More miles in the Fresno County Foothills

[grey.hound]

Went out again this morning. I'll start with a little nostalgia. Here are some pics of the town I grew up in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanger,_California
I moved away in 1991 and rarely visit.

This road is right down the street from a good friend of mine as a child. 30+ years ago we used to play games in the grape vines and peach orchards all the time. Also, being just outside of town we'd play tricks on cars driving through at night.


A couple miles away, it's downtown Sanger:


The old Train Depot


The "old high school" now a middle school. My dad graduated here in 1960, me in 1991.


Some real nostalgia time. As I was riding away, I rode past a section of houses near my grandparents house, they have since passed away. I saw this corridor of the high school and remembered that is where I kissed a girl for the first time. I told you, nostalgia.


A Sanger landmark/icon, "Chuck Wagon"


The main road heading north or south through town. Now it has lots of franchise stores like Sonic, Starbucks, Dennys etc. In the distance is the water tower. At noon everyday a siren located on the tower goes off (well it used to anyway).


From here I headed into the hills.

 

[grey.hound]

Heading East into the Sierras about 60 miles are the two National Parks Kings Canyon and Sequoia, they share the same entrance. I didn't go that far today. Today was low country riding.


Lots of low sweepers and nice roads going into and out of the small valleys that dot the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's.


The Kings River, flowing out of Kings Canyon NP. This pic is taken on the for side of the where the pic above was taken (basically where the two yellow hills are).


In the hills now, no real shoulders on some of these roads so I took some pics where the road was fairly straight. Lots of blind corners in hills and again, no shoulders.




Oak trees are everywhere.


In the town of Friant, northeast of Fresno. That is the San Joaquin River below.

 

[SteveADV]

A great day. Definitely falls under the category of, "Why We Ride."

At poker the other night I was responding (again) to questions about why I enjoy just getting on a bike and taking off not necessarily for parts unknown (I usually have a destination in mind) but rather for adventures unknown. Hard to explain that "flying so close to the ground" feeling and being more a part of everything around you if you haven't really experienced it - or - if you tried it for awhile but not long enough to push past the new rider fear part of it. My daughter, who just got past that fear thing, now tells me she understands a lot better what I had been talking about over the years when asked "why".

Good stuff. You are building a ride album you can pull out and look at when the snow is 3 feet deep.

Uhh, wait a minute. Ok, an album I can look at when the snow HERE is 3 feet deep.

 

[grey.hound]

yeah, snow, here? 1998 I think we got a record amount one night. It actually stuck overnight and people had snowmen about 2 feet high in their yards. You could tell the scraped every last flake to do it because the rest of the yard had no snow.

Hasn't snowed here since. The last time before 1998 was flakes falling in '91, but it all melted when in hit the ground.

For the record, Our January temps will get below freezing regularly, but we don't get rain at the same time. When it rains in the winter it's warmer, when we get hold spells it's dry.

Love riding! my rides have become slightly longer in the past 2 months. I'm outgrowing the local area (to some extent) and the call to keep going is getting stronger.

 

[Snowdog]

Nice pictures, take some more.

 

[Snowdog]

I always envy Vista's. Here in New England , we have to many trees. They hide the view's more then I would like.

 

[Skutorr]

Nice tour, Greyhound!

 

[grey.hound]

Same roads, just a few months and a few rain storms later.

 

[Snowdog]

I want to live there, it appears parking is no problem!!

 

[grey.hound]

Yeah, it's about 30 miles due east of my house. Unfortunately, I need to ride almost 20 miles city/suburbs to get there. Along with the rolling hills and empty space, you get tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes and coyotes.

If you look above and see the picture of the oak tree, then the two pics right before it, those are on the same road just about a mile or two away from each other.

See if this links to roughly the location
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8351099,-119.5135985,13z

 

[Snowdog]

Yeah, it's about 30 miles due east of my house. Unfortunately, I need to ride almost 20 miles city/suburbs to get there. Along with the rolling hills and empty space, you get tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes and coyotes.

If you look above and see the picture of the oak tree, then the two pics right before it, those are on the same road just about a mile or two away from each other.

See if this links to roughly the location
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8351099,-119.5135985,13z

Cities create those traffic "choke points" that inhibit good motorcycle routes. I rarely ride South as the traffic in and around Boston can ruin the ride. If I lived out on Long Island, I would never get off the Island except on the Orient Point Ferry.

 

[Snowdog]

So, did you take the pictures at 5AM ? The town is empty.

 

[grey.hound]

No lol. This is outside of town in the rural foothills.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[SteveADV]

Did you add a tinted windshield?

 

[grey.hound]

Did you add a tinted windshield?

Yes, a Puig; it's called a v-tech sport. basically 5 cm shorter and a little narrower than the stock. One of the best things I've done.

for the C600
http://www.puigusa.com/tuning-bikes/bmw-c600-sport-2013/c171en/m3601/

for the GT
http://www.puigusa.com/tuning-bikes/bmw-c650-gt-2013/c171en/m3619/

 

[SteveADV]

How is it at 70mph+?

 

[Snowdog]

but all your in town pictures look like the town is deserted

 

[SteveADV]

Zombie apocalypse

 

[grey.hound]

How is it at 70mph+?

Better than stock, except in the highest position. The new windscreen in the highest position, even at city speeds creates incredible pressure on my head and ears. That's the best i can describe it. I've not experienced it before on either of my scooters with/without a windscreen. So, in the highest position, I can't use it.

But It's quiet(er) in the lowest position, definitely windier and I get more of a blast, but not unuseable. don't know If I would want to travel miles on end with it in the lowest position. I'm 6'1" so sitting upright, I get quite a blast from about mid torso up. Still, I usually ride with it in the lowest position.

If traveling distance, at speed would be required, I would go middle. No pressure at all and give good protection and noise is not bad.

As I said, it's one of the best changes I've made to the scoot both functionally and aesthetically.

 

[grey.hound]

Yeah those were early morning, probably a Sunday. Small town (25,000) so most people were either asleep or at church. Again, I don't live there anymore. If you've seen the move McFarland USA, then you can picture the town.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2097298/

The Central Valley is filled with towns just like these From Bakersfield to Sacramento (275miles). I'm in Fresno about half way between.
Agriculture and Dairyland are what it's all about. Education is low, and poverty is high. In my school district alone (I'm a teacher), all students, over 11,000 of them are offered free breakfast every day when they arrive at school. No forms necessary. That doesn't include Fresno Unified School District which has about 75,000 students of basically the same situation. Sorry, a little off topic there.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sac...998fe74c8!2m2!1d-119.0187125!2d35.3732921!5i1