Leaving the house for work this morning before sunrise I had a thin sliver of moon to watch over me as I wound down Terrace and Shields and the Cheshire smile was all but gone giving me pause as I remembered the fickle and mischievous nature of the cat. Vigilance, always vigilance while on the road, especially on my Victory Cross Country (VCC). I thought about the dearth of Iron Side Up postings and that even the last few were about some four wheeled adventures in the 24hrs. Of LeMons. With the exception of a run up to Walnut Creek for a special birthday party for a very special friend and back down the Pacific Coast I have only really been riding to work and back. I don’t know why I didn’t write that one up, maybe I’ll have to do it far back in the review mirror. So, what to write about? How about a trip I’d rather have taken on the VCC?
I left my friend Jim’s house in Walnut Creek early one morning while on a work related field trip after having driven up there from SoCal the afternoon before in my AT&T Chevy Silverado, Crew-cab 4X4 for two days of site visits for upcoming microwave radio projects. I love spending time with Jim and his family and feel right at home with them so I was already in a wistful mood and looking forward to being back with them for the Bossk’ birthday party, Bossk being a one year old Mastiff mix with a penchant for long jumping into the pool. It didn’t take much for me to switch into the mode of wishing I had the Victory to ride instead of even my cool work truck. I recommend this as a ride and have put it on the list of rides to take for myself; Walnut Creek to Sonoma to Lake Berryessa and back to Walnut Creek, about 185 miles.
The only four-lane roadways were right in and out of Walnut Creek but even that was a nice two-wheeler’s track as Highway 680 takes you across the Benicia Bridge ($5 toll going north, nothing specific about motorcycle tolls) with a great view of the bay and estuaries and then over Highway 780 across another raised roadway along the north lobe of the San Francisco Bay to CA-37 toward Napa. It was an ornithologist’s dream or maybe nightmare since I couldn’t really stop and observe. I recognized the graceful necked American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, dozens of other wading birds that I would need binoculars and a field guide to name, and hundreds of water fowl. The tide was up but receding and the wading birds swooped in to freshly exposed mud flats all along the roadways. The streams of water wound their way through the tall marsh grasses. The only improvement that I could think of on my drive was having nothing overhead and a true wide angle view from the back of a motorcycle.
The route transitions from the 780 to the 80 to CA-37 in a little less than 10 miles so you need to stay aware and be in the correct lanes to make the junctions. CA-37 and the short section of CA-121 were a bikers delight and not too shabby for the working man either. Two lanes of good tarmac, some nice technical riding with clean blacktop at the apex of the turns, no sand; all this while traversing through the vineyards of the foothills of the Sonoma Mountains. Each time I passed a bike going the other way I sensed the smiles even if there was a full face shield in the way. My wistful thinking turned to wishful thinking turned into downright wanting to jump on the next bike I saw and ride along. I had to remind myself that I was being paid to drive through this wonderland of roadways and that it violates company policy to ride a motorcycle while on company business; the only other such limitation on transportation is flying one’s own personal plane. I got into Sonoma, grabbed a smoothie and met up with the rest of the team that would be going first to our site at Red Mountain and then on to Lake Berryessa. We left Sonoma in a caravan of my truck, two Hybrid Tahoes, and another technician’s 4X4 truck. The road up to the site access road is a true mountain road worthy of a rider’s full attention. However, I wouldn’t recommend the access road with a mix of asphalt and dirt that didn’t quite require the 4X4; doable but not pleasurable on a touring bike.
The run up to Lake Berryessa over CA-12/Sonoma Hwy, some back roads to CA-29/Helena Hwy, and then to CA-128/Sage Canyon Road is completely worthy of two wheeled travel. After leaving the Sonoma Valley and the vineyards you wind your way up toward the resort communities near and around the lake, through the rolling hills dotted with oak, sycamore, and pine. The road around the lake offers good viewing of the reservoir lake and surrounding mountains.
Along the way I passed quaint looking motor hotels, bed and breakfast places (particularly around the vineyards), and camping for those so inclined. The round trip for me that day was about 185 miles or so, 95 from Jim’s place in Walnut Creek to our site at Lake Berryessa, pictured here.
My take on wistful thinking is that it is not too bad of a pastime as long as you don’t let it drive regrets at being in the moment doing what you’re doing and being with the folks you’re with and as long as you don’t let wistful thinking take the place of getting out for a pleasure ride now and then.
