Day 72. San Francisco, California. Started the day off with a trip through downtown San Francisco to drop the bikes off for their latest set of running repairs. New front tyre for Jane. New battery (3rd), new front tyre (2nd), and new chain set for Mark. While that lot was being done we headed to Pier 39 for brunch and to rent some bikes (pedal power this time). We headed over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped off in Sausalito, Mill Valley (to see the giant red...

Day 71. San Francisco, California. Leisurely day sightseeing in San Francisco - really steep streets, sea lions on Pier 39, a visit to the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, and dinner in Chinatown. See photos.

Day 70. San Francisco, California. We should have realised that something was up when we found the motorbikes covered in ash this morning. Hearing the staff talking about evacuations should have been another clue. It wasn't until we were on a surprisingly busy Highway 1 and queuing for fuel that we heard about the California wildfires. It turns out that we were in the evacuation area for Santa Rosa city, where residents had been told to evacuate at 01:00 this mo...

Day 69. Fort Bragg, California. One of our most challenging days of motorcycling today, in terms of twists and turns, and rollercoaster ups and downs. A tiring but fun 250 miles in total. Firstly, west along Route 36 over the mountains; then south on the Avenue of Giants (with its giant redwood trees) and through the middle of a tree (see photos); and finally down the coast on Highway 1 to Fort Bragg, as the sunset and the cold mist arrived. This means that af...

Day 68. Red Bluff, California. We left Lake Tahoe today - having decided that we had enough time to fit in another of the National Parks (Lassen Volcanic). The road there followed the Sierra Nevada mountains north, up Route 89. It was very quiet and we hardly saw a soul outside of the small towns on our route. It was also some of the best motorcycling that we've had for a while. On the way we also got the chance to break out the camping stove and grab a boil i...