My first trip out West with motorcycles involved renting a trailer, buying a trailer hitch, towing two bikes to Colorado, riding the state, reloading the bikes, then driving back to Pennsylvania.

Lots of planning and work involved. But an easier way presents itself by flying, renting, and riding.

My friend Chad and I just returned from our third "Fly-Rent-Ride" trip, this one starting and ending in San Francisco. For about $130 a day (courtesy of Thunder Road Motorcycles in the Bay Area), we experienced vistas and sights that were enhanced because we were seeing them without a metal cage surrounding us.

Our first stop was in Arnold, Calif., a small community not much larger than my hometown of Arnold, Westmoreland County.

Arnold is three miles from Calaveras State Park, home of the giant sequoias. I'd seen them before, but riding through them on my rented Heritage Soft Tail made it a whole new experience.

The next day took us to Lake Tahoe. We took the less crowded western side of the lake, and ended up in Truckee, where we experienced Truckee Thursdays. (Picture New Kensington Days at Memorial Park, only in the old western town of Truckee.)

Day three was a long one, which had us head up to Lassen National Volcanic Park, where the temperature was 111 degrees. Due to the extreme heat, we decided to head to the Pacific Coast, a three-hour ride that took us from 111 degrees to 56 degrees and fog ... lots of fog. We traveled close to 400 miles that day, and were on the bikes for more than eight hours.

The ride down the coast fulfilled my dream of riding Highway One, which I had done several times before, but never on a motorcycle. There were many times I wished that I had rented a sports bike, as the winding roads became arduous on the Harley.

Returning to San Francisco on the last day we rode up to Mount Tamalpais, where we sat and watched the fog roll in from one of the most amazing viewpoints I have ever experienced. The final great moment had us crossing the San Francisco Bay Bridge, which was little scary with all of the traffic, tourists and fog, but spectacular just the same.

We then returned the bikes, took a taxi to the airport, and were home in time for breakfast the next morning.

Previous rides to New Mexico and Arizona have proven to me that this is the way to go.