Day 12: Butte, MT to Weiser, ID — 470 miles
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(pardon the brief interruption from the Oshkosh trip to get this done while it’s fresh) Valerie worked out a deal for our 5th anniversary that we could get 36 contiguous hours of baby sitting (some paid, some graciously offered by family) which would give us a night away from our 3 lovely kiddos and enough daytime to travel away and get back whilst actually sleeping in and enjoying a morning! Don’t have to twist my arm, let’s go! Valerie has been wanting to ride with me on the motorcycle ever since we’d met nearly 10 years ago. My previous 2 bikes were small “beginners” bikes, and I really wasn’t all that keen on 2-up riding with them. But, the real kicker was I insisted that she needed all the gear in order to go. Fast forward 9 nears, and I have a bike well capable of going double and all the gear, but, we just couldn’t get away with 3 kids (oldest is 3, plus 1 year old twins). Finally, this is our chance to hit the road together. The other nagging issue is that in my 12 years of riding road bikes, I’d yet to ever carry a passenger. I got some helpful pointers from folks here. A bit of nay saying about the length of the trip, and needing practice (how exactly *do* you “practice” 2-up riding, without actually, ya know riding 2-up?!?), and stories of trips gone bad … it all had me slightly spooked that the motorcycle would be the thing that spoiled this getaway trip. But, Valerie is not your average chica and I had a good feeling that it’d all work itself out just fine. Enough yack’n, lets get started … The destination is Anchor Bay, up Highway 1 — a “short” 180 mile trip. The trip begins I actually wanted to get some slow-speed practice since we’d be heading through San Francisco. We bopped around our local neighborhood looking for a good window to snap a photo in. It was great surface street and parking lot practice to get the feel for the bike with twice the accustomed passenger load on it. I was feeling good. Valerie was anxious to get some miles behind us. A quick 1 hour burn up 101 and we arrived at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I think the lane splitting might have been a bit much for the first trip out — she said it was fine. The pick-up truck that was hot-boxing (seriously it was skunky!) down the freeway was a little bit freaky, but, we got around them OK. Not being stuck in the Embarcadero gridlock through San Francisco — priceless! Rock star parking — Stopped at the San Francisco Ferry Building to get some treats to “picnic” on later that night by the fire.
Elvis impersonator — OK, maybe that’s stretching it, but, his lip sync routine was largely Elvis. With about 50 miles under our collective belts, the cycle was working out well for both of us. It’s kinda hot seeing Valerie in gear… All smiles The SF Ferry Building is (now) a collection of boutique food shops. Meats, cheese, chocolate, bread, pastries, restaurants, ohh, and a farmers market on the weekends. Since we knew we’d be eating a later lunch (more on that later…), we gathered the fix’ns for a “picnic” dinner to enjoy by the fireplace in our room. Crowded — We’re heading for the Cowgirl Creamery for cheese.
Personalized queso tasting — Too many choices of yummy stinky cheese It was unseasonably warm downtown. All the squids were running around in tank tops and shorts on their scooters — we must have looked as funny to them as they looked to us. A trip over the Golden Gate Bridge got us out of the city and a brief respite of cooler air. But, heading through Fairfax was much warmer than I’d been expecting. Sir Francis Drake Blvd gave both Valerie and I a taste of the twisties that were in our route ahead of us — traffic kept the speeds very nicely tempered as we both explored the bike’s handling with 2 people. Valerie experimented with following my leans and realized it was much more comfortable than trying to stay rigid with the bike. Our lunch destination was the Station House Cafe, in Pt Reyes Station. Being sans-children meant appetizers; oysters and a Martini, but only a few sips for me. Kumamoto Oysters — Stopped for lunch at the Station House Cafe, a favorite of ours. The rest of the route took us north up CA-1. It’s a route I’d driven before and always wanted to take the cycle up. The weather was sunny and warm along the coast (2 rarities), and being a weekend, the traffic was moderate, but tolerable. We both settled into a nice groove making decent time after getting around some of the slowest cages. During one particularly tasty stretch of maybe dozen connected “slalom” turns with unrestricted visibility throughout all the corners, my right hand kept getting heavier and heavier as we flicked the bike over side to side, making quick carving cuts. After about the 8th corner, I get a gentle pat on the side — we’d reached the Speed-o-Valerie, and I cooled it down a bit. After 180 miles in the saddle for the day, we were both reaching that, “it’s a good time to stop” feeling — any further and it truly would have been too much for our first trip. Settling in — We stayed at the Whale Watch Inn — it’s not crazy fancy, but, it made a nice retreat for us. The Whale Watch Inn was a great retreat. It’s not uber luxury; the decor is dating itself. However, the seclusion, private beach access, a real fireplace in the room, and a private hot-tub on our deck with an ocean view, all at a fair price — let’s just say decor was the farthest thing from our minds… Private hot-tub with an ocean view on our deck. — Ohhhh, yeaaaahh.
View from the cliff We took advantage of the wine and vittles in the common room while we chatted with some of the other guests. Then a short walk down to the beach. My Purple haired vixen
Use at your own risk — There was literally a sign posted. It was quite stable… When I went to start the fire, I was greeted by shredded paper with easy burning sap wood arranged nicely atop it. I reckon they’ve had too many city slickers come in that think fireplaces are “turned on” with a switch. What’s the fun in that? — Just add a match. No phones in the room. No cell service. No computers. No TV. No clock. No kids (nor worries about them; they were in good hands). Tasty treats acquired and a bottle of Cava (sparkling wine, !champagne) … yeaaaahh, it was a very relaxing evening. Heading home The nice thing about riding the cycle — the trip home isn’t just about traveling; it’s half the fun and we were both happy to get on the road as check-out time approached. Long line of cars We hit slow-poke traffic backing up a dozen cars. I hit the “detour” function on the GPS, and it happily routed us through Annapolis. The post office is about all there is in Annapolis, CA. I kid you not, there’s a 30MPH sign a few hundred yards on either side of the post office and an odd house or two visible from the road, and that’s it. Why the USPS loses money But, the road was all kinds of fun and almost completely empty of other vehicles. Pavement was in decent shape and fairly smooth considering all the patchwork that makes up large sections of the road. We worked on braking technique, and I realized that I needed to be smoother on the brakes leading up to corners. Valerie was really good about anticipating it, but, I don’t think it was very relaxing for her. Annapolis Rd Annapolis Rd ends at this bridge. The GPS suggested I turn right and head back to CA-1 — uhm, no thanks, I’ll go left onto Stewart Point Skaggs Spring Rd (say that 5-times, fast). This was equally as empty, and sufficiently maintained that we made fairly good time. And then, the road widened and had proper markings and an actual shoulder. It was smooth, fast, sweeper after sweeper after sweeper. Valerie was following my leans and the two of us just connected with the machine and chewed up the corners. One of the best stretch of roads I’ve had the pleasure of riding. The only bummer is the damn road is posted at 35-40MPH. We weren’t setting any speed records, yet were rarely under 55. I saw quite a few sport bikes heading in that general direction on our way to Healdsburg; I wonder how frequently it’s patrolled… Time to go — Don’t want traffic to pass us by… We had just enough time to get some lunch at fantastic brewery we found many years ago in Healdsburg: Bear Republic Brewery. It brought back fond memories of when we first started dating… Bear Republic Brewery — A favorite of ours in Healdsburg. We took some real goat trails east of Santa Rosa that turned out to be a waste of time. Rough roads with lots of traffic. You win some; you lose some. Rolling through Glen Ellen, we couldn’t place our finger on what was so unusual about the town. Valerie thought it must’ve been ex-military, but, it just wasn’t right for that. Turns out it was an institution built in the late 1800’s where people dumped there learning impaired children. Glen Ellen — Weird vibe from all the buildings that look the same. And from there, we just made our way back to San Jose. The kids were very awfully happy to see us and the chaos of our regular life resumed as if we’d never set foot out of the house. I later asked Valerie if she thought she’d had had more fun on the trip by taking the cycle — unequivocally, she agreed it was perfect for such a trip. I think she’s hooked Day 11: Bowman, ND to Butte, MT — 522 miles We got out of Bowman early as we had a fairly full day’s worth of miles to cover to get to Butte. Day 10: Watertown, SD — Bowman, ND — 360 miles We got a fairly latish start, getting out of the motel about 0930 local time — which could only be my doing as Dad’s an early bird. Of course, no sooner than we’re out the door, we have to make the mandatory Starbucks run, and I can’t remember why Dad wouldn’t have gotten his fix already, given the hour. Day 9 — Beaver Dam, WI to Watertown, SD — 502 Miles Our time at the show ended before it got old. I could have easily stayed another day and visited the seaplane base, or just explored more of the show at Whittman. But, my wife was hauling the kids up to Idaho, and truth-be-told, I was missing the family a bit. Also, my sister was due to have her baby any moment now. All things considered, we decided to hit the road and make it an easier 4 day trop to Idaho rather than take in more of the show and have hurry back in 3 days. Second day of Airventure 2009 Today promised to be a good day weather wise. The sun was out, the temps were perfect, the humidity was down — it was just a beautiful show day.
Manly engine — How does 600HP (500HP continuous use) of turbo-charged V8 oomph tickle your fancy? Opening day of Airventure 2009 I know you’re all hungry to see airplane pics, so, let’s just get to it… Name that airplane — It’s the plane I shall buy when I win the lottery — the *big* lottery! Seats about 12 (depending on configuration). Among the little known gems in the bay area is the Nike Missile historic site in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It’s open with docent tours the first Saturday of every month, and it’s a fascinating look into what the Cold War really meant. The Nike-Hercules missiles were nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles with a range of 90 miles. They had a yield of 2 to 40 kilotons depending on which of the three warheads was installed. They were the last line of defense against a Soviet bomber attack with ~300 total such sites built around populous regions of the US. The assembly building is on the left, electronics test on the right, tracking and searching radar and vans behind that. The launcher and underground magazine storage is background left.
This was ’50’s technology and the missiles were controlled with vacuum tubes. There’s three miniature vacuum tubes on this board.
Here you can see the array of boards in the missile. This Nike-Hercules missile is on the elevator to raise it from the magazine below. There are 4 launch platforms here and they pushed the 5 ton missiles by hand along these tracks to reach each of the launchers. The solid rocket boosters burn for a short 3.5 seconds, giving it much of the energy needed to loft it to ~100K ft. The rest is done with a sustainer rocket in missile. It’s a ballistic trajectory from there for the remainder of the 90 second flight time. The warhead sits in front of the yellow line, and behind the stub fins. The docent claimed that the booster rocket accelerates from standing still to supersonic speed within the 42′ length of the missile. Don’t believe everything you hear folks — the acceleration needed to achieve that (roughly 370 G’s if my physics recollection serves me right) would literally crumple the missile into ball of metal. I was truly surprised that they (the lawyers, really) let folks ride down on the elevator like this.
The magazine storage isn’t really the heavily fortified bunker that I was thinking it would be — which actually makes sense. The Nike being a defensive weapon only, if it were destroyed in a nuclear war, it had already failed to do the intended job.
The magazine holds 8 missiles, 3-4 on either side of the elevator The next group going down to the storage magazine. This is a transportation canister. Note the springs and inside of them are shock-absorbers; all to keep the sensitives from going bump. The section pictured would be the atomic portion. This is the “time to intercept computer” — a mostly mechanical device. There are numerous micro switches that are activated as the various wheels come around. The warhead is literally detonated when one of those micro switches gets activated, causing the missile tracking radar’s pulse to change, and the high explosives make a big bang, causing an even bigger bang when the fissile material goes super critical, and that takes out any airplane in about a 30 mile radius of the missile. You don’t have to hit the bombers, you just gotta get close enough to them.
More pictures from the trip here. More info: Cedar Rapids, IA to Oshkosh, WI, to Beaver Dam — 327 Miles Day 5 — Omaha, NE to Cedar Rapids, IA — 312 Miles |
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