Today we started our serious touring – heading for places like Death Valley, Sonora Pass, Tioga Pass, Million $ Highway; then add Yosemite, Zion National Park, Moab, Colorado Rockies, Bryce Canyon, and of course the Grand Canyon – this was enough to make any motor cyclist reach for your helmet and start flexing your right wrist.
The previous 2 days had really been ‘getting us into position’ from where we were to start our serious touring. In my initial dreaming I had listed a number of roads that were ‘must ride roads’, and then planned how we would join the dots. These were roads that I read about on US riding forums, such as the USA FJRForum, and Pashnit.
Our touring routine was already established. It seems that it is a regular feature that hotels in the USA offer breakfast as a standard, although the quality does vary. Early breakfast for us and a glance at the local newspaper to get a feel for local issues, and soon the crew were ready to roll.
The four of us - Zea, myself, Tracey and Glenn, ready for the serious touring.
It really is great having quick-release panniers and top box, as it takes only a few minutes to hook them up and be ready to ride.
As we were preparing to leave there were 3 other bikes in the car park, and this was the usual too – either Harley’s or Goldwings. We were definitely in the minority on Sports-Tourers.
Another regular feature was the friendliness af everyone. maybe the novelty of our Aussie accents helped.
The morning was misty and we had hopes that it would clear as the sun heated up, but we were to have on-and-off mist over the ocean all day. We headed up Highway 101/State Highway 1 through Lompoc (for fuel), Guadalupe to Grover Beach.
Fertile farmlands and seasonal workers
The area around here is obviously fertile and great for growing ‘stuff’, with a great variety of vegetables being grown. We were constantly passing between well cultivated fields with workers going about their business. Some of the field scenes reminded me of the Charles Bronson film Mr Majestyk (does this show my age?), and there was a real mix of workers vehicles parked along the way, from wrecks that looked to be barely roadworthy to near-new pickup trucks.
Then on through Morro Bay and we stopped in Cambria at the French Corner Bakery for morning coffee. Great coffee, and yummy pastries.
Steely grey ocean and grey skies
From here is was the ocean road for real, and the fog off the Pacific (or is it mist here?) did spoil the view. Instead of sparkling blue waters reflecting clear blue skies and towering mountains on the right, we had steely-grey ocean and grey skies, and mountain tops hidden in the mist.
Elephant seal colony
The road was great, although there were long sections that were far less technical than I expected. The weather wasn’t bad, but we didn’t experience the best this road and coast have to offer. Of course we stopped to have a look at the Elephant Seal colony, but we bypassed the Hearst Castle – Glenn and I were enjoying riding the road too much for too many stops.
Something that became evident to me quite soon though, was that we needed to make an adjustment to our bike. The previous owner had lowered the bike, and this did NOT suit my riding style. I was scraping parts on too many corners, and this was definitely not good with the roads we had lined up to ride ahead of us. This was cramping my riding style quite considerable, and through the day I was scheming on what options I might have.
Mist lifted just a little later in the day, but we didn't see the sun
As we got closer to our destination of Carmel the mist did lift somewhat, and were treated to glimpses of the majesty of Highway 1. Today was one of our shortest days overall, a little less than 300 miles, as we had expected far more stops and ohh ahh moments.
We hadn’t booked ahead, and after a quick tour through town selected a likely looking hotel. This proved to be fully booked, but the friendly receptionist called ahead to another nearby hotel that had just 2 rooms left, and 2 rooms were all we needed, so that was all good. The Best Western Townhouse Lodge on San Carlos St was everything we needed – clean, well appointed, and well located for an easy walk to Ocean St and restaurants, etc.
Now my challenge to do something about the bike rose to the surface.
