2021 Journey

Pacific Coast Highway

We had initially planned to make this a sightseeing/visiting trip by heading south to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, head west to Camarillo to visit Tom’s college buddy and his wife and then head north along the coast to visit our daughter and son-in-law who recently moved to Monterey. All the plans were made; the route planned, hotels booked, etc. when the Delta variant decided to rear its ugly head.

We all decided it would be better to delay our visit until the pandemic is more under control. Since Brian and Christine were the main reasons for heading that far south, we decided to rethink our plans. Where could we go that wasn’t over 100 degrees and smoky from the west’s wildfires? The coast.

Most, if not all the route is familiar territory, but it is territory we love. Instead of dealing with the central valley heat, we’ll probably be a bit chilly much of the time. September is one of the best times of the year to visit California’s coast as the foggy days start to lessen and the temperatures remain in the 60s.

We’ll leave on Saturday and head west through the wine country. From there we head to Eureka and begin to work our way north until we reach Gold Beach, Oregon. Our goal is to visit as many lighthouses as we can manage on this trip. Our days will be much shorter than we’re used to so we should be able to see as many lighthouses as are accessible along our route. We’ll turn around at Gold Beach and work our way down the coast, stop in the Santa Cruz area to visit our sister-in-law and ultimately reach Monterey where we’ll spend a few days with our daughter and son-in-law before returning home.

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Tom went on a 3,000-mile ride with friends earlier this summer and had some issues with the Yamaha. The check engine light would occasionally come on. After installing a new battery, everything checks out fine and we’re hoping it behaves through the entirety of the trip.

This did get us thinking about a new bike. We recently test rode a BMW R1250 GS and will try out the Adventure as well. Lots of research still to be done. For now we hope the Yamaha is as reliable as it always has been for us.

We’re going to take this journey at a slower pace, enjoy the scenery and explore some sites that we’ve never had time to investigate. There may be fewer barns in lieu of lighthouses and harbors but we’ll still try to find at least one a day!