On our way out of Seattle, we decided to ride by Mt. Rainier. It’s a huge mountain that can actually be seen from the Seattle track and Ginger let me know that it even had a beer named after it years ago; Rainier Beer. We took pictures by a waterfall near its base and drove about six hours before crashing for the night in Portland.

Monday morning we took a slow scenic tour down the eastern part of the Oregon countryside to Klamath Falls and visited Marty at his ranch. Along the way, we passed the snow-covered 11,000-foot Mt. Hood; the highest mountain in Oregon and the most likely of the Oregon volcanoes to erupt. Whenever we gunned past 18-wheelers, Ginger would give them the signal to blow their horns. That kept her entertained; that and taking pictures going highway speeds. We had dinner with Marty and Bird and stayed overnight at the “One Man Party Ranch.”

Back on the road again Tuesday, we hit it early that morning. The rain pelted us hard a few times that day, but Ginger was a trouper. The temperature went from just under 40 degrees to 100 in just a few hours. We saw hawks, elk, deer, thousands of cows, lots of lumber mills and tons of Subway sandwich shops, even in the smallest of towns. And since that’s Jessie’s favorite place to eat; she would have loved it. That made us think about her every 30 miles.

My Harley t-shirt collection grew by leaps and bounds on this trip. We stopped at almost every Harley dealer we passed and bought a shirt. When we had had enough wind in our faces and bugs in our teeth, we stopped in Eureka, Calif., for the night.

Wednesday morning we got to sleep in and finally rallied about lunchtime. We took the scenic route to San Francisco on Route 101; the Redwood Highway, along the Northern California coastline. The Giant Redwood Forest surrounding the highway was incredible; many of the trees are thousands of years old. We stopped at the “Grandfather Tree” along the Avenue of the Giants for a picture. It towers 265 feet and its trunk is 24 feet in diameter. A little while later, we made a pit stop in Leggett, Calif., at the “Chandelier Tree.” In the 1930s, a car-sized hole was bored through it. It’s literally a drive-thru tree, so we drove the Harley through. This redwood tree stands 315 feet tall, is 21 feet wide and is estimated to be about 2,400 years old. If you have never seen these trees I would recommend making the trip; it’s kind of like being in a fairy tale.

After quite a few hours on the road, we finally crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Fran. My niece, Tiffany, and her boyfriend, Nathan, came to our hotel and the four of us went to Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel for some appetizers, drinks and dancing. Normally I am not much of a dancer but with no where to drive and a big pitcher of some wild rum drink I developed some courage and decided to cut some rug!

On Thursday, we got up early and explored San Francisco like a couple of wide-eyed tourists. We went to the Fisherman’s Wharf and I couldn’t leave without having some clam chowder in a bread bowl. We saw Alcatraz, a couple of old WWII submarines and drove around until we found the famous “crookedest street in the world” with all its switchbacks; Lombard Street. For lunch, Ginger dragged me to a raw food restaurant called Café Gratitute and I had to eat her kind of food and even drank a green juice. Ginger wanted me to note; it was the most nutritious meal I’ve eaten in a long time…..And it tasted like it too!