There are so many ways to enjoy “The Open Road.” My wife and I love to hit the road on a motorcycle and just ride. At times it pays to have a destination in mind. However, some of our best rides are when we just get on the bike and ride. Once we are out of town it always feels like a mini vacation for us, and what follows is why it is that way.
There are majestic mountain roads to ride in Northern California. One of our best rides was when we took off from Ukiah, CA on highway 101 headed for the redwoods. On a nice warm spring day about an hour into the ride, with the wind blowing on our faces, we found that the temperature was beginning to drop. The higher elevation we climbed the cooler it got. Then the smells changed completely as the pleasant odor of Redwood Trees started to take over. Rolling along over small bridges we saw creeks flowing to capacity from the snow filled mountains ahead. To be able to feel these changes in the atmosphere around us is one of the reasons to ride the open road on a motorcycle. There is nothing like it in the world. Soon there are so many trees along both sides of the highway that the road is completely shaded. This is when it is time to slow down and enjoy being immersed in nature.
Before long we smelled campfire smoke from the campgrounds located along both sides of the road. That compelled us to ride through a campground to look at it, talk to campers and get a feel for probable future use. The truth is that you meet the nicest people who have hit the open road and are now camping. It is because they are away from the stress of the work-a-day world and slowed down to a pace that makes them feel great. For years we have thought about getting a trailer for camping that we could tow behind our motorcycle. This would allow us to have the best of both worlds. After touring the campground, talking to a few campers, and getting a feel for it, we hit the road once again. Continuing up highway 101 there was more of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen.
Soon we came to a crossroad that, if we turned left, would take us over one mountain range and land us on highway 1 on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This gives a completely different type of ride. The road is no longer wide, but a narrow two-lane road that was blasted out of rock years ago. There is a guard rail on our side because of the sheer cliffs below. Now we are riding in patches of fog and the temperature is bone chilling. We even stopped alongside the road, opened our saddlebags, pulled out our leathers and put them on to warm us up. As we continue to ride, we notice that the smells have changed from Redwood Trees to the scent of the ocean. The waves are crashing down below us, and the temptation is to look at them, but when on a motorcycle we know that
we need to keep our eyes forward (the driver anyway) because you tend to travel in the direction you are looking. The road winds down the coast and it is so much fun to take the corners as the miles slip away under us.
Soon we came to the town of Fort Bragg and stopped at the first hamburger stand on the left side of the road. It is well known for great hamburgers, and we sat outside next to the ocean and ate them. We took about an hour just sitting there enjoying our hamburger and soda, watching the waves, and listening to them crash on the rocks below. By now it is late afternoon and time to head for home. After riding through town, we turned left and made our way back over the mountain range to highway 101 and home.
There are many ways to enjoy the open road, but our favorite way has always been on a motorcycle. Not only are there endless ways to enjoy the open road, but the outdoor recreation you find along the way is all about why the open road works for us.