Went back to my room and loaded up the bike. It was nice and cool out (in the high 50s) so I threw on the heated jacket and rolled out of Morro Bay shortly after 10. Got on Highway 1 and broke free of the traffic and eventually got to the two lane.
It took a little while for the scenery to start getting interesting. Yeah sure, there was the Pacific Ocean on my left, but once you seen one body of water you've seen them all...or something like that.
Shortly after the first break it started getting really twisty. However I got behind a large RV towing a pickup truck. Not much fun staring at the back on an RV. So I found a nice quiet pull-off and took a nice long break.
(Now this is more like it)
(Best self portrait after at least a dozen tries)
After that I had miles upon miles of twisting road in front of me. Beautiful cliffs to the left and white-capped waves rolling their way onto shore.
All along the road there were several times you could see way out ahead of you as the road made it's way along the coast.
I shot tons of footage on the camcorder and I can't wait to look over that when I get home. I congratulate myself every time I'm on a road and shoot some footage. That was the best investment for this trip. The pictures are one thing but moving images will be even better!
As I rolled along I spied a familiar bridge on the horizon. I had found the Bixby Bridge! Alas, after riding a little further along, I realized it wasn't that at all. It was a similar structure but it was not the famed bridge (that would be later).
Around lunchtime I rolled into Big Sur. I must say most of what I saw was a little bit of a disappointment. I had heard a lot about Big Sur but I'm afraid I didn't see anything more spectacular than what I had seen previously. I think that's par for the course sometimes with certain attractions. Now that's not to say it wasn't beautiful, but it wasn't any different from the previous terrain I had seen.
I stopped for lunch and grabbed a good burger, however, I don't think the wait staff really likes waiting on a single person. I guess they think I'm going to leave them a lousy tip or something.
After lunch the wind had stepped it up a notch. Once again riding against the wind and getting tossed about. Before it was a little different on wide open straight roads. Now we're on a narrow twisty two-lane road. Adds a little spice!
As I approached Pebble Beach the traffic picked up substantially as did the speed. It was I-15 +10. I decided to ignore the speed limit and just keep up with the flow of traffic. Your head has to be on a swivel the entire time. You start scanning left, right, left mirror, right mirror, check your front, check your rear...and you do this in a matter of seconds repeatedly. Add in watching where the merge comes on, making sure you're giving yourself room in front in case something happens and checking your rear to make sure that your slowing down isn't going to end up getting you clipped as someone cuts across behind you at 80+ mph.
One nice thing about that stretch was that there were several strawberry fields. It was like riding through a dessert factory. Everything smelled sweet...and strawberry-ey
But despite the traffic, arrived here in sunny Santa Cruz all safe and sound. Went to do laundry after I got here and found that the laundromat was closed. So I washed a few items in the sink and hope that they're dry tomorrow. Need to do a wash...hopefully tomorrow I find a place!
Today's Pics
Tomorrow, San Fran and the Golden Gate Bridge!
No comments:
Post a Comment