Iron Butt SaddleSore 1000 to the Last Blockbuster (June 3-June 5, 2019): Part 3 - Sacramento, San Francisco, and the Ride Home

Note: This is the third part of a three-part blog series. Click here for part one.

The next morning, Edwin and I geared up and got ready for the last stretch toward home. But first, we had to eat breakfast. We escorted Amanda and her Honda Hawk to Flapjack's Diner that was just down the street from her house. Amanda hadn't ridden her motorcycle for a while due to an ankle injury and wanted to take the quick jaunt to breakfast, so we made sure that happened safely. She was very happy to be back on her bike again.

After a nice meal, we returned to her house to load up the rest of our gear, say our goodbyes, and ride off to our next planned destination, the headquarters of Clearwater Lights in nearby Rancho Cordova. The owner, Glen, contacted Edwin online the day before and offered to treat us to lunch and a tour of the factory since we were swinging through the area anyway. I myself was excited to visit this place as I had sold many sets of these premium lights when I was still working in the motorcycle industry. Glen ordered sandwiches for us and while we waited for the food to arrive, we got to see how these lights were made firsthand. I don't have any photos of all that because, well, it wouldn't be nice to give away industry secrets. But here's part of the selection of their world-famous, high quality LED lights that they manufacture here in California.

We ended up staying there so long that I bought a set of Darla lights for Eleanor and made the choice to forgo the original plan of returning home via US-101, opting for the faster I-5. After our stay at Clearwater Lights, we cut across Sacramento westbound to swing down through San Francisco, the next of our planned stops. Of course, an obligatory photo of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Battery Spencer side was in order before crossing it (we were entering the city from the north). I even got myself a Magikarp that washed ashore in the process. AR jokes on Pokémon GO never get old.

We continued across the Golden Gate Bridge and through San Francisco, heading back onto US-101 for a short while. Our second to last fuel stop before returning to Los Angeles was a Costco in San Jose where we relaxed for a little bit and had some pizza in the food court. For motorcyclists who are travelling through populated areas, Costco stores are wonderful places to take a break. We then continued down the 101 for a little while before cutting across Gilroy on CA-152 to jump back onto I-5. The rest of the ride was exactly as we had started it, through the night and in uneventful darkness. It had been a long day so we traded off conversations back and forth to keep ourselves awake. We split off at the 405/5 interchange in Sylmar and were at our homes around 2:30 AM.

Final trip mileage after the three day journey.

So yes, that's the end of an epic three day ride across two states. At the time of this blog post, this IBA SaddleSore 1000 ride to the last Blockbuster on Earth has been officially certified and my physical certificate will be arriving in the mail soon. What makes this even cooler is that the certificates that Edwin and I will be receiving will note that our destination for the ride was "the last Blockbuster Video store on Earth." What a fun notation for a very unique endurance ride. Now to think about the next long-distance jaunt. For me, I've been contemplating a reattempt at a BunBurner Gold 1500 (1500 miles in 24 hours). Who knows? Anything is possible.

A huge thank you to Edwin for inspiring me to get back into long-distance riding form, Amanda and Emory for the hospitality in Sacramento, Glen at Clearwater Lights for the cool tour, Robert (my mechanic) for making sure Eleanor was ready for this whole ordeal, and everyone who watched our journeys online and cheered us on.

NorCal Revisited Part 3: Reclaiming San Francisco

My homework was done, and I was ready to jump on Eleanor and play! I looked on Google Maps and found out that there was a road that leads out of Petaluma onto some really nice twisties and headed out toward PCH. It was going to be a bit cooler going into this region (around the mid-60s), so I made sure that I inserted my rain liner into my mesh jacket to add more layers to battle the winds and fog on my way down toward San Francisco.

I had no idea what visually stunning sights I was in for as I was riding down these serene, two-lane roads. There were small lakes, seemingly unending hills, and very picturesque land forms as I rode through on a good clip. However, I had to come to a complete stop for this lake area amid the hills, otherwise known as the Nicasio Reservoir.

Once I made it onto the US-101 southbound heading into San Francisco (around 10:30 AM), the fog was so bad that I delayed taking a photo at Battery Spencer until later in the day when I was on my way out. Temps had also dropped down to the upper-50s so getting through the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city where it was warmer was a priority. It was surreal to cross back into San Francisco again from the north; it had been over six years since I had done it, and the third time that Eleanor had seen the bridge. I had ridden across the Golden Gate Bridge on another motorcycle before this, my 2005 Suzuki SV650.

It was quite #foggy riding in. It should burn off for a good pic later. #GoldenGateBridge #SanFrancisco

A post shared by Christine (@twowheeledtourist) on Jul 13, 2017 at 11:07am PDT

I learned a couple things once I made it to Fisherman's Wharf. First, with a motorcycle, you can park for free right in the entrance of the wharf. Second, I need to bring my FastTrak transponder with me the next time I return to Northern California. All of the toll roads are using the system now.

My first stop in the Fisherman's Wharf was the Musée Mécanique, a penny arcade and museum filled with video games and arcade machines from various decades, all of them fully playable. As I had done a decade prior, I threw a few quarters into the X-Men vs. Street Fighter game and beat the snot out of another patron. After that, I ventured outside to check out Alcatraz from a distance as it could be seen in plain view the day I was there.

Hmm. That's not what I think about when I envision a bunch of bimbos in a box.

There were too many food selections to choose from for lunch, and I had a little too much fun taking photos of everything. This may involve multiple visits back up here. I'm not complaining about that.

If it lived in the ocean, it'll probably end up on a roll. The options were endless. Would you like some rolls with your crab, lobster, or shrimp?

A pair of disgruntled giant lobster and an indifferent crab.

That's a long way to swim if you're planning to make any sort of escape.

Getting my clam-on-clam fix with a little help from the squid. This was totally worth the ride down to the city by the bay.

Even the Magikarp couldn't resist all the attention!

Cooked crab...master of the resting bitch face.

I have a feeling that these socks wouldn't fly well at my job. The kids would find it funny, though.

After lunch, I headed over the hilly parts of the city into Japantown to Daiso in an attempt to find a budget Apple Lightning cable to charge my iPad (I had forgotten mine at home). Unfortunately, they were sold out of them so I made my way to the flagship Apple Store in Union Square.

Things that aren't awkward: motorcycle-specific parking meters are only $0.35 an hour. Bless you, #SanFrancisco. Things that are kinda awkward: this photo if you're familiar enough with my life story. At least it's not red. 😅 #motorcycleprobs #Yamaha #FJR1300 #K1200RS #somestoriesarenotmeanttoberepeated

A post shared by Christine (@twowheeledtourist) on Jul 13, 2017 at 1:38pm PDT

I spent a little time perusing this two-story, open air store and had the chance to plug my iPad in to get a little juice while I surfed the Internet on a display MacBook and took a break. It's a pretty cool location and it was packed with all sorts of visitors. I ended up getting out of there with a Lightning cable. (Tip: You have a 14-day return window if you buy anything from the Apple Store.) This is great for those people who just happen to be out of town and are forgetting anything.

Tangela is here to inquire about the new MacBook Pro.

Switching gears from technology and back to motorcycles, I rode to BMW Motorcycles of San Francisco to check out the store and ask for some assistance in topping off the oil on Eleanor. She tends to burn a little more oil than normal because of her mileage and age, and I was receiving an oil light on my dash while I was near the Nicasio Reservoir. It's a level, not a pressure, sensor. The service manager there wasn't too busy and helped me out in the service bay. I even got a t-shirt and stickers out of the whole deal. I'd definitely come back and visit again.

After that, I made a quick stop to the nearby D-Store to see if there were any good deals on motorcycle gear before riding back to Battery Spencer to get that view of the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time I got there (about 7:30 PM), the view was just perfect.

I made it back to Petaluma around 9 PM and had to find some creative parking on the street. The roads are severely banked here so I had to be careful where I put my kickstand down. In reference to the title of this blog, returning to San Francisco and some destinations that I have not seen in ten years brought closure to what were tumultuous times in my life. In many ways, even being back up here was a cleansing experience.

My next stop the following day, the Corbin Seats World Headquarters in Hollister, CA, would bring some of that healing energy onto my trusty Yamaha FJR1300 in the form of a completely restored rider seat.

That parking angle is just slightly unnerving...