My wonderful girlfriend and I are going to CA in a month and i have rented a BMW 1200RT for 4 days. Now, i know theres a ton of awesome roads and things to do etc etc but i only have 4 days, so this is what i have planned. Time wise i think its pretty tight, so unless there is something that you locals think is a MUST, how does this look?
http://mapq.st/2-HJonFlir
First night when we fly in we will just take it easy and head up to visalia for the night. Its a couple hour ride, so i didnt really plan to go off and explore. I figured we would go to dinner in the LA area with my friend, then off to the hotel to get some good rest from our flight and prepare for the road trip.
The second day it says 8- hours, and by my experience, that shapes up to a 12 hour or so riding day. But thats us going through the sierra mountains, stop in fresno for lunch, then to mariposa and yosemite. I dont plan on doing much stopping and hiking, aside from maybe once in mariposa to check out the general or whatever that tree is called. I know theres so many things to do, but time is against me, and who knows the next time ill be out that way. (Im 29 and its our first time to CA, this is our first real vacation in over 3 years) We have done numerous 8 hour bike days back to back when we went up to Maine and such on my ninja 1000. Hoping the RT is the same or more comfortable, but we can do the saddle time for sure. I know these are seaonsal roads, but looking back through the years they seem to be open until mid or late novemeber. Perfect for us, we will be there the first week. We have overpants and all that jazz to ride around when its 40 or so. Wont be the first time.
Does this seem doable? Should i scrap the sirrea mountains, this give a 5 hour trip, more time for hiking and what not. I figured it may be worth the extra time, not sure. Were in modesto area for the night here. The hotels are already booked fyi, so cant really change things up too much.
The 3rd day i made a bit more relaxing, i was going to go to sacrmento for brunch, walk around for an hour or so, then ride through napa valley. Go to a wine tasting or 2, then do across the golden gate bridge and into San Fran for dinner, and walk around for a couple hours. Were staying around Carmel for the night, so only a quick ride south after san fran.
4th day i wanted to just ride Rt 1 all the way to LA again. We have a house rental for 8 nights in anaheim heights, so thats our destination. I know theres a TON of nice roads off Rt 1, but this looks to be a fairly long day, so a bunch of side stops would prob put us overtime. But again, if theres something you guys know, spill it because i have no clue. This is more a trip to remember for years to come, not really a canyon carving type trip. I want her to enjoy it as much as me, and Rt 1 is always in the top roads to travel. It will be during a weekday, so hopefully traffic wont be too bad for the majority of the day.
What do you guys think? I know theres a ton of CA people and Nevada Wolf has been all over the place. I wanted to hit death valley on the first day but i dont think the time is there.