12 day motorcycle tour that didn’t happen

The Pacific North West Ride (CA, OR, WA, ID)

I usually don’t post about rides that “could have been”. But I was very close to doing a huge ride, so it’s worth a mention. This ride is now “technically” postponed. I’d still like to do it, and I will if the opportunity presents itself.

Had things gone as planned, today I would have been heading out to Northern California for a motorcycle meet in Fortuna, CA. On the way to Fortuna I was going to stop in Sacramento and meet up with another woman motorcycle sport-tourer, who is also a blogger like me. I‘ve known her for several years now as I followed her motorcycle travels through her blog and various motorcycle message boards.



My proposed 4,000 mile route through CO, UT, NV, CA, OR, WA, ID and WY

Funny, we have never met in person, but reading someone’s stories year and year, makes you really feel like you know them. Ah, the magic of the internet. The motorcycle community is an amazing one. A simple e-mail to another rider in another state, usually will provide garage space for the bike, a place to lay your head for the night and sometimes even a home made meal. To the traveler it’s inexpensive lodging, and of course, the bonus is hanging out with other riders, sharing stories and motorcycle adventures over a meal and some beer. You can’t get that at a motel if you‘re traveling alone.

As for the motorcycle meet in Fortuna. I have never been to that one before, but I have been to many others over the 7 years that I have been a member of this group. This meet for another opportunity to meet in person some of the people that I have known for years through the message board. Some of the people I have met already through other events and rides, and was looking forward to seeing them again.

And lets not forget about the roads. I was really looking forward to riding along the coast in California, gazing at the Pacific Ocean, posing my bike for a picture in front of some of those giant redwoods.

From California I was going to ride with two other riders through Oregon and Washington. Two states that I haven’t been through on my motorcycle yet. After a short visit in Washington, I was going to ride to Idaho, and get to cross that state off my “to ride” list, then head home.



This trip would finally allow me to color in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, the states I have not been to yet on a motorcycle

12 glorious days on my motorcycle, a few days staying with other riders, the rest of the night camping. So why didn’t I go on this ride?

Literally two days before I was supposed to head out, I received an e-mail informing me of a job interview the following week. At first I thought I still couple make it out to Northern California for the meet, but if I rode out to Northern California I’d literally be arriving back home the day before the interview and that was cutting it too close. If the weather got bad or the bike broke down, I wouldn’t make it back in time.

The Colorado and Utah Ride

A couple of days after Labor Day I sat there playing with my mapping software (Microsoft Streets & Trips) and thought about possibly doing a shorter ride. I was already pretty much packed, I didn’t want to waste all that packing effort. So I decided to head out to Utah for 5 days. There were still so many places I haven’t been to out there, as well as in Colorado. I created a route that took me through these parks and monuments:

Paonia State Park, CO
Natural Bridge National Monument, UT
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Capitol Reef National Park, UT
Colorado National Monument, CO



My proposed 1,500 mile route through CO and UT

But since I wanted to camp every might and hike and everything in every park, the 5 days just wasn’t cutting it. I needed more time, I needed an extra day. I didn’t rush through it. Since I didn’t have an extra day I scraped the Colorado and Utah ride idea. I was still going to ride somewhere, but it was going to be a much shorter ride. To be continued…