Stateline to Ranchito Motel Quincy (5h13m, 207mi)
Day 9 Route All In One (5h14m, 207mi)
Sights along the way:
This morning, Ken and I got coffee at Starbucks, then I said goodbye to Ken as he is riding back to Las Vegas today. I rode over to Noel's to hopefully meet up with the group, but nobody was there. However, a few minutes later I caught up with Steve, Jon and Julio. We rode as a group, and then collected Bill and stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. Riding with the group is nice, but we skipped a lot of the sights above. We did not see the covered trail tunnels, snowshoe Thompson, or Washington Gold Mining town. They even skipped getting gas in Nevada City which I was counting on. So I stopped there and lost the group for a while before catching up to them takine a break on the side of highway xxx.
The entire group got together in Downieville where Dean treated everyone to ice-cream and we hung out for a while, before visiting the public gallows --- see what I did there? Ha! Anyway, we visited the gallows, took some gag shots (again?), then investigated the Craycroft building which was supposed to have a long bar. It seems like they had a single 70ft long board which is a pretty long board. But it burned in a fire in 1851. Scott and I had some fun poking around in the Craycroft basements lookin for evidence of the bar board which was supposedly stored down there. It wasn't.
The rest of the ride was beautiful and uneventful, and we arrived early in Quincy.
My rear tire is wearing an an acceptable rate, and it's only 520 miles to McMinnville, so I'm thinking I will lower my tire pressure to about 28psi to take some load off the center, then ride very carefully to Mac. Leave the bike at the barn and change to another bike saving the Ducati maintenance (fork seal, cleanup, rear-tire, inspect steering head bearings, etc.) for after I get back from Europe.
| Time | Minutes | km | kph avg | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:36am | 0.2 | leaving Bluebird Inn | ||
| 6:36am | 3.9 | 1 km | 11 kph | |
| 6:40am | 36.2 | Starbucks with Ken | ||
| 7:16am | 3.4 | 1 km | 17 kph | |
| 7:20am | 2.7 | Looking for the group at Noel's Coffee & Apothecary | ||
| 7:28am | caught up to the group | |||
| 7:23am | 23.7 | 21 km | 52 kph | |
| 7:46am | 0.9 | Emerald Bay Inspiration Point pics | ||
| 7:47am | 26.3 | 32 km | 72 kph | |
| 8:14am | 3.1 | fuel stop Chevron Tahoe City | ||
| 8:17am | 148.4 | 106 km | 43 kph | |
| 10:45am | 2.6 | fuel stop Chevron Nevada City | ||
| 10:48am | 24.1 | 30 km | 74 kph | |
| 11:12am | 13.5 | caught up with the group on Hwy 49 | ||
| 11:26am | 32.6 | 37 km | 67 kph | |
| 11:59am | 0.6 | pics stop | ||
| 11:59am | 3.9 | 2 km | 34 kph | |
| 12:03pm | 69.4 | Downieville ice-cream, thanks Dean! | ||
| 1:12pm | 7.8 | 7 km | 51 kph | |
| 1:20pm | 2.1 | construction delay on Hwy 49 | ||
| 1:22pm | 43.5 | 54 km | 75 kph | |
| 2:06pm | 11.8 | construction delay on Hwy 89 | ||
| 2:18pm | 28.9 | 32 km | 67 kph | |
| 2:47pm | 1.3 | checking into Ranchito Motel | ||
| 8h10m | 5h47m moving | 324 km | 56.0 kph | 71% moving, 143 minutes of breaks |
The guys took a break at McDonalds for bathroom, coffee, and some food. I got oatmeal and another latte. It was good to warm up. And, in the parking lot I noticed that my rear tire was beginning to show cords. Actually I now think it was just the last layer of rubber. The cords aren't showing through quite yet. From here, I drive even more gently on the throttle.
We did not find the bar plank and there were no rooms large enough to hold a 70 ft board.