic rural surroundings. As the shadows grow longer we use the Ioverlander app in my Zumo XT to locate a nice campsite by the shore of Don Pedro Lake.

I dropped Katrine and our luggage off and rode to Jamestown to find something for dinner. It was a nice 24 mile ride, the town was charming and I found something resembling food to bring back. It wasn’t the first time I had to go shopping after having arrived at a campsite. Having neither cooking gear nor a fridge restricted our diet when camping. It was beginning to annoy us…

All through the evening a storm was gathering in the surrounding mountains. It made for an amazing blood red sunset punctuated by lightning and thunder.

We  reached Yosemite National Park in the morning. As always it was packed with tourists but still worth a visit.

After leaving the park we enjoyed a late Mexican lunch. Fully fueled we continued south along the foothills of the Sierras. Both Katrine and I really like the hilly grassland dotted with oak trees.

We camped at Millerton Lake. Again we arrived without proper provisions. This time the nearest shop was too far away and the weather too hot for us to get back on the bikes. We just wanted to get into the water. A Cliff bar would have to suffice as dinner…

We put up our tent right by the lake under the biggest tree in sight. It turned out to be where all the Turkey Vultures in the area retired for the night. The bird droppings everywhere should have warned us. We arranged ourselves and our stuff strategically and  mostly avoided being pooped on.

It was a lovely warm evening. We never changed out of our swimming gear. Cell reception was surprisingly good. I used the opportunity to catch up on MotoGP while the vultures ruffled their feathers above.

In the morning we rose before the sun to get a head start from the heat. The weather apparently had no clue that summer was over.

We escaped to higher ground and pleasant temperatures in Sequoia National Park.

The area was beautiful and the trees majestic.

As the day drew to an end we left the mountains behind and checked into a cheap motel in Portville.  There were some sneaky characters loitering around the parking lot. We kept a sharp eye on the bikes –  when we weren’t playing around in the pool.

I took a stroll in the morning to pick up something for breakfast. I managed to get kind of lost and ended up doing a 4 mile loop. While I was doing my Walkabout I received a message from Mark @schroeder. He invited us to come and stay with him and his wife in Bear Valley Springs the same night and supplied me with route suggestions. Nothing beats local knowledge so I just followed his directions. It was a great ride.

We stopped for lunch at Sheryl’s Diner in Kernville (make notes). The food was amazingly good, the portions way too big supplemented by an assortment of pies to turn anyone into a diabetic.

Mark greeted us as we pulled up in his driveway. It was good to finally meet him in person. He reached out to us, when we posted a wanted ad in the flea market. Katrine is now riding the bike he sold us and couldn’t be happier with the purchase.

It turned out that Mark wasn’t exactly short on bikes. I understand why he let the 300 Rally go.

His garage was very neat but it got surpassed when we entered the house. His wife Sonya has created one of the most tastefully decorated houses I’ve ever visited!

We really enjoyed our stay. Hopefully our paths will cross again.

We left Bear Valley Springs 3 days ago.

All roads in Death Valley were closed due to damage caused by remnants of Hurricane Hilary. This left us with few options heading east towards Utah. We decided to bite the bullet and take the fastest route through the Mojave desert.

It resulted in 1 full day on the freeway, a night in a casino resort in Primm followed by another day circumventing Las Vegas then taking the scenic route between Lake Mead and Valley of Fire before passing through a corner of Arizona to reach St George in Utah.

We are now staying in a cheap but nice motel in downtown St George. We arrived early yesterday and decided to stay for 2 nights as we had a lot of practical things to sort out.

When the bikes were unpacked I went shopping to fill up the fridge (now that we have one). When I reached the nearest supermarket I spotted The Desert Rat across the street. I decided to have a closer look. Lo and behold – they had the stoves we had yearned for several times in just the last few days. A stove was not the only thing on our shopping list and as there was a hardware store in conjunction with The Desert Rat I went on a shopping spree.

I ended up with a Jetboil Stach, replacement elastic cords for our tent poles, 2 small cutting boards, a small padlock and some freeze dried food.

We have enjoyed and made good use of our time in St George. It’s a lovely town. Tomorrow we’ll hit the road ready for new adventures. I have high hopes for what the next couple of weeks will bring!