Into LA

I'm now sitting on the porch (see photo below) in Manhattan Beach in some of the most comfortable weather imaginable. I can just barely see over the railing to the horizon where the blue ocean turns into the blue sky through a hazy fog. It's very nice.

Yesterday I started off from San Simeon, California and the first milestone was very quick. I hit 10,000 miles on my motorcycle about 10 miles into yesterday's ride. You can see in the photo that the meter is at 10,000.9 and that is because I was trying to get an interesting background to my shot before it rolled over to 10,001 but to no avail.

The first real stop was for Breakfast. It was about 10:30 or 11am and I had a choice between two places that were next door to each other. One looked like a standard breakfast shop and the other had a barbecue fire going in the parking lot. The sign for the BBQ place did say "breakfast" so that made my choice easy. The place is called The Rusty Pig. I asked the woman manning the grill if they had breakfast and she said they stopped serving breakfast but that they were open for lunch. I checked out the menu and decided I should try something that I wouldn't normally try, in the spirt of the trip. I got a Chicken Sandwich with cheese, bacon and ranch - just the right way to start of a day, right? Anyway the sandwich was messy and good and then I stepped into the parking lot only to discover I'd left the keys in my motorcycle which means that I also left the lights on which means the battery is dead. Not good. There was another paid of motorcyclist in the restaurant at this time and I went to them seeking advice. I actually just needed to know the specifics of popping the clutch, I knew how to do it except I can't ever remember what gear you are supposed to be in when popping the clutch, the answer is second gear. After weighing our options he offered to give me a push to help pop the clutch and it started right up. I'm sure this won't be the last time I do this on the trip so it's good to know it's pretty easy. I said good bye to my latest savior and rambled on.

From there it was just a matter of chugging on through. Highway 1 is an interesting place to ride a motorcycle, the hills, the ocean, the valleys and the turns are all great, but it's kind of inconsistent temperature wise. When you're riding along the ocean the wind gusts at you with a chill breeze in it, I can feel it in on my face and through the air vents in my jacket - it doesn't make you cold but it gives you a little chill and makes you want to close up the vents. Then the chill wind stops blowing and you feel the heat, or you cut away from the ocean inland and all you feel is heat, this makes me want to open up those vents and ride with the windshield up. Back and forth, hot and cold, chill and warmth - it gets kind of annoying to be honest.

Then I get near Santa Barbara and the LA traffic starts! There was a 10 minute traffic jam on the highway around Santa Barbara and I knew it was going to be a long ride the rest of the way. It cleared up a bit in spots but other times it was just slow as can be. I realize now that I'm going to try to avoid major cities as much as possible, the heat I can deal with but the heat when I'm standing still it too much. If you are on a road and the speed limit is 65 or higher and you have to put your foot down on the pavement, something is terribly wrong.

Last night Rob had to work 11p-5a shift so we went to a movie (Nacho Libre - not that great) and he is back at work today (I don't get it either) but we should find some time to have a little fun tonight. Then I'm taking off tomorrow mid-day to get over East of LA to the Salton Sea, which I'm pretty excited about seeing. After that here is the tentative schedule (subject to change):

Sunday, June 18 - Manhattan Beach to Salton Sea
Monday, June 19 - Salton Sea to Las Vegas
Tuesday, June 20 - Las Vegas to Zion National Park, Utah
Wednesday, June 21 - Zion Nat'l Park to Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park
Thursday, June 22 - Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon, AZ
Friday, June 23 - Grand Canyon, AZ to Western, NM
Saturday, June 24 - Western, NM to Western, TX
Sunday, June 25 - Western, TX to Central, TX
Monday, June 26 - Central, TX to Austin, TX

I'm not sure what the internet situation is going to be but I hope to be able to post a couple things along the way and I'll be writing my thoughts everyday, even if I can't post them right away.

Right now I'm going to get lunch and take a walk on the beach.