Monterey Ride

June 14 – 16, 2003

This story starts with several people that for one reason or another were not able to make this 3 day adventure. 5 of us however, showed up for breakfast to start the trip. The waitress was kind enough to take our picture and even took one on each of our cameras. After we ate, we checked our bikes one more time. Karen on her 1100 Spirit, Janette on her 750 Shadow, Danny on his Indian, Kevin on his 1800VTX, and me on my 1100 Tourer. Then we were off. Up the 405 to the 101, the 101 to the 1 and then all the way up the coast to Monterey. It started as a pretty gloomy day, but to be fair it was that way for most of the trip. The sun did pop it’s head out every once in a while and we saw some of the most beautiful coastline in this country. If I had the choice I’d ride it a lot more often. We got some great pictures you should check out, but there would have been a lot more if it has been better weather. By the time we took our first break, it was starting to get warm and we started to shed some of the heavier items. It wasn’t long before we realized that was a mistake. It went on like that most of the day. We passed a few of the more courageous bikers out there, but there weren’t a lot of them. It seems to me that last year at this time the roads were packed with bikes. I guess it’s the “June Gloom”. After a few pit stops for gas and a short break, one of them just for ice cream, we arrived at Beach Burgers in Pismo Beach where we had lunch. It wasn’t really hot there, but it was warm enough for a good sized beach crowd. It seemed chilly to us because we were riding, but the beach goers were happy as clams. After lunch we headed up the coast again passing Morro Rock where we stopped long enough to snap a few pictures and I thought to download my camera into my laptop. That was when I realized I had a problem. My download software for my camera would not work. I was kind of disappointed, but I deleted some of the pictures that weren’t very good and we headed north again. This is an area of the coast that I would recommend anyone that gets a chance should check out. If you like ocean coast scenery, you won’t find any much better. There are some high curvy cliff-like roads, but for those of us that like that kind of road, you are in heaven. When we arrived in Big Sur, our original destination, I had enough space for 2 more pictures. From here I was hurting inside because there is soooo much beauty here. I understood during that part of the ride why Kevin had wanted to come here. It is a place you could live if only it was the 1800’s again. That may have been the end of my pictures that day, but not the ride. It was almost dark by the time we rode out of the forest and into town, but true to form and our unwritten rule, we found our minimum of 3 wrong turns before we found our motel.

Once we got settled in, we could find no place close to eat, so we ordered pizza and picked up some beer and settled into one room while we ate, drank, and watched a Robin Williams comedy show and laughed our asses off.

Needless to say, we woke up a little later than we had planned, but I started working on my laptop to try to download the pictures. No luck. I finally had to give up because it was time to meet up with our Monterey Chapter for breakfast. I was surprised at how many showed up to ride with us considering it was Fathers day, but it was great to have so many riders. After we ate and gasses up, we found out that Danny had a problem with his bike. The rear tire was bald. He decided it just was not safe to ride, especially considering it was going to be a hundred miles of country, winding roads, and it just might rain. Janette decided to stay back with him and they would try to find another tire, or at least enjoy the day in Monterey together. One of their riders agreed to show Dan a place where he might be able to get a tire, and he met up with us later. The rest of us headed out for a 50 mile trip through some of the kinds of roads we have around here that usually give up after about 10 miles. It was back roads, country, twisty, hilly, scenic, northern California at it’s best. I don’t think we would have found such beautiful roads on our own. I did get some pictures using Karen’s camera so it wasn’t a complete bust, but I wish I could show you a lot more. When we got to Hollister, we stopped and got a few pictures of the Veterans Memorial and some other places in town. If any of you have an opportunity to get up there for the Hollister Run next month, I highly recommend you take it. I was assured by Paul and the others, they would provide a place for you to camp out if you need it and they were so gracious to us, that I cannot imagine anything other than a great experience if you go. Their riders, like ours do, dropped off as we neared the end of the ride, but those of us still there at the end followed Paul over to his house for a cold drink and a chance to meet his wonderful family. After we left, we went back to the motel. I decided to see if I could find a Kmart or something similar to see if I could get a new, larger chip for my camera. As I was riding through the center of town, some idiot in a bright red car started honking at me. For a second I thought I had run a red light or gone the wrong way on a one-way street, but it turned out it was Danny and Janette in a rented car. They might not have been able to find a tire on Sunday, Fathers Day, but they didn’t let it dampen their mood. Instead they rented a car and went off to see the sights of the city on their own. Now I won’t go into it like Janette did, but I can tell you she had a very good time at the light house. I think you can tell by the pictures, that they let no grass grow under their feet. After we got back to the motel, we decided to go downtown to find a place to eat. We found a great little sports bar that was not very crowded, and served food. Since they also had a pool table that was not being used, we decided to stay. After trying several times to order food, having to explain to a bar tender how to make a margarita, having all of the TV’s (about 10 of them) turned to sports only when we were the only ones watching and we were watching a comedy and laughing, and still not being able to get service, we went looking for another place to eat. We found this little Irish place about a block away that served some great food, had a great attitude and the server joined us in our revelry. We ate and made merry and had a great time. Karen and I decided to head back but the others wanted to keep on, so they sought out yet another place to play. Since I had not scored earlier, I decided to try one more time to get my laptop to download the pictures. Then I gave up and went to bed.

We got up the next am and I found a place to get a new chip, it had to be done, now my camera can hold 997 pictures without a reload. We went to Kelly Ann’s for breakfast, while we waited for the 10 am hour to arrive so that we could see if Dan was going to be able to get a tire. We scored! After checking out, we headed over to the chopper shop were we found Danny waiting on his bike. It seems that he also had a brake problem. Still, we got his bike out of hock, and set out for home about 1 pm. We knew we’d be late getting back, but we’d be riding together. Now I finally had a chance to use my camera, and as we left town and headed past the airport and inland a little, we past farm after farm after farm, so most of these pictures are of the fields, the birds, and the planes. We finally got back down to the coast after actually getting so hot we were actually sweating in the sun, and it started getting cold again. As it happened, we were back in Pismo Beach by the time we got hungry, so we stopped at a little seafood place and enjoyed some great food, even if the service was extremely slooow. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and since it started getting dark, I was unable to use up my 900 plus pictures. Well as one of our members always says, “It’s all part of the experience.” We finally got back to town around 11:30 pm, tired but relaxed from a fantastic ride and an adventure to tell our grandchildren about.

I know this has been a long story, but I hope you enjoyed it a small fraction as much as I enjoyed the trip. Be safe out there and I’ll see you on the byways…………….