NormanPCN
03-30-2005, 03:29 PM
I did a two day run this Easter weekend. I went Friday/Saturday to avoid Sunday going home traffic.
Day 1.
I started from Thousand Oaks up CA 33 going twoards Coalinga. The 33 was closed due to storm damage in the mountains above Ojai so I had to thake I5 and then cut across on CA166 the CA33. Everything was quite green due to the time of the year. The 33 in this area is basically straight and parallels I5. This was very relaxing with nice scenenry of farm land and open range cattle pasture. I honked at some of the cows to make them run. I did pass one huge oil field. I could not believe the density of the grasshopper type pumps. Many only 15 feet apart with a typical spacing of 50 feet. This was all as far as the eye could see. They were still drilling additional wells. I arrived in Colainga and stopped to eat some lunch. Got a complement from an elderly couple, going through the Burger King drive through, on my "gourgeous motorcycle". I guess they forgave the huge mass of bug splats on the front of the bike. After lunch I kicked the tires with someone going into BK. He asked about how I liked the bike. He had read lots of things about the ST1300. His current ride is a GS1100. About the time I was leaving someone pulled in on a GL1800. He also had a ST1300, though he said his wife did not let him ride it too often since it was her ride. We kicked the tires a little.
The Coalinga it was onto CA198 over to CA25. The 198 is a prime haul *** twisty sporting road. It is also a truck cross route between US101 and I5... yikes. I was riding slow as I was on a "tour". There are so many hot rod roads in my backyard I do not much bother when on a "tour". Great scenery on this section. CA25 between CA198 and Hollister has a couple of characters. Twisty near the 198 and open near Hollister. I did stop at the Pinnacles National monument to see what views I could get. Supposed to have interesting rock formations. You basically have to hike and I took the wrong trail. I will have to plan a Pinnacles run in the near future. The Pinnacles is basically the "insides" of an old volcano 23 million years old. Half the volcano is 195 miles south near LA. The volcano straddled what is the San Andreas fault. The fault has moved that far on 23 million years.
Into Hollister. Still early so I decided I would stay in Salinas so I turned the GPS on and looked for an interesting way to get there from my location. I saw a very squiggly line going over the hills to my left. I decided that was it. The GPS and Maps said it was San Juan grade, and the turn singal the street sign said "the alameda". Whatever. This was one bumpy, rough, very tight sweet little road. Good stuff. Okay now down into Salinas. Need to find a place to stay. Had the GPS lookup the nearest Super 8 motel and had it give me directions. When I got there, wow the parking lot slope was steep. Not going to park a bike on that. Too easy to do something stupid and drop the bike. I looked up a Days Inn and had the GPS guide me there. Much better, and a 76 station right by it and a Jack in the Box so I can get a breakfast sandwich in the morning. Good deal.
Day 2. The plan was to head down CA1 (Pacific Coast Hwy). I did not take the direct route. I went over to River road which parallels the 101 going south towards Carmel valley road. Nice pleasent road. Be carefull. The southbound direction veers left twice and to stay on river road is a right turn. If you are daydreaming, the next thing you know you are approaching US101. Now onto Carmel valley road towards Carmel. The home of Clint Eastwood. Eastwoods movie production company, Malpaso, is named after a canyon in the Carmel area. Carmel valley road is one sweet road. It is a one lane road in some portions. It also had some interesting signs about Newt crossings (pic attached).
Now down the coast through the famous Big Sur area. Actually the last I looked, Turnsday night, CA1 was closed at Lucia. I was hoping CalTrans would have it open by Saturday. They did. If I got turned around I had other plans. The Cali Coast rides are so famous there is nothing to say. A couple of pics attached. I basically stayed on the 1 all the way home. Leaving Morro bay the 1 turned into a freeway and I saw a parallel road on my GPS so I got off and took that. Found a bicycle race. The road had a large bicycle lane so things were okay. It was about time to gas up my body and why not top of the bike. On the GPS saw a back road into San Luis Obispo from the road I was on and took that. Found another bicycle race south of the Pismo beach area. Not much road room here so things got clogged a little at times.
That is the short and sweet of the trip. 769 miles for my two days. This is a pretty damn good loop from my area. Some representative pics attached.
Day 1.
I started from Thousand Oaks up CA 33 going twoards Coalinga. The 33 was closed due to storm damage in the mountains above Ojai so I had to thake I5 and then cut across on CA166 the CA33. Everything was quite green due to the time of the year. The 33 in this area is basically straight and parallels I5. This was very relaxing with nice scenenry of farm land and open range cattle pasture. I honked at some of the cows to make them run. I did pass one huge oil field. I could not believe the density of the grasshopper type pumps. Many only 15 feet apart with a typical spacing of 50 feet. This was all as far as the eye could see. They were still drilling additional wells. I arrived in Colainga and stopped to eat some lunch. Got a complement from an elderly couple, going through the Burger King drive through, on my "gourgeous motorcycle". I guess they forgave the huge mass of bug splats on the front of the bike. After lunch I kicked the tires with someone going into BK. He asked about how I liked the bike. He had read lots of things about the ST1300. His current ride is a GS1100. About the time I was leaving someone pulled in on a GL1800. He also had a ST1300, though he said his wife did not let him ride it too often since it was her ride. We kicked the tires a little.
The Coalinga it was onto CA198 over to CA25. The 198 is a prime haul *** twisty sporting road. It is also a truck cross route between US101 and I5... yikes. I was riding slow as I was on a "tour". There are so many hot rod roads in my backyard I do not much bother when on a "tour". Great scenery on this section. CA25 between CA198 and Hollister has a couple of characters. Twisty near the 198 and open near Hollister. I did stop at the Pinnacles National monument to see what views I could get. Supposed to have interesting rock formations. You basically have to hike and I took the wrong trail. I will have to plan a Pinnacles run in the near future. The Pinnacles is basically the "insides" of an old volcano 23 million years old. Half the volcano is 195 miles south near LA. The volcano straddled what is the San Andreas fault. The fault has moved that far on 23 million years.
Into Hollister. Still early so I decided I would stay in Salinas so I turned the GPS on and looked for an interesting way to get there from my location. I saw a very squiggly line going over the hills to my left. I decided that was it. The GPS and Maps said it was San Juan grade, and the turn singal the street sign said "the alameda". Whatever. This was one bumpy, rough, very tight sweet little road. Good stuff. Okay now down into Salinas. Need to find a place to stay. Had the GPS lookup the nearest Super 8 motel and had it give me directions. When I got there, wow the parking lot slope was steep. Not going to park a bike on that. Too easy to do something stupid and drop the bike. I looked up a Days Inn and had the GPS guide me there. Much better, and a 76 station right by it and a Jack in the Box so I can get a breakfast sandwich in the morning. Good deal.
Day 2. The plan was to head down CA1 (Pacific Coast Hwy). I did not take the direct route. I went over to River road which parallels the 101 going south towards Carmel valley road. Nice pleasent road. Be carefull. The southbound direction veers left twice and to stay on river road is a right turn. If you are daydreaming, the next thing you know you are approaching US101. Now onto Carmel valley road towards Carmel. The home of Clint Eastwood. Eastwoods movie production company, Malpaso, is named after a canyon in the Carmel area. Carmel valley road is one sweet road. It is a one lane road in some portions. It also had some interesting signs about Newt crossings (pic attached).
Now down the coast through the famous Big Sur area. Actually the last I looked, Turnsday night, CA1 was closed at Lucia. I was hoping CalTrans would have it open by Saturday. They did. If I got turned around I had other plans. The Cali Coast rides are so famous there is nothing to say. A couple of pics attached. I basically stayed on the 1 all the way home. Leaving Morro bay the 1 turned into a freeway and I saw a parallel road on my GPS so I got off and took that. Found a bicycle race. The road had a large bicycle lane so things were okay. It was about time to gas up my body and why not top of the bike. On the GPS saw a back road into San Luis Obispo from the road I was on and took that. Found another bicycle race south of the Pismo beach area. Not much road room here so things got clogged a little at times.
That is the short and sweet of the trip. 769 miles for my two days. This is a pretty damn good loop from my area. Some representative pics attached.