Three days since I've seen a bed

So last we left off, I had spent the night on the beach, lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean.

I rode hard, as I was determined to make it to San Francisco that night. Unfortunately, I missed a couple pictures that I wish I had stoped to take: at one point, the trees surrounded the narrow road with such a low cover it looked like I was riding through a winding tunnel lit by the verdant light that filtered through the foliage.

I did get some pictures of the coast that I just had to stop for. Sometimes (space permitting) I just have to pull up to the side of the road and go "wow!". I usually pull out my camera when I do that.

In this last one, you can actually see the road that I've been following, as it rides atop of the clif off in the distance. Most of the road was like this.

Even a film wouldn't do justice to the real thing. Anyways... here are some more.

Again, you can see the road in this last one.

Come about 6pm, I plunge back inland to meet up with 101 right before the golden gate bridge.

I had called Lenny (a friend of my mom since I was born) the day before I left Portland, and had called her every night since then, telling her I wouldn't make it till the next day, but this time I was going to show. I got directions and headed to the steep San Francisco streets.

Frisco

So many things happened to me here, I'll have to sum up a little.

The first night I spend in San Francisco, I slept in a nice, real, bed and got to shower. Hmmm...

I called up Swan's brother, Boston Eddy, who lives in Frisco (what some locals call San Fransico for those of you who might not have caught on... you know who you are).
Boston Eddy is the head of a local Harley group called the Barbary Coast Riders. They are recognized (I think that is the term they use) by the Hell's Angels, meaning that they can ride their colors into Hell's Angels territory. Friends, in other words. I'm very much not versed in the politics of biker clubs though so don't quote me. I just know that as long as I don't ride with any colors, I'm pretty much not stepping on anyone's toes.

Anyways, he tells me that he's going to be hanging out at a biker bar not far from where Lenny lives (center east of SF), and from there they're going to some event where they're on the guest list or something. At this point, I'm not sure if I understood him right, as I could have sworn I thought he said it was for Animal Planet, but hell, I'm in.

So we rides by Lenny's house on the way to pick me up, and I follow him to the bar. I love biker bars.... A perfect whole in the wall with cheap boose and an attitude. This one had a pretty big courtyard with a BBQ going, but there was going to be food at this event, the exact nature of which still escaped me. Though I had heard right, Animal Planet was sponsoring it, and that there was food and booze to be had for free.

Now five bikes strong, all leather clad and, baring myself, flying colors, we ride to the ritzy hotel it was being held in.

Picture this, five bikers (including one chick) walk into this fancy hotel, full of chains and leather. Everyone else is, at the very least, elegantly dressed. We waltz up to the second floor (the events room) and see a bunch of affluent people, and dogs, buzzing around. A couple odd looks preceed us to the registration table where, sure enough, there is an entry for us on the guest list.

Inside, there is a buffet of gourmet foods, that gets refilled every time they threaten to be empty, from seafood to poultry to meats to cakes to veggies, asian and amerian in flavor. There is a bar that serves two kinds of Flying Dog beer (a decent brew), and any coctail you can think of as long as it's made from some form of Grey Goose Vodka. All free, and delivered by cute waitresses.

We're actually a hit with this new-agie crowd. I finally find out what the hell I'm in: This is a "dog party", sponsored by Animal Planet, for the publication of this book written by this lady (names irrelevent). The proceeds go to help dog foundations.

It was all very casual, people chatting, dogs up for adoptions, but only if you talk to the person holding them on a leash (they weren't pushy about it at all).

They had camera crews going around. "Tell me about puppy love, have you ever experienced puppy love?" A question that Boston Eddy is only to happy to handle. "Yeah, when I was younger I experienced puppy love, but then the feds got involved, and bestiality lawsuits... it wasn't pretty."

They loved it.

Anyways, after that, we head to another bar, I got to see an ally with really pretty spanish/aztec work right near it, then we headed to a late night pizza place where we met a couple of girls. Boston Eddy got into this head butting argument (or a series of them) with one of the girls, while the second one and I laughed at the show. We ended up hanging out a bit after the bar closed, before we all had to retire to our respective parts of town.

The next day I got in touch with a distant cousin of mine on my dad's side. Maurice, who grew up with my dad and his brothers in Morroco, used to have what was probably the top rated Hair Salon in San Franciso. He's sold it and now works near his home in Alamo, about 25 min (without traffic) from SF. Property value in Alamo is much cheaper so he's got a large house with a pool, in a beautiful valley, right at the foot of Mount Diablo.

I spend some nice relaxing time there.

Mount Diablo is absolutely beautiful. The rock structures (not well captured in these pictures) are very interesting: they look like they were carved by water, but we are at the top of a mountain. Perhaps, since the rock is very porous, over the centuries, wind cause this? Or maybe this is a relic of a glacier. Anyways, here are some shots of the place.


This last pic is taken from the inside of a small cave, about 6 feet above the path I was walking along. There where a series of these wholes in the rock face, this was the biggest one.

The vegetation here included these really cool trees. They look as if the bark was peeled off of them, with their red, smooth trunks and branches.

I also went to this parade in Berkeley, called "How Berkeley Can You Be". This is the "Let's dress up like freaks, turn our vehicles into cool occationally fire breathing sculptures, and show how liberal our politics are". It was quite cool. Some of the floats were amasing. The parade ended in park area, with 2 stages for music and vendors and food etc... I had a lot of fun.

Finally, before leaving, I decided I had to tour the Napa Valley, and taste some free californian wines.

The wineries that pepper the valley are often somptuous estates, the ones on higher elevations have beautifull views, such as the above one.

I spend a nice day baking in the sun and sampling tiny glasses of wine from the wineries that didn't charge for the few ounces of wine they offered (anywhere from $5 for 4 or 5 tastes of wine to over $10 per taste; thank you, I'll stick to the free vintages.)

I left the next day for Los Angeles (not, as I incorrectly reported on my last post, Las Vegas.)

From North to South California

This trip could be done in one day, but I took my time, left late, and did it in two.

The coastal highway follows the coast a little less here. The road is more of a highway, often divided, rather than a winding road with two small lanes. But there are definately enough times that it hugs the coast, and enough beautifull sights to make it worth the ride.

I camped that night not too far from the ocean. I met a retired hellicopter mecanic who had made his living repairing the Police and hospital choppers from just about all of California, before the introduction of turbine technology, that, according to him, caused the engines to fail more often than not.
We exchanged road stories, he told me about the various bikes he'd had, and how he loved to just ride out into the desert, but now his wife only gave him one 5 day trip per year (though he could still do day trips).

I wanted to watch the sun dissapear into horizon, but there were a few too many clouds in the distance. Here's my best attempts at getting it. I'm obviously not skilled enough to use the light properly, but hey, I'm a novice amature, and you're not paying for these, so this is all you get.

The next morning, I woke up fairly early, and went on my way. I had an overpriced, yet tasty breakfast at the cheapest dive I could find (coastal prices are outrageous here). There was one strech of the road where, for probably 50 or 60 miles, there are cliffs on the left, and the ocean on the right, and no side roads or exits. I was nervous about running out of gas. Luckily there was a whale watching stop with a restaurant, a few rooms for rent and some gas.

$3.60 per gallon.

I kid you not.

I briefly considered grabbing some food there, but when the appetizers start at $17, I know I'm out of my league. Talk about highway robbery, but it was my only option, so I grabbed a gallon, which I hoped was enough to get me to a gas station with reasonable southern california prices of $2.40 per gallon.

Finnaly, when I reached Santa Barbara, I called my cousin Rick (mom's side) and got directions to his house.

Let me reiterate how beautiful the weather is here. It is almost too hot to wear pants, though the low humidity makes it possible. The clouds are hard to spot. The flowers provide a nice backdrop to the palm trees. Unfortunately, the road suffers from SUV overload, as everything that isn't a convertable is and SUV of some sort. I hear some of those can get 8 miles per gallon. Can you imagine? With gas costing over $2 a gallon?

Anyway, I found the spot and have been enjoying my stay thus far.

Now that my narrative has at least reached the city I'm in, I'll leave the rest for the next post, which, hopefully, will be the day before I leave here. Probably another 2 or 3 days.

Itinerary

I haven't posted an Itinerary in a few posts, so I'll get back in the swing of things starting from Seattle...
WA: Seattle-> I-5 (south) -> SR 8 -> SR 12 -> 107 -> US 101 (south) -> OR
OR: 101 -> 26 (east) -> Portland -> 26 (west) -> 101 (south) -> CA
CA: 101 -> 1 -> San Fransisco -> 101/1 (the two roads merge and split so many times I don't want to count) -> I-405