Jonesin for a Ride!

Shai and I are home now and have been for a few days. I usually don’t finish my blog on my trips. bu my sisters always remind me, so here it is.

We left Ben and Kate’s place at abut 11:00 a.m. after both Shai and I had breakfast and showered up one more time with the outdoor shower. Loaded up the bike, said bye to Kate and the dogs (Ben had left at 6:00 a.m. to head to the ranch to finish up on a job) and headed out of Hopland, not really knowing where I was going for the day. The weather was cool, as was this whole trip’s weather, basically was cool. I was thinking of hiting the stretch of route 1 that we bypassed (from the Golden Gate bridge to Bodega Bay). I pulled off highway 101 only several miles from Hopland off of Comminski Station Raod to put my jacket on. This was also the spot (across the river) where Ben thought there was a railroad station at one time along the tracks (we stopped at a spring here). I guess with the name of the road, he is right.

So as we headed south on 101 and as we approached San Fransico area, the weather was getting cooler and I could see fog creaping over the hills. SInce it looked like it would be foggy and cold (as it ussually is) I opted now to try and get past San Fran and south of it before rush hour.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge about 2ish and made it to the city, where we had to deal with downtown city streets for a bit before the freeway re-appeared. Little bit of lane splitting, past the airport, into the carpool lane and we were moving through heavy traffic. Silicon Valley was next and we breezed through that. At Gilroy, the “Garlic Capital of the World” we stopped to have a bite to eat at subway, which it was about 3:30 now. Paso Robles was only about 100 miles from here, so I made reservations and looked on my phone for another way to get there off the 101. I choose a route through Hollister CA, and on route 25.

Once we got past Hollister, the two lane highway was beautiful – found another treasure road to bypass the 101 in this area.
By 6:00 p.m. we were checking into our hotel and relaxing. THe next morning we left at 11:00 a.m. and made it back to O.C. by 3:00 p.m.

Another great trip!

It has been a long while since I have toured in California. I usually avoid it because of the helmet law and take my money elsewhere, but CA has a lot to offer, and I may have to return. It is so diverse. But it is also about 25% to 30% more expesive to travel I find. Food, Hotels, Gas…. and also more to compete with as a lot of tourist come here too.
We found several new cool roads (Highway 46 from Paso Robles to Route 1, Highway 128 from the coast to Fry Land and Highway 25 out of Hollister). This trip was also VERY relaxing – slow starts, early finishes, and more touring and just putting along. The most we ever did in a day was 300 miles.

Highlights of the trip:
⦁ Paso Robles I always enjoy this little town and the fine restaurants by the park
⦁ Big Sur
⦁ The MacNeil’s – visiting with Julia, Ross and Larry – and looking at the future pet that Ross wants to get.
⦁ Bodega Bay and the ride along the coast to Elk, CA – better than Big Sur.
⦁ Elk Cove Inn and the town of Elk.
⦁ Route 101 from Willits, CA to the Redwoods
⦁ The Avenure of the Giants
⦁ Route 1 from Leggat, CA to the coast
⦁ Route 128 from the coast to Hopland. There was about 30 miles of canopy redwood road here – just as good as Avenue of the Giants
⦁ Ben and Kate’s house and Ben’s Railroad – that was a topper!

Yes, a very relaxing trip indeed. One of the most relaxing trips on a bike i have taken in a while.We were gone 8 days, on the bike for 7 and traveled about 2,000 miles. Shai, this was fun!

Thanks for following. We enjoyed all the comments even though we may not have responded – it always brought a smile to our faces

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