What do you think when someone says California?

Hollywood? Moviestars? Smog? Liberal d!ckhead$? 'Frisco gay day parades? Moss munching Luddites?

I've been here for 31 of my 53 years, and this is what I think of:
The Sequoias, Yosemite, Shasta, the Gold Country, the High Sierra, the lakes and trees and mountains and ocean. You just don't get a wider spectrum of vistas than from Death Valley to Shasta, to the north coast.

I'm going to post some photos of past rides here, without much comment. Forget the name "California" and ask yourself if these are places you'd love to ride sometime.





























(More to come....)

[Top Cat]

To be honest the first thing that comes to my mind is earthquakes. After that would be heat, high cost of living,gun control and all kinds of regulations on your vehickles.

[cactusjack]

Was that a picture of the rock at Morro Bay in there?

Some of these are taken from my friend's lightplane, over Yosemite and various lakes, the Sierra, and the huge San Joaquin valley.

Was that a picture of the rock at Morro Bay in there?

Yup. The lighthouse is at Santa Cruz. A couple of the photos are from King's canyon.

[trip]

Nice pics CaddmannQ. When I think of Calif, I think of the trips I've made to San Fran, LA and San Diego. I think of the cool evenings in San Fran and the wonderful beaches in LaJoya.

Texas may sport the biggest, but California blazes the trail.

To be honest the first thing that comes to my mind is earthquakes. After that would be heat, high cost of living,gun control and all kinds of regulations on your vehickles.

Please don't take this personally. It's gonna sound a bit brutal, I know; but so much of that is false perception based on what things are like in the big cities. IMO big cities suck everywhere.

Earthquakes are mostly a problem around 'Frisco and LA/San Diego. Those places could fall off into the sea for all I care. The most horrible quake in the last 30 years was barely felt where we live. I thought someone just bumped into my wall.

I remember the blizzards almost yearly in New England and Minnesota. Not around here unless you live high in the mountains. Heat is a relative thing. In New York, people sometimes freeze to death on the street. They have airconditioners there as I recall, too.

Gun control is a big deal in the big cities. In Clovis and the smaller towns gun control doesn't really exist. As long as the local cops don't think you are a scumbag or a felon, getting a CWP isn't difficult. I own a gun. Nobody's ever tried to take it away. I never had to register it.

As I recall, in New York you need a safety inspection sticker every year. Here I get an inspection every two years, and all they check for is smog. In the counties far away from the big cities, inspections aren't required at all. My Pontiac is 12 years old & has had 6 inspections. This year they made me buy a new gas cap for $10 because the gasket was bad. That's the worst thing that's happened to me in 12 years. of smog checks. Our '00 Toyota hasn't required a thing done in 8 years. Life could be worse! My '74 Caprice Classic is totally exempt, being over 30 years old. So is my '61 Scout and my '47 Plymouth. All exempt. No inspections whatsoever. None of them are rusting through either. Is there a road driven car in New York over 30 years old that isn't rusted out? I think my Pontiac Bonneville cost $74 to register this year. Is New York that cheap? I haven't lived there since 1967.

The cost of living is variable too. My modest house is worth about $275,000 & has 1/3 acre, in Clovis which has maybe 80,000 people. It's totally suburban, or small parcels of 1~5 acres for the most part. In the real little towns around here it would be worth maybe half that or less though. If you dropped it in the sticks of central Arkansas it would be worth maybe $60,000, If you dropped it on the outskirts of 'Frisco it would cost $1.2 million. I'll bet it would go for almost that on Long Island.

Again, please don't take offense. I'm just trying to show how perceptions based on things like what TV shows you about California and are closely focused on what happens in the 1% of this land they actually show you over and over. 99% of California isn't like that at all. A great deal of it is absolute freakin' wilderness.

Nice pics CaddmannQ. When I think of Calif, I think of the trips I've made to San Fran, LA and San Diego. I think of the cool evenings in San Fran and the wonderful beaches in LaJoya.

Texas may sport the biggest, but California blazes the trail.

I've been to those places a few times, and for me it's like going to the freak show. It's fun once in a while to see them. When it's over you leave, thanking God you live somewhere else.

Exploring the sparsely populated parts of California on a bike or car or in a small plane is a real eye-opener. Some of those photos are of places you can only see from a plane or on foot. Maybe with a canoe or bicycle or horse. No motors allowed in the real wilderness areas.

But there are huge areas where they are, and I've only scratched the surface of them in 30+ years here.

[blowndodge]

I think "it's where BD lives!!"

[cactusjack]

I think "it's where BD lives!!"

Yes, but we try to overlook that

[rflnomad]

Never been to Cal yet, but would like to someday. It would be a long ride for us! We would fly and rent a bike.
But we have NO interest in LA, Sf or other big cities. As mentioned, most big cities are the same. Hey, I don't go to Miami or Orlando!
We would like to see the smaller towns and more rural ( wilderness) type areas.

[tomk]

Really nice pics CaddmannQ.

I think you're right, the big cities get the credit for whatever reputation you get. LA is a dump. I live in the "OC" where we don't live like the TV show.

A lot of perception issues there. BUT, I know a few people on here who would like to be riding right now instead of snowed in.

Was that a picture of the rock at Morro Bay in there?

In that last photo, the one with me (in the hat) and my buddy Mac, we are leaning against the other Moro (one "r") Rock, which is in the Sequoias. That one you can "climb" (there's a paved trail) but the one at morro Bay is verbotten! No climbing the rock allowed.

That's Mac again, in the photo where he's sticking his head through a hole in a hollow log. Mac's over six feet, but that log is over 12 feet diameter. He had to climb the inside to look out.

[Idaho]

Hey CQ, you needn't worry about offending anyone. Sounds like you may have been tweaked though. Sorry about that. You are right, those of us from the rest of the country see California through the eyes of the media and want we see sucks. Earthquakes, Santa Anna winds blowtorching S. Cal and then there is Berkley. Oh yeah, Hells Angels, illegal immigrants and Hollywierd. The list goes on. Taxes, regulations and loonie tunes running the state. Wait, that describes just about every other state on that last one, strike it. California is a beautiful state and is probably a great place to visit. I've been there a couple of times. LA, San Diego, 29 Palms. Few good memories but nothing that pulls me back. To each his own.

Hmmm...
Well, we got trout. And bass. And salmon.
No cutthroats though.