Central coast - LA - back (HIGH BANDWIDTH WARNING)

[reg71]

Come one come all. It's once again time to journey into Reggie's World. Grab your favorite beverage, go to the bathroom before we start cause I ain't stoppin!


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Yawn... stretch... ahhh, getting ready to go. Drink the coffee. That familiar feeling on anticipation is building. The destination may not be one of the most popular for riders, but that's okay. It's the ride I'm after.

Fluids check. Tires check. Everything appears attached to Scratch correctly. Time to gas up and go. Short trip down to San Luis Obispo and lunch with the wife. After lunch, hit the slab. Gonna do the quick way down. 101 South for an hour or so then take 154 to head by Lake Cachuma. No time for pics yet, keep moving...

Up and through the mountains and back down back Santa Barbara. Back on the 101 and south we go... Ok, getting ready for a break. Let's stop and snap some pics.





Let's get back on the road. Right now, we are on hwy 1 going south. Hwy 101 and 1 run together at times and separately hugging the coastline. Here's a shot of the Amtrak that runs the coast. Now that's another mode of transport that looks like a fun way to do the coast.



Now we get back on the 101 and head on down to LA. Now, for those of you who ride in less crowded areas, LA traffic is kind of hard to describe. Imagine if you will ants climbing out of an anthill full speed then finding a sugar cube and stopping abruptly, then repeating. At any given time you can be going 80 or 20 and have no apparent reason for the change in speed. Reflexes become attuned to split second changes in cages' courses. After 30 minutes of this (which would have been an hour in a cage) I'm good and ready to get off the bike and catch my breath. We have made it to Pasadena. Made great time, too. Also got over 42 miles per gallon, a new record for me I think.

Next day. Time to walk around the town and take in the sites. Come with me. Here is a picture of St Anthony's which is about two blocks from my friends apartment.
There is a lot more to the churchh, but I edited it just for the bell tower which sounds every hour by the way. It's a pretty neat building built in the 70s if I remember correctly.

Walking down to Old Towne, we glance off to the left and see the city hall.


Ok, time to feed your soul. Wea re gonna go to an art museum. I know this might be a hard pill for some of you to swallow, but repeat after me, "culture is good." I often hear negatives about cities and living in cities. As a person who has lived in cities and small towns and even out in the woods, I have to say I find beauty in all of them. You just have to look.

These are from the Simon Norton museum in Pasadena.

That's 'The Thinker' by Rodin. Probably one of the most famous sculptures around. And following is another Rodin. I want to say it's called "The Burghers of Calais" and it took him several years to complete.

I believe this next one is called, "The Bather", but I don't remember by whom.
One more sculpture to go, then we'll go inside and see some of the paintings I liked.


Now, inside we go. There were many fine paintings in here, and I recommend going if you get the chance. The following are just some of the ones I liked. Some are very famous, some not.








Okay, hopefully you are still with me. I realize you expect pictures of motorcycles and scenery and if you bear with me, we'll get there.

We decided we were getting pretty hungry after browsing the museum for an hour or so. Time for some more culture but of a more modern variety.

(to be continued)

[dskelton]

Thanks Reg,
Did about that same route over summer in reverse, but in a cage. Made it as far north as Solvang.
Keep the pics coming. I grew up in Pasadena and would love to see as many pics of the town as you've got.
Dean

[reg71]

continued...

As I mentioned in the last post, we were getting hungry. we had fed our souls, now time to feed our gullets!


After drinking and eating our fill, we walked around town a bit more. Time for me to try my hand at politics maybe?





And now it's time for more culture. You really should check out this gem if you make your way to Pasadena. It has an interesting story. The parking lot that used to lead to their front door was changed into a building so you have to access them by an alley. It has a really authentic feel to it in an age of carbon copy "Irish /English style" pubs.


There were some more pics later that day, but apparently the photographer was having focus issues as they are mostly dark blobs of unknown brick walls and such.

Day 3: Time to head home. Opted for the back way up through the mountains. Temps in the 80s down here in LA. time to get the hell out and say goodbye to the crazy drivers! We work our way to Venturra then find the Hwy taking us to Ojai. From there we grab Hwy 33 for a wonderful day of riding.





Up, up , up we climb. Back and forth. The surface is great. The weather is great. Temps getting down in the 70s now. Feeling wonderful. Trying to stuff the pictures into my brain to remember later for all the guys who are waiting on weather to be able to ride. Let's take a stop up here at around 3000 ft and take a look back at where we were a few minutes ago.



Up still, over 4000 ft. Road surface not as good up here. More sand on the road. Slowing down to soak up the views. Been noticing this white stuff up here. Anyone recognize this?


Now we work our way back down. The road improves and the curves grow to sweepers. Still cruising slower until feel the tires are cleaner. Not in a hurry anyway.


On towards Maricopa through all the oil fields. Smell the petro in the air. Nice. (jk)



Lunch and fuel in Taft, then head out on Hwy 58 west towards home.




That's it. The rest of the trip was just cruising. Lot's of other riders out there. Bicycles, motorcycles, convertibles, classics, exotics. We follow 58 to 229 then catch Hwy 41 and head home. 5 hours, countless curves 200+ miles and permagrin. Makesfor a nice day.

Peace!

[RVFR]

let me be the first to say, Nice job, thank you for brighting up my day a wee bit, love those road photos and the read, you're such a card. BTW nice shoes LOL and who's the nice looking lady? first I've seen of her. Now if only it would get nicer up here, a small surprise came my way in the way of sunshine yesterday for like an hour which was long enough to dry up the road warmed up to a whopping 52 so I took off for a bit,felt great, make me need to brush up on thy riding skills too. which in turn makes me lust for even more. oh so is life.

[drewl]

My job takes me down out of the hills into Chico and Redding nearly everyday. I get into the plane and it is teens-30s, get out and it is 50s-60s. "Damn" I think to myself,"Why does there have to be an hour and a half of crappy roads to get to these rockin warm roads. I wish the VFR would fit in the plane. But then I guess there would be no where for the patient to lay down.
Soon, Soon...