Day 11 That's All, Folks

It's called the "June Gloom" here.  In Arbroath it is called "haar".  A dense, wet mist settles over the border of the land and sea.  It can stretch quite far inland and last for much of the day.  We had it this morning as we rode up route 1 from Monterey to Santa Cruz.  It was cold.  But it was fairly deserted as we started quite early, so it was OK and a very relaxed ride.  We came off just past Santa Cruz and the fog lifted very quickly as we went inland.  We headed up the Santa Cruz mountains to Alice's Restaurant - not the one from the movie, as I had thought.  This was where we started our trip just over a week ago.  Lovely tree lined, twisty mountain roads.  Many more scraped pegs.  It still scares the s**t out of me when it happens unexpectedly.  It was a fine end to the adventure.  We arrived back at the rental place early, but content.

Then it was just a case of packing our cases, changing and getting a lift to the mall near the airport.  BJ's Brewhouse was where we were headed.  On the way we got a text telling us the flight was delayed by two hours, so we spent a long time over lunch and watched the US/Portugal game in what was effectively a crowded American pub.  They know how to support their guys.

We're now sitting at the airport waiting, so I'll try and put a decent end to this blog with some reflections on the trip.

The rental place was great.  The bikes were in very good shape and didn't miss a beat in all the 2,751.9 miles we did.

(That's according to Graham's odometer.  Mine read 2,740.8).  The staff were very helpful and the pick up from the motel and drop off at the mall were much appreciated.  I would recommend California Motorcycle Adventures to anybody planning a trip like this.

Our accommodation was good.  We started booking ahead after our problems at Big Sur on the first night and Oceanside on our second.  We planned our route the evening before and decided where we wanted to stay.  We then used booking.com and had no difficulty finding decent places.  Motels aren't as cheap as they used to be in the US, by a long way.

We ate well and had no difficulty finding places.  The novelty of big breakfasts wore off quickly.  Trail mix and cereal bars became enough to get us to a shared sandwich at lunch and then a decent meal at night.

We had no rain on the whole trip.  Apart from a couple of (well, three) overcast mornings at the coast we had sunshine all the time.  If we had come any earlier it might have been too cold to do the mountain sections of the trip.  They were quite chilly as it was, and we didn't go quite as far north as we would have liked because of it..  If we had been any later, the desert sections might have been too hot.  It's already too hot to try Death Valley  So, I think June is a good time to come, but it depends on what you want to do.  If you are sticking to the highlands, maybe come a bit later.

The roads we drove on were simply magnificent.  Maybe because American cars are a bit sloppy in turns, the roads are well-engineered and surfaced to cope with them.  The result is perfect for motorcycles.  They were almost all in great condition, and apart from round cities, pretty empty.  They were a delight to be on.

The California landscape was simply outstanding.  In many ways it reminds me of Spain, but on a grander scale.  We just didn't get tired of it, even when it was fairly repetitive and seen from an interstate.  There was a huge variety and it made for very entertaining riding.

We didn't do very much apart from ride our motorcycles.  That was what we intended anyway, but when we thought about being a bit more touristy, like at Cannery Row in Monterey, we were quickly put off.  I don't think it is just an American issue, but they are at the forefront of it.  Every thing that becomes a tourist destination ends up the same.  There is "infotainment" which sanitises the attraction; there are "cute" shops; and there are activities which bear no relation to the attraction, but are popular and profitable.  Everything is "Disneyfied".  When we were talking to one couple about perhaps going up to Oregon, they advised us not to miss the place where Bonanza was filmed as it is "real cute".  When the real thing is all around why would you want to visit a shrine to an imitation of it?  Anyway, we saw plenty of real America and were very happy with it - from the splendour of the deserts, to the beauty of the forests and the magnificence of the mountains, we loved it.

I'm sure we'll be back, though I've no idea when.  In the meantime, America, thank you for a great trip.

Day 10

The last full day of our trip.  No rush to do anything, so we both slept in till 6am!  The day was overcast to begin with.  Just like the morning of Day 2 at Cambria.  Apparently the sea mist gets drawn in by the warmer land.  I didn't notice any warmer land today.  It felt quite chilly as we wandered over to Starbucks for breakfast.  One noticeable thing is how much quieter it is around here early.  In the desert the place is heaving with people by 7am.  City slickers lie in I suppose, while in the desert people want to get their chores done before the day really heats up.

We decided to go back along Route 1 from Monterey to Cambria at a more leisurely pace than we had done on Day 1.  You will see from the photographs that it is really quite spectacular.  We even had time to stop and talk to the elephant seals.

Although the mist mostly burned off by late morning, it came back after lunch.  Even a little inland from the coast it was considerably warmer.  However, we were by the sea for most of the way and it was decidedly chilly as we came back in to Seaside.  Coffee and a hot shower and the trip is effectively over.  We've got about 100 miles to do tomorrow to take the bikes back, but neither of us has the appetite to add more miles just for the sake of it, so we will probably have them back well before the mid-day deadline.

The flight is not till 7pm, so we intend to fill in the time by eating, drinking and shopping at a mall near the airport.  Any requests for stuff to be brought back need to be sent quickly.

We found a nice modern diner last night and will go back again tonight.  It's only a couple of doors away and did really good food

I think I caused more confusion than I resolved by my comment about the blog being posted in UK time.  What I mean is that as I post this now it is 5:38pm on Saturday 21st June in Monterey.  It will show on the blog as being posted at 1:38 am on Sunday 22nd June as that is the time in the UK.

Day 9

When I was wide awake at 5:30am I was thinking that it's not good to wake up so early.  Then I realised that I had been in bed at 9:30pm last night, so I've had 8 hours sleep.  What more do I need?  Fortunately Graham was on more or less the same schedule, so with some coffee inside us - thank goodness for that wee kettle - we set off just before 7am.

I found the Pacific quite easily and we followed the coast down for a while.  However, I then lost it and we ended up a bit more inland than intended, so we just got on the freeway and headed for San Francisco.  We stopped, as I'm sure everyone does, to view the bridge from the viewpoint, so that's the photos for today.  Graham led us over the bridge as he had the subsequent directions taped to the inside of his windscreen.  He didn't manage to get lost on the bridge itself, but he did very shortly afterwards.  No big deal.  We just took a bit of a tour of what is a very lovely city.

Our intention was to get out of the metropolitan area as quickly as possible, so we were heading for the Bay Bridge to go east and make a big sweep round the metro area.  We knew it was going to be a long day as there were quite a few miles and a lot of them on highway.  I can't get over how much traffic there is.  Six lanes of expressway, each way and they are all full.  Not relaxing at all.  But it was OK.  You couldn't call the roads picturesque, but we were travelling through country that was new to us, so it was interesting.

Today was the first day that we came across roads in poor condition.  There were some ruts and potholes on the road just outside Monterey.  For the rest of our trip all of the roads have been in excellent condition, a joy to travel on.

Tonight we are staying at another Thunderbird Motel.  This one's in Seaside.   It's not a chain, just a great name for a motel I think, or for anything for that matter. It's the only place we are staying for two nights.  It's within easy striking distance of San Francisco for getting the bikes back on Sunday and handy for a run down to Big Sur tomorrow.  It'll be interesting to see if we notice any difference in the bikes when they are not laden down with  luggage.

We've eaten well at a restaurant just down the street, so I can see us having another early night, and hopefully, another early morning.

Day 8

I have hassled this bike at high speeds over desert roads.  I've scratched my way through the twisties in the mountains.  It has handled it all OK.  Today we found what it was made for.  Sitting on a two lane blacktop meandering through the rural backwoods of America at 50-60mph.  I could have happily done it for days.

In the event it wasn't a very long day and we stopped to take a look at a winery.   The guy serving tasters had been to Brighton!

We are staying in Santa Rosa, which isn't as nice as it sounds, but there is a diner up the road and we have a bed, so that is OK.

Tomorrow we are going south on route 1 and over the Golden Gate Bridge.  Suggestions on how to photograph the event would be welcome.

Just a few photos today.  We were too busy enjoying ourselves to take any.

Day 7

An early and a brisk start.  We headed west through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.  It'll be boring to read that this was another great day of super roads, wonderful scenery and great riding.  I've run out of superlatives, so I'll leave it at that.

We also went through some Redwood forests before heading down to the Pacific.  The last 40 miles or so to Fort Bragg were just like the Applecross route, but much longer.  I am relieved that scrapes on the underside of the floorboards are accepted wear and tear, since mine were grounding more often than I was comfortable with.

By the way mpg is around 50, not 60 as I wrote yesterday.  Still very good.

Another brewery visit for dinner and a walk home via the ice cream shop.  Graham was very taken with the Mushroom ice cream.

We've spent a long time tonight trying to plan the rest of the trip as we've actually got about a day more than we need.  We will use it wisely.  We will take the opportunity to go down the first bit of route 1 again, since it is fabulous and we did rush it a bit on the first day.

I'll just add the photos now and I'm going to bed.

Day 6

It was less than 40F when we got up this morning.  We had had the heating on in the room overnight.  We were a little concerned about what we might be letting ourselves in for.  The forecasts said the wind would abate around 8am and that the day would warm up, so we took our time.  We walked to the supermarket to get stuff for breakfast, had coffee, loaded the bikes, and it was still only 8 o'clock.  Graham had managed to get some liners for his gloves, so we decided just to set off, since it was hands that had got coldest yesterday.

It was certainly nippy.  We passed the road to Donner Pass and were comforted that at least that fate did not await us.  By the time we stopped for coffee about 9:30 it was certainly warming up.

The road was superb.  It wasn't at all busy and the scenery was just outstanding.  It was all we could have asked for and it made for a great day's riding.  [Talking of which, yesterday we saw some real cowboys riding out to inspect their cattle.  They even had lassos on their saddles.]  If you ever get the chance to ride or drive route 89 in California, take it.  What we didn't realise is that it goes through a National Park, so we had the added bonus of visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park.  This is quite simply one of the most beautiful places I have been.  Some of the pictures may give a flavour of it.  And yes, that is snow in some of them.

I apologise if the pictures don't seem to be in any order.  There are three different cameras in use and it is too difficult to try to integrate them, so just admire them without being picky.

The descent from the hills to almost sea level was very swift.  I think we lost most of the 8,000 feet within 20 miles.

We are staying in Redding tonight.  We had a great burger and Graham enjoyed the beer in a local pub.  Apart from that there is not much to commend the town.  In common with many US cities the centre has died.  It has then been tarted up and pedestrianised, but has died again, so there are loads of gentrified and prettied up old buildings just lying empty.  It's a most peculiar sight since there is none of the decay evident that is usually associated with urban blight.

The bike continued to perform well.  We reckon that the fuel consumption is better than 60mpg, which is astonishing for such a big engine on such a heavy bike.

It is hot down in the valley, so we don't mind an early start in the morning to get going before it gets too hot.  We will be heading westwards, over some more hills and down to the Pacific coast.  Tomorrow is giant redwood day.