PCH Day 1

I seem to have let my blog slip a little and now I have to try and remember what all has occurred the last couple of days.  Let’s start with Friday

Friday was my first real day of driving along the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). As I mentioned in my last post, the drive was awesome. The weather was also a lot cooler than I had anticipated and I really didn’t bring the proper clothes so the last two days of riding along the coast has been a bit chilly.  Below are a bunch of photos I took during that first day along the coast. I pretty much filled you in on the details of Friday in my previous post. Below are the photos from Friday.

Morrow Bay with Morrow Rock in the background

Morrow Rock from a distance

Hearst Castle

Pool at Hearst Castle

More of Hearst Castle

No, they aren't dead, just sleeping

This is how to camp by motorcycle.

Inside of the little camper

My campsite

My little buddy at the campsite

 PCH day 2

Saturday morning started out overcast and cool but soon the sun came out. I didn’t travel far after leaving Carmel.  I stopped in Monterey, CA and spent the morning walking around Canary Row and taking in the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I have been to the Monterey Aquarium once before, about 12 years ago.  If you haven’t noticed, I like museums and aquariums.  After the aquarium I had some lunch at Sly McFly’s . I had the Fish and Chips which were just ok.  

I then continued on. The drive between Monterey to Santa Cruz is not that great. Highway 1 merges with the 101 and its all inland city driving. Once past Santa Cruz highway 1 splits from the 101 and you are back on a 2 lane coastal road. If you are ever considering doing a motorcycle trip, I definitely recommend driving the PCH. If you are in a hurry to get from one place to another, then the PCH is definitely not for you.  There were a number of area’s that the road was reduced to 1 lane because of landslides or because part of a lane had fallen into the ocean due to erosion. In these areas, they controlled access to the one lane via traffic lights or flagmen. This sometimes meant waiting 10 or more minutes due to traffic backup.

Highway 1 merges with the 101 at some point south of San Francisco. My plan was to get past San Francisco and then start looking for a place to stay.  I drove into San Francisco and the weather was cool but sunny.  After driving a while, I finally came to the Golden Gate Bridge. I have driven across the bridge before but in a car. It’s way more awe inspiring crossing on a motorcycle.  The weather over the bay was foggy, windy, and almost down right cold.  The upper part of the bridge was shrouded in fog which made it look even more impressive.  I drove across and then stopped on the other side and took a few photos.

Around Sausalito, highway 1 splits off from the 101. This section of the PCH was the most winding, curving part yet but a lot of fun to drive. You just can’t get going any faster than 20 mph at any point because of the sharp curves and the other cars. What amazed me were the big buses driving on this road. They swing so far into the oncoming traffic lane that I am surprised they don’t take out cars and motorcyclists on a regular basis. I know they came uncomfortably close to me.

Eventually the road gets flatter and straighter and goes inland a bit.  The countryside turns to more dairy, sheep type farms, and rolling hills and some thick forested areas. Its all very pretty.  I was driving along at a leisurely pace, which probably saved me from plowing into bambi when I came around a corner.  Mother deer was on the side of the road but  little bambi was standing smack in the middle of my lane.  I had to stop and honk my horn to get the little bugger to move off the road.  

It was now getting very late in the afternoon and I was looking for a motel. I could have camped again but since I seem to have turned into a big wimp and can’t seem to handle sleeping on the ground two nights in a row, I was hoping to find a nice motel along the beach.  I knew that it probably would be a little pricier but I was prepared to pay up to $100.00 for a nice beachside motel. Well, all the towns along this stretch of the coast are very small and there aren't that many towns. So the first 3 I came across, the motels were full.  The highway at this point turned back inland and I arrived at the town of Tomales. They also only had 1 motel but it had a vacancy light and this town was little and it seemed almost dead. No other traffic or people to be seen for that matter.  The restaurant that I did see was already closed for the day.  It was around 7 PM and it pretty much looked like the town was shutdown for the day. I figured that I should be able to get a room for a reasonable rate here.  I had to ring a buzzer on the door since the front door was locked.  A lady with an English accent came down the stairs and opened the door. I asked her how much for a room. She looked past me at my bike, then looked at me and looked me up and down and then said $180.00 for a room for 1 person. I just looked at her and wanted to say, are you F’ing kidding me? But I didn’t. I just told her that was more than I was prepared to spend for a room. She smiled and said “ I figured it would be” I asked her if there was any way she would consider a cheaper rate. She must have felt bad or something and told me that the cheapest she could go was $110.00 plus tax.  I thanked her but declined and was back on the road.  The next town was exactly the same. One motel, $180.00.  I eventually arrived in Bodega Bay and stopped to fill gas. I asked the guy behind the counter if any of the hotels/motels in town would be under $100. He said nope and that my best bet would be to head inland to Petaluma.  So, I back tracked a bit and headed towards Petaluma. By now the sun was setting and it was getting colder and I was freezing. By the time I arrived in Petaluma and found a motel, I had to pry my fingers off the handlebars. I found a Motel 6 which turned out to be a very crappy Motel 6 and it still cost me $65.00.

I unloaded my stuff into the room, took a hot shower, and then walked across the street to the Beyond the Glory sports bar and had a very good burger and house salad. The bar tender was great. They had a lot of microbrews on tap that I had never heard of. I asked him for a recommendation and I ordered one. He then proceeded to keep bringing me very ample samples of all the others.  I essentially only had to pay for 1 beer but probably drank more like 3, with all the samples. Then it was time to go to bed and get some sleep

I will write about my day on Sunday and post it a little later on.

 Wandering reestablishes the original harmony which once existed between man and universe - Anatole France