9/24/17
We got up before the sun today. While having our morning coffee, we watched the sunrise over the valley from our AirBnB in Fairfield, CA.
We packed up, said farewell to Erin and got on the road heading east. The road from Fairfield towards Stockton isn't the most interesting road to ride, but it passes through a HUGE wind farm. I wasn't able to get any photos, but the sheer size of these turbines is pretty incredible. They are in the middle of a cattle ranch and the cows look like ants standing next to these things. We made a quick stop in Stockton at the Wat Dhammararam Buddhist Temple. it was kind of interesting to see a Cambodian temple in the middle of the Sacramento Valley. The temple itself is kind of small, but there are huge statues of Buddha all over the complex. I always like the Reclining Buddha statues.
We left the temple and continued heading east through huge citrus and what we thought maybe almond groves toward the mountains. The brownish yellow hills of the valley soon gave way to more green and steeper, winding roads.
Soon we were at the entrance to Yosemite National Park. As we pulled up, we noticed that it was $25 for a one day pass for a motorcycle. I have an annual parks pass, but they usually only let 1 motorcycle in on those passes. I handed her my card and John's $25 - she handed me the cash back and said we were both good on my card. SCORE!
The ride through Yosemite was hands down the most beautiful motorcycle ride I have ever taken. Once again, the photos do not do it justice. You really need to come here and see it for yourself!
We did not go into Yosemite Valley, as it is a one way in, one way out road. We headed over Tioga Pass toward the eastern part of the park. I have been to Yosemite before, but was very young,I don't think we went over Tioga Pass on that trip.
This lake was probably the best stop of the day - as we were standing there, a bald eagle was soaring over the lake. I wasn't able to catch it in the photo, but it was really neat to see!
As we exited the park on the eastern side, the road descends very quickly toward the town of Lee Vining. This was the white-knuckle part of the road - no guardrails and STEEP drop-offs. If you look closely, you can see the cut of the road in the side of the mountain in the photo below:
We arrived at our hotel for the night, got checked in and settled.
We found that the world famous (their words) upside down house was just a short walk away, so we set off to find it. Success!!
The ride today was probably the most beautiful ride I have done on the motorcycle, I personally think that it beats beartooth pass. The only downside to today was again the motorcycle. I have developed a clutch issue, making it very difficult to find neutral, and difficult to shift - hopefully just a clutch bleed will be all it needs. John and I will try to get it sorted in Utah tomorrow.
Today's miles: 223
Total miles - 4127
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