Sunday 26 August 2012

Day 63: San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles via the Pacific Coast Hihway

Evening all
Well this will be a different post because there will be no photos. Maybe later if Diana is able to send me some. Today was mostly a getting-on-with-it kind of day because we had to be in LA tonight but still wanted to come an interesting way if we could.

We took our time leaving San Luis Obispo and Dick led us on a delightful meander through market gardens with broccoli, cabbages, maize and other vegetables and on to the coast at Guadalupe. We tried to stay on California 1 as much as we could but being a sunny Sunday the roads were pretty clogged. People seemed in a good mood about it though with one car pulling up alongside us and holding up a sign which said "New Zealand?" Nonetheless it was a lot of stop-start driving which is not what an R1200GS is designed for!

Fabulous scenery though with lots of people enjoying the sea. We rode past Neptunes Cafe which must have had at least three million motorbikes parked outside it. Easily. We also saw some bikers taking risks that made us cringe as they weaved through the heavy traffic. Us middle-aged bikers were much more sedate. :-)

The route took us down to Santa Barbara and through Malibu to Santa Monica. We basically just turned the bikes then and headed for our hotel on Santa Monica Blvd. And here we are. I went out for a walk and was a little surprised at the number of men I met walking along the street holding hands. I didn't think too much about it until we were at the restaurant having dinner. I went to the loo and asked the waiter where the restrooms were. His question was "straight or gay?" I went straight; I did not pass go and I did not earn $200. So there.

Tomorrow we take the bikes into the BMW agent for their 30,000km service. I plan to do some sightseeing then before heading for LAX at about 7pm for our flight home. And so dear readers (and John M), this blog will be on hold for a couple of weeks. I may write some commentaries from Wellington but that will depend very much on how quickly I get the painting done! And on my grandsons.

Thank youse all for your forbearance and your nice messages to Kiwi.

Diana has written a great summary of the trip so far on her latest blog here:

http://pearlson2wheels.blogspot.com/

Today's run: 352kms
Cumulative: 18,735kms
Tipovers: 2


Location:Los Angeles, California, USA

4 comments:

  1. Lachie said to say he doesn't think you'll have time for commentaries.

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    1. What big word for a little boy! Must have erudite grandparents. :-)

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  2. Thanks for keeping me in the loop Ken. Have a nice flight home, and enjoy your friends and family while you're there. Let me know when you start out again. I can't wait to read more of your adventures. Tell Kiwi he seems ok to me.

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    1. Thanks again Scotty. It has been great having you on the side, knowing that if we had a problem we could call on you for help. Much appreciated. We plan to be in LA on 10 September. We will collect the bikes and head on south after that.
      Cheers,
      Ken

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