Murphys, CA July 14-17

La Grange Rd (County Road J59), Stanislaus County, CA

Temperatures reached as high as 105 degrees F (40.5 C) along La Grange Rd, as we passed the western side of Don Pedro Reservoir, Monday July 14.

Golden grasses carpeted the Sierra Foothills with dots of dark green oaks and the occasional windmill.

While seated on my Honda ST1300, slaloming through wide curves one after another, I was busy holding my arm out with camera in hand, snapping scene after scene of what looked to be pristine hillside. Sash, on the other hand, was sucking up the last drops of water from her bottle while riding her Yamaha V-Star 650

Officially starting the first leg of our journey along the Great Sturgis Road Trip, we left Bakersfield, CA, Monday on our way to Murphys, a tiny little wine-tasting town about 15 minutes east of Angels Camp.

Sash pulled up next to me, making a motion with her hand, suggesting that she needed a drink. At first I thought she needed to pull over, but then I realized that she was out of water.

It still took another 15 miles of blazing heat before we found our first water source, a gas station just outside of Jamestown along CA-108. Sash bought a big bottle of water and another bottle of Gatorade. We chugged them down with efficiency.

"It wasn't until I stopped sweating that I became really concerned", she said, referring to our ride up.

I thought about it for a moment, and then realized the whole time I was riding I hadn't sweated at all. But I was still too busy drinking down water to offer a good response.

"Where's the restroom?" I asked her.

"It's outside", she said.

"Fuck it. I don't want to get up." I replied.

Besides, it was hot enough that I actually didn't have to pee that bad.

A few weeks ago, I published an article entitled, "The Reality Tunnel: Our Filtered World", where I explained that our brain filters out redundant information, which is actually a survival tool. It helps us focus on what's new and unusual.

Being an introvert, I tend to filter out lots of this data.  After 15 minutes of riding in the heat, my brain tunes out the hot air hitting my body.  I don't feel the heat anymore, and am content to joy ride through the foothills without thinking about how vulnerable I am.  My body tries to tell me I need water, but my brain also sees that as redundant.  I filter out too much information, and rely on my cognition to keep me safe.

I don't realize how thirsty I might be, and the aches and pains often get pushed to the side and forgotten about. It has its good side and bad.

We checked into our room at Murphys Historic Hotel, supposedly in continuous operation since 1856. Sash is kind of a big deal here at the hotel. We actually stayed here a couple years ago, and she wrote an article about them for California Road Trip. The hotel sent a copy of the article to Gordon Ramsay, star of the show "Hotel Hell", and he ended up coming here to do a show.

Murphys is a charming little mining town, full of wine tasting rooms, curio shops, and cafes for the bourgeoisie.  It's the kind of tourist trap that closes down by 8:00pm on a Saturday night so that 40-something year olds can get back to their hotel rooms for the latest rerun of Sex in the City. For a craft beer snob like me, who'd rather savor an imperial stout than listen to Sarah Jessica Parker whine about her sensitivities, there isn't much pickings. But there actually is one brewery in town, and that's been my saving grace.

But all in all, Sash and I had a good time over the 3 days in Murphys.  She got to do some shopping, get a massage, and I was able to get some quiet time to work.

So Thursday (July 17), we're checking out of our hotel and headed to Fernley, NV for the second leg of the Great Sturgis Road Trip.

Leaving our hotel in Bakersfield, this all our stuff	And here's all our stuff packed on our bikes	Sash riding north along CA-99 through Fresno
Windmill, La Grange Road, Stanislaus County	Temperatures reached 105 degrees F around here	Through Sash's windshield CA-99 northbound
More windmill madness along La Grange Road	Even on a hot day like this, it's still good to ride	Murphys Historic Hotel, Murphys, CA
8:00 PM on a Saturday night is considered after-hours here	I found Sash exceptionally beautiful in this photo	Grounds Cafe has the best breakfasts in Murphys
Rusted bicycles used as decorations for this wine bar	Sash bought me a jar of habanero stuffed olives	Asphalt Annie at Prospector's Brewery
Looking down Main Street Murphys	Cupcake at Lila & Sage Bakery	The Nugget is the local dive bar in Murphys
Murphys Motorcycle Company sells only accessories	This little creekside patio is part of a vacation rental	The greeter at Murphys Motorcycle Company

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What a Month of Bakersfield Will Do To You

Women Riders Now, a publication for female motorcyclists, is publishing a series of articles from me about the on-going road trip that Sash and I are doing. You can read their first installment, "Guy, Girl, Ride Forever on Their Motorcycles".

Subsequent articles will probably come out every 2-3 weeks.

Our month-long stay in Bakersfield comes to an end this Monday morning (July 14) when we take off further north for Murphys, CA.  We're busy packing up now, tying up loose ends, and eating up the rest of the food from our hotel room refrigerator.

Bakersfield is often referred to as the "armpit" of California. But after a month here, it's really just like most medium-sized cities.  It has nice places, cool hangouts, as well as its dumps and blights.

Looking back at our time here, Bakersfield has sort of grown on us...

• Sash saw the birth of her first grandchild, Jackson.  She was right there holding on to her daughter Olivia's hand, coaching her through it the entire time.  She's been a really great grandma too, helping her daughter and grandson every day since.  Sash is really going to miss them when we leave.

• We attended a couple of bike nights at Chuy's.  Sash got to meet the guys at 98.5 FM The Fox, and got to know them pretty well.  We took lots of photos and shared them with them for their Facebook.

• She was touched by the death of another female rider.  Shawna Elaine Throneberry was struck by a car that didn't stop at the stop sign, and it happened just a few blocks from our hotel.  She's been in touch with Shawna's cousin and friend.  After Sash wrote about the story, one of Sash's friends, Margaret Morin got involved to help out the family.  

• Sash got to forge friendships with a couple of female riders.  Annette Presley, lives up by Fresno, and Margaret Morin, lives in Bakersfield.  Sash originally met them in at the Steel Horse Sisterhood Summit last May.

• We got new tires and brakes for our bikes at Fred Cummings Motorsports in downtown.

• We got a free one-month pass to a fitness center.  Our hotel had advertised it had a fitness room, but when we got there, it was closed indefinitely.  Sash complained to them it was false advertising, because we would have booked a different hotel.  They refused to compensate us.  We went to the closest fitness center to our hotel, In-Shape Fitness, and Sash negotiated a deal, $60.00 for both of us for 30 days.  I wrote to the corporate office of our hotel, and they sent me a check for $60.00!

• We visited some cool places too.  There was Ethel's Old Corral Cafe, more like a dive bar for farmers, but very friendly.  Lengthwise Brewing, the only craft brewery in Bakersfield.  Donna Kaye's Cafe, huge breakfasts.  Guthrie's Alley Cat, the oldest bar in Bakersfield.  Brimstone Bar, inside Padre Hotel, awesome burgers.  

And while we were here, we managed to close several business deals for our marketing company.  That's probably the brightest spot for Sash and I, proving that we can build our business while on the road.

Fueling up in Mojave, CA	Sash's new tailbag in our hotel room	In-Shape Fitness, that our hotel bought us for a month.
Me and Olivia hanging out at the hotel spa	Me eating a burrito and working at Starbucks	Sash at an intersection in Bakersfield
Our boots in the maternity ward waiting room	Sash meets fellow motorcycle rider, Margaret Morin	Olivia and her husband David
Our office at Starbucks	Donna Kaye's Cafe has the best breakfasts!	Sash's dinner at Logan's Road House
Sash and her daughter Olivia	Sash meets fellow motorcycle rider Annette Presley	Vintage Bultaco on display at Lengthwise Brewery
Sash with the guys at 98.5 FM The Fox, Chuy's Bike Night	Sash arrives in style at Chuy's Bike Night	Sash with a couple of guys at Chuy's Bike Night
I ordered the Atomic Habanero Death Wings at Wing Stop	Sash arrives at Ethel's Old Corral Cafe	Farmer guys and gals dancing at Ethel's
Me drinking a double IPA at Lengthwise Brewing	Sash takes an evening ride around Bakersfield	Sash showing off her new Bell 500 open face helmet
I got a new pair of Michelin Pilot Road 4 tires	Sash says Hello to her new grandson Jackson	The BBQ Bison Burger at Padre Hotel, downtown
Me at the hotel pool getting ready to barbecue.	Sash takes a business call while relaxing at the bar	Me & Sash taking Olivia home with the baby.
Me philosophizing about beer and life's mysteries	Sash mounting up after a day at Starbucks	Getting lunch at a taco shop in town
Enjoying a beer at the bar after a day of coding	Sash with Dave DeRoo, bassist of Adema	Sash at Guthrie's Alley Cat, downtown
Asphalt Annie had a little too much to drink	Sash and Annette about to go for a ride	The roadside memorial for Shawna Elaine Throneberry
Getting work done in our hotel room	The Jalapeno Fried Egg Cheeseburger at Eureka!	Sash holding her grandson Jackson

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When It's Not Right To Color in a State

How how much of a state does one have to experience before he or she can rightfully color it in on a map? Is it just to pass through, or to stay for a month?

Recently, Sash asked a similar question, about cities, on her Google+ page, and got some good responses.

The question came after she and I spent 17 days in Bakersfield, CA, with another 13 days left to go. While we spent a lot of time in our hotel room, building websites, writing articles for clients, and running social media campaigns, we've still managed to get out and see some of this town.

And we're not just talking about the national chains, even though we did patronize a few. We spent a few hours at Ethel's Old Corral Cafe, a divey little farmers joint on the outskirts of town. We also hung out at Guthrie's Alley Cat Bar in downtown, the Padre Hotel bar, Donna Kaye's Cafe, and a handful of taco shops. There's also my personal favorite, Lengthwise Brewery, in the Rosedale community.

But more than just bars and restaurants, we've been to San Joaquin Hospital a couple of times due to Sash's daughter having child-birth false alarms, as well as Fred Cummings Motorsports for service on our bikes. Our hotel bought us a month-pass at In-Shape Fitness because their own in-house gym was out of order (thanks to Sash's persistent complaints), and Sash and her daughter have been shopping all over town.

We'd like say that "we've been to Bakersfield".

Although, there's still a lot to Bakersfield that we've haven't experienced, I'm guessing that many residents here haven't experienced all there is to experience, either.

I remember a year ago, Sash and I stopped in the tiny town of Vaughn, NM along the US-285. About all there is to experience is Penny's Diner, a throwback to the old days of shiny single-wide trailers that serve up blue plate specials and homemade apple pie. If that's all there is to do, then is it right to say that we've been to Vaughn also?

The same could be asked of states.

On motorcycle forums, people often post graphics that illustrate which states and provinces they've ridden through. If you were to ride the very short 1-mile stretch of US-160 in the upper-left corner of New Mexico, could you rightfully color in the entire Land of Enchantment on your map?

If you did an Iron Butt ride via the super-slab, and blasted through three states, is right to color those in as well?

I recall motorcyclists complaining that just because someone bought their first motorcycle doesn't make them a "biker" or "rider". It just means they own a motorcycle.

I suppose it's the same thing.

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