Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Calif. vacation with Harleys

Hi all, this may be long. I have been back in NJ for a week now, it is time to post my trip to Calif. As you may remember, I wanted to ride the lower Sierras with my brother in law, but couldn't rent a TBA. I had a Harley reserved from Folsom HD before the trip that I was going to ride for one day. When my plane landed at Sacremento airport on the 13th, my brother from Vacaville was there on his 05 Harley Softail Delux to meet us. As it turns out, he is in a Marine Corp motorcycle club that had its Charity ride the week before. Three of the raffle prizes from that ride was a free days bike rental from Vacaville HD, as luck would have it, he was able to get one of these for me to use. On Sunday, the 14th, we arrived at Vacaville HD and presented the Certificate to the Rental Office. Upon the dealings with the rental office I found that the dealership was closed the following day, so they were nice enough to let me have the bike for not one day for free, but two days, for the cost of insurance only. I did not really have a wide selection to chose from, and it came down to seat height, the lowest of my choices being a 06 Street Glide, fairing, radio, cd player, cig lighter, clock, all the comforts of home. Here is where the fun starts, we all say. I sit on the beast,which has a rubber mounted motor, all the time thinking of the $2500 deductable on the insurance that I am liable for, and fire it up. Holy Geeze, the beast feels like the engine is going to jump out of the frame, vibrates like heck, the rental guy says "thats the Harley vibration". Oh well, suck it up, put it into gear, keeping the tach around 2000 rpm and it really doesn't feel that bad. My brother and I lose the wife for the day and hook up with an old riding buddy from my years of living there and off we go, north to Lake Berryessa for our first stop. The hills are still a shade of green from the rainy season, California poppies are in bloom, the sky is California blue, the mountains that ring the lake are calling, I am riding my favorite roads again for the first time since 1982, and it feels good. we head north around the lake and eventually head west through Pope Valley and over the mountain into the Napa Valley, as in wine. Just an unbelievably beautiful place, I am in my glory. Each winery is nicer than the last, the Rose trees are in bloom along the fences to the winerys, everything is just more than a photo can do justice. We wind around to Napa and back to Vacaville after a 125 mile run and back to the motel. Day two, the wife and I are two up, with just my brother as we start out on the same route we followed the previous day.Today we head west from the lake earlier and head over to Canta Rosa, then we hop over another mountain into another Valley, We are not far from the coast now, the temperature cools from the 100 degrees it was when we left Vacaville.Mile after mile of grape vines and again, unbelevable scenery, another ride of 150 miles and we make it home. The bike really did not impress me, it shook too much, the ride was harder than it should have been for a cruiser and it did not have the pep that we get from our TBA's. Day three starts out by taking the bike back to Vacaville HD, they charge me $55 and change for the time I had the bike, not bad considering a normal rental is $180 a day total. The wife and I hop into the Rental car, which ,by the way is a 06 Mercury Grand Marquis, that I got for $104 for the week. My brother and his bike follow us up to Folsom HD, which is off of Hwy 50 in the lower Sierras. Upon arriving at the shop I was greeted with the Choice of 33 bikes to ride for the day, just get it back by 4 pm the following day.I picked a 06 Softail Delux, blue and white, a 24.5 inch seat height, nice and low for my stature, this one had a aftermarket exhaust and a solid mounted engine, vibration is nil compared to the Glide, and it had a sound to it. We headed north to Auburn to pick up RT. 49, the gold Country Hwy, took the long way around to Moke Hill and Jackson, where we met up with my brother in law and his 04 Softail Standard, another 125 amazing miles in the bag. Day four starts with the wife and I two up with the Brother in law and sis in law two up on his bike. We head south through the lower Sierras, through Angles Camp, Chinese Camp and the old Gold rust towns. We are heading to Yosimite Nat. Park, but because of time, we don't get that far, have to be back in Folsom by 4. As before, the roads and scenery are just amazing, no matter where you look it is more than a photo can take in. Today, we are are on a bike that I really like, the Delux handled real well and had a nice ride to it, it was very enjoyable. All together we put another 175 miles on the clock, real nice easy miles. All and all it was just a fab trip, I will definately rent again, even if it is only a Hardley, I would have missed being in the wind out there. End of tale, can anyone help me with posting the 4 or 5 pics I got on the Photo post?

Sounds like you had a great bike ride/rides, in Norcal, this is a great time of year for rides if you can avoid the rain. As for the Harley rentals, the wife and I rented a Anniversary Softtail last September while in Honolulu. We had a great day riding to North Shore then back around the long way to Honolulu. If you get back this way say hi, we live due west of Yosemite Park, which is one of our favorite rides.
Bob and AmyLee

As much as California gets maligned by the other 49 states, it still has some of the best motorcycle roads in the world, especially the northern part of the state.

If you realllly want a Triumph next time you're in California, they rent them in San Francisco at Dubbleju Motorcycle Rentals. Prices aren't bad either...$99/day for a Bonneville America if you rent one for 3-9 days.

And even though I enjoyed reading your post, a few paragraph breaks would've made it easier on the eyes.

Bob, will try to look you up when we come back there, my brother in law lives outside of Jackson. Sal, sorry, once I got into the story, I got carried away and only wanted to finish. Thanks for the info about Triumph rentals, where were you a couple weeks ago? TR

You are right about the price of the first Hardley rental, thanks to my brother I really lucked out. I had never ridden anything but a Triumph since 1969, but that Delux was a nice handling bike. It even looked good for a Hardley. TR

even though you were riding the HDs, at least you were riding. It sounds like it was an absolutley awesome trip!!

Soren

Soren, that it was. I was really in my glory riding roads that I rode in the 70's. It is easy to forget how absolutely beautiful Calif really is. We were in some of the fine country, but next time I might rent one for even longer to ride the north coast into the redwoods. TR