Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park

by Alex Samson

Juancheros to the Kings! After several weeks of anticipation, departure day finally came. July 21, 6am, at Roxford Denny's near I-5. Same place,
same time where the group met for the ride to Alaska last year.  Destination this weekend: Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP. Glenn came early for
breakfast at Denny's Restaurant. He was riding his full-dress Harley Davidson Streetglide. Ernie came on his VTX1800 with saddlebags and a
travel-trunk. He had just returned from the annual Wing-Ding at Montana.  Goldwingers Ohgie and wife Delia came on their black GL1800, Sonny on the red express. This time, Sonny left the motorcycle trailer behind and Brenda came along to drive the family pickup with daughter Arianna.    This cargo ship carried the coolers and barbeque for the overnight campout at Visalia. Wincat came in all the way from Fontana riding a massive 2000cc Vulcan. Veteran rider Anthony rode in from Palmdale on a VTX1300C with a nice sounding Vance & Hines exhaust system. Gudy rode a rare low-mileage Red R100GS, Alex rode a high-mileage ST1100, Pete "El Kapitan" on his 1500 Vulcan, and Neil on a custom with  high bars and a funky rear fender.

      

      

After a short prayer and a brief checkout of onboard 2-way radios, we headed northbound on the Golden state freeway as it was illuminated by a
golden sunrise unfolding on the horizon. Skies were clear and blue, the temperature a cool 70F.

      

      

Traffic that Saturday morning was light.  Castaic, Gorman, Frazier Park, and Tejon came and went. Then came "The View,"
that ever-magical sight looking north at the San Joaquin valley as the highway descended to Grapevine. By this time, there was chatter on the
radio about breakfast at the Flying-J in Bakersfield. Speeds picked up as the news propagated among the riders.

      

The  banquet room at Flying-J was just the right size for 13 people. There were no Tapsilog nor Longsilog but the breakfast buffet was a perfect alternative. The service and coffee were excellent. There were sporadic bursts of laughter as everyone enjoyed the camaraderie with Harley-sized portions of ham, eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, and more. Some of the Juancheros have not seen each other in many months so there was plenty to talk about.

      

      

      

      

After breakfast, we continued north on the 99. By 11am, we stopped at a Shell gas station along the 198 in Visalia. The plan then was to ride
east on the 198 via the Generals Highway up to Sequoia and Kings and then loop on the 245 back to the Visalia KOA campground to spend the night there.  All this time, Brenda had been following on the pickup truck chase vehicle and the winding roads up ahead were going to be quite a challenge for her. Sonny therefore decided to park his bike at the gas station so he could drive the truck and give Brenda a break.

       

      

Just before the town of Three Rivers, we explored Lake Kaweah and the campgrounds around it. Maybe this could be the venue for a future
Juanchero campout. By noon time, there was a picture taking session by the Sequoia NP welcome sign. We had a great time at that site.

      

      

      

      

      

Continuing further up the road, we stopped at the Giant Forest Village and museum. The shade under the massive sequoia trees presented an
ideal place to hang for a break.

      

Someone took out a bag of tasty bread and several cans of Tome sardines for a mid-day picnic under the trees.
Somehow it felt like being at the lumber department of a Home Depot, given the abundant scent of fresh pine, redwood, and Sequoia trees in the
immediate premises. Unlike the Home Depot however, there were no crowds and elevation was more than 5,000 feet with cool temperatures and a
pleasant breeze. There was a temptation to setup camp right there but the scenery up ahead was just getting better. After the picnic, everyone got
back on their bikes to continue the ride.

      

      

There was spectacular scenery along the Generals highway as it meandered thru a forest of magnificent Sequoias. In our minds, we thanked the
previous generations of Americans who had preserved this place for us to see and enjoy today. Further on, the road entered the Kings Canyon NP.  We stopped at the Stony Creek gas station to refuel around mid-afternoon..  There was a power failure at Tulare county that day and the gas station had to rely on local generator power. After the gas-up, we took the winding highway-245 cutoff. Riders giggled inside their helmets as footpegs dragged on the corners of numerous twisties on this route. By 5pm, we had completed the loop back to Visalia, picking up Sonny's bike from the Shell gas station before checking in at the KOA campground.

      

Ernie had previously made arrangements with the KOA office and we were assigned three adjacent sites for 10 bikes and 1 pickup truck. Sonny and Brenda had several grills going and the steak dinner was fantastic, with Mexican rice, salmon, sausages, corn, string beans, salad, cold beer and drinks. The campfire was good, the company even better, lasting up to 2am. In this gathering, it didnt matter what you rode or where you
came from.

      

      

      

      

      

Next morning, some of the guys woke up early to get breakfast ready.  Good hot coffee, scrambled eggs and sausages with tasty bread. Strangers at the campground stopped by to chat with Gudy about his motorcycle.  Temperature was 75F with clear blue skies. By mid-morning, tents were
packed, camping gears loaded up, and we were ready to ride the easy 200 miles back to Los Angeles. No sooner had the group left camp, there was talk on the radio: "...hope everyone had a good time, we gotta do this again..." The journey continues!

                                       

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