A Stormy Winery Ride

Jeanne and I were on the road at 6:30 AM, Saturday the 6^th of December 2014 on our Honda Goldwing 1500. The plan was to stay in Big Sur the first night, and then Napa followed by Santa Rosa and then onward north to Garberville.  The next day we would take highway 36 from the coast over to Red Bluff and South to Lodi for the night. Then go to Paso Robles for another night and on home to Mission Viejo.  This was to be a big loop from Southern to Northern California, and take 7 nights. 

Saturday. The weather was cool at about 56 degrees, as we left home and headed up the 5 to LA. Just before going into downtown LA, I pulled into a Chevron for a quick break and check with Jeanne to make sure all was secure. As I was pulling into a side parking area and coming to a stop, I put my foot down and unfortunately stepped and slipped on a recently cut flower by the gardeners, who were standing close by. When I slipped I pulled the handlebars to the left which caused the Goldwing to slightly swerve to the left, I countered to the right and then lost control and down we went at zero miles per hour. We were both okay and quickly were able to stand the bike back up with no damage.

We then got through downtown LA with no difficulties, but the traffic was already tight but moving at 7:30 AM on a Saturday. We started up the 101 and stopped in Ventura for a quick second breakfast.

We kept going up the coast and stopped for lunch at the Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill in Cambria.  The sun was out and it was a great day. Good food and fun there as we really glad to have our hats due to the intense sun. 

As we passed Hearst Castle there were a herd of zebras near the fence and many people taking pictures. 

We continued up the coast and picked up gas at Ragged Point, where I think we paid the most for gas on the trip. 

We continued up the Big Sur coast line and stopped at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park to see the waterfall hitting the beach.  The water was running well due to the recent storms the week before.

We then stopped at Nepenthe restaurant where we split a bowl of soup, since we were still both somewhat full from the lunch. We had a front row seat outside and it was a clear day with a little sun poking out. 

We got to our hotel at 4:15 PM, the Fernwood resort which I had stayed at a several occasions.  The Fernwood is good because it is right off the road and you can stop and park your motorcycle easily.  We unloaded, cover the bike and grabbed some light dinner and watched the TV in the restaurant.

As we were coming out of the restaurant and walking to our room across the parking lot a girl was standing in front of the motorcycle and then asked “Is this your motorcycle?”.  She had just backed her car into the front of the motorcycle, because she could not see through her window well.  This was the first time I had used the new Aerostich ultralight motorcycle cover. It comes only in black and is hard to see at night, especially in Big Sur with little or no lights, on a hazy cold night.

I was lucky that there was no damage.  It looks like she backed into the front tire, which I had locked down. She pushed the bike back about 4 inches while it was on the service stand. You could see the next morning the scrapes in the asphalt where the stand had been.  I learned a couple of things from this event: the first thing is it was good to face the motorcycle out while on the stand.  Hitting the bike from the front while on the stand only locked the stand more firm and kept the bike from falling over. If the bike had been on the kick stand then it would have fallen over due to the hit. Second: I learned I better get some reflectors to put on the bike cover. I did later on in the day, but they really only stick for one day. I am still looking for a long term solution. We went to bed after taking the young ladies information and had a great sleep. 

Sunday. We woke and left for Carmel.  The weather was clear.  We stopped in Carmel at the Wagon Wheel Café and had a great breakfast. Only thing was that they only take cash. 

We continued onward up highway 1, then the 101 and then up the 680 where we crossed the bridge and rolled into our hotel in Napa around 3:00 PM.  We took a taxi into town and had the best dinner on the trip at the Celedon restaurant. The taxi ride was $10 each way.

Monday.  We got up and met our winery tour driver Jeff and his sprinter van at 10:30 am. The good news was we were the only people on the tour, so the sprinter van that can hold up to 10 people was ours for the day. Our first stop was at the Duckhorn vineyards. A very nice location and presentation. The wine tasting was $30, so we just did one tasting and also purchased the $8 olive tray. The tables were nicely placed out on the porch. Great location and great service. The wine was excellent.

We then went to the Rombauer vineyards.  No one else at the tasting. Strange to see nobody else there, but it was nice getting anything you wanted.  

We then went to the Sequoia Grove winery.  We tasted and purchased two bottles of wine, of which one was to be used for our lunch that we ate there under the Sequoia trees. We were the only ones in the outdoor area. Jeff brought us a great lunch and we sat for about 10 minutes until it started to rain, and we switch the party to the inside of the sprinter van.

We then went to the Cliff Lede vineyard.  Nice selection of wines and a comfortable sit down area where the cat had his own seat. 

We then finished at the Stags Leap vineyard. They just opened there new facility and it was really nice with a big window to look out. We only had 20 minutes left and we ran in and unfortunately gulped down some of the finest wines on the tour. 

Jeff, then took us back to the hotel around 4 PM, and gave us the bottle of champagne that we were supposed to drink during the tour, but really good not.  That bottle of champagne rode with us the remainder of the trip and we drank it the night we arrived home. 

We ate in the hotel restaurant were we split an order of risotto and finished our bottle of chardonnay from lunch. 

Tuesday.  We left on the bike at about 9:30 am and went to the Nicasio valley cheese company after going down the 101, and then taking the Lucas Valley road, which was a crazy was to go but that is what the GPS suggested. We tasted their cheese selection and it was really good.

We then went to the Marin French Cheese store and purchased a petite Bree, which we consume later that night for dinner. 

We then went to the Epicurean Connection store in downtown Sonoma. Great little store that has cheese and food. We each had a cheese sandwich, mine with marmalade. We purchased some olives and tapenade, which we also consumed that evening for dinner.   Downtown Sonoma was all setup for Christmas. The town square very much reminded us of Santa Fe during Christmas time. 

We then rode over to downtown Napa and the Oxbox public market, where we purchase two organic Italian desserts that we ate for dinner. 

At this time it became apparent that the weather was significantly changing. We were to go North the next day to Garberville, but the weather showed it was to get 2-3 inches of heavy rain and winds up to 65 miles per hour along with local flooding. This did not sound too good so we decide to modify the trip to instead go East to Lodi and ride the storm out for 2 days. Initially, we were to stay in Lodi for one night. We were hoping that the weather would improve on Friday so we could continue on with the original plan. 

Wednesday. We left the hotel around 9:30 am for Lodi. Initially it was about 56 degrees and clear with overcast. 20 miles down highway 12 and it got foggy and colder. Then further up the 12, the fog cleared but then it drizzled.  The 12 had many trucks and appears to be under much construction. There were many marinas in the lake areas and a number of duck blinds for rent. I had no idea that there was so much water activities in this part of the state. 

We rolled into Lodi around noon, and had a hot drink at Panera.  Afterwards we went to Enterprise Car rental and rented a car for two days so we could get around during the storm. We checked into our room at the Wine and Roses resort.  Very interesting and beautiful room with a fireplace and large outdoor patio area. 

We then went to a sushi restaurant and had a late lunch. Then we went to the Lodi Vitners where we were the only ones tasting. Great wine and had a good time next to the train track. 

We then continued on to the Woodbridge winery. I read that the Woodbridge line was not the same as we see in the stores. This was proven to be true as they served us a number of wines that were only 200-300 case selections. I very much liked the wines at Woodbridge and recommend this to anyone. 

We then stopped at the Davis Winery, where they serve the “seven deadly zins” zinfandel. Good wine off the 12 highway. 

Lodi is known for their Zinfandel wines. Many of the vines are 100 years old.  I also liked the Cab wines, which are soft wines due to the area. 

That night I put the cover on the bike and hoped that the storm was not going to be as bad as they said. The weather was saying that the winds at 5:00 am would be up to 65 miles per hour. I got up early, and the winds were strong but not that bad.  No rain was to occur until noon on Thursday.

Thursday.  I was walking around the grounds early in the day and I asked the gardener if he knew of anyplace I could store the bike during the upcoming on slot of rain. Jesse told me that I could store the bike in the maintenance area between two storage containers under a plastic room that Jesse had himself built. I quickly move the bike down before the rains came. 

We went to breakfast, and during the serving of my eggs Florentine it started to rain outside at about 10:00 am. It then continued to rain into the night without stop. After breakfast we made a dash to a vineyard before the roads flooded. We selected the Oak Vineyards on the outskirts of town. We pulled up and saw no one. I ran up to the new facility and found the door open. Inside the owner was doing paperwork and was somewhat surprised to see someone come out in the rain for tasting. I went back to the car and got Jeanne and he pour and wine. His wine was excelled. Highly recommend this vineyard for the wine and the new facilities. 

We then tried another winery, but found it closed due to the weather. We then went to the Woodbridge Inn steakhouse for lunch, because the parking lot was full; must be good to eat at. As we entered we were told that it was a private party, but they would serve us at the bar. We split a vegetable soup and pasta, along with some very nice wine. It was all very good. 

We drove back to the resort, where Jeanne was scheduled for a 2:00 PM for a mannypettie.  I had also booked at massage at 3:15 pm. We finished up and later had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was excellent. 

In the restaurant bar there as a piano.  Gene, at the piano had no one to play to but us. Gene appeared to be very knowledgeable on music from 1930 to 1960s. He could play any song that you asked, along with telling you the composer and the year. Later on, Kim came in and played. She was different, but excellent in her own right.  She liked to play Chopin.  

Friday.  The rain had stopped. We left around 8:45 am and took back the rental car. We then took the 99 down to Stockton and over to the 5.  You could still see the storm to the South as we rode. We continued on the 5 until we got off at 152 and continued on until Hollister. 

At Hollister, we stopped at the Corbin motorcycle seat factory. I wanted them to see if they could make some adjustments to my seat.  We also ate lunch at their Wizards café. We had a quick bite to eat and then left on the 25 heading south.  At this point I noticed that we had not seen another motorcycle on the road since we left Napa a few days before. In fact, the next time we would see a motorcycle was Saturday afternoon in Ojai. As we started down the 25 it started to rain. The rain would continue until we were just outside of Paso Robles, about 4 hours later. 

The 25 goes for about 65 miles, and was about the best motorcycle road we were on during the trip. There was just not much out there but green hills and cows. We would pass cars about every 20 – 30 minutes. The 25 dead ends into the 198, which we took west until it hit the 101. We then snaked our way over to the G14 and rode into Paso Robles.We stayed at the Hampton Inn, and ate at the hotel next door. Once again, great food and wine. We then watched TV and hit the sack. 

Saturday.  We left the hotel at 9:20 am in a medium fog.  I decided to take the scenic route back home. As we got further down La Panza rd, the fog got thicker. We then continued East on the 58 as the fog got thicker and thicker. Suddenly, the fog ended just as if a vale had been lifted. We were then in very bright sunlight.  We went through winding hills and eventually into a desert area where there were many tumbleweeds. We then went East on the 33 through an area that looked like West Texas and the oil patch. We stopped at Taft and got gas. The temperature had dropped through the ride. It was now 48 degrees. 

We then progressed on the 33 South and into the Los Padres National forest. I had never been on this part of the road and had no idea of what was ahead. The road started twisting up and over the mountain. At one point we were at 5600 feet and there was snow on the side of the road. Shortly after, I had to stop and put on my heated gear because my hands were getting cold. This was the only time on the trip where I had to use the heated gear. 

We finally got to Ojai around 1:30 PM and stopped for lunch at the Deer Lodge restaurant. The food was really good as we sat by the fire. We continued on the 33 until we hit the 101 in Ventura.

I was really tired by this time and I was hoping we could take it easy on the 101, but that was not to be. Immediately, the traffic was stop and go in Ventura. The stop and go continued until we got half way through Orange County. There were a few times were the road opened up, but they were far and few between. I ended up splitting lanes most of the way. If I had not then we would have got home hours later or worse yet, been in an accident due to the stop and go. 

It took 4 hours for us to get home from Ventura.  We arrived home at 6:20 PM, which means this was a 9 hour ride. Saturday, was the most challenging since it was 9 hours with about everything under the sun, except rain. We had fog, cold, snow, deserts, mountains, slow twisties, long straight-aways, no traffic and stop and go traffic. 

Altogether, we did 1,375 miles.  A really good and fun vacation.