Saturday, June 12, 2004
Monterey to Petaluma

Saturday, looked promising. The skies were blue. The wind wasn't blowing (yet). We were well rested. We continued north on Hwy 1 and took an unscheduled tour of Santa Cruz because we had difficulty finding a cafe. We did find a parade downtown and observed much of the local color of Santa Cruz.

I was anxious to show Nancy one of my favorite roads, or combination of roads, which were nearby. Leading out of Monterey is Hwy 9 connecting to Hwy 35 (aka Skyline Highway). The weather was good and traffic was light. We stopped at Alice's Restaurant (to show Nancy what all the hoopla was about). Being Saturday, the crowd was light, but we did run into a gentleman whom I met at the 49'er Rally two weeks previous. He had built a sidecar righ which looked like a RT but actually had a turbocharged Mazda rotary concealed within the sidecar. He noticed a scrape on my valve cover and mentioned that there was a GM paint which would match the existing. I gave him my card and asked him to send me the part number (which he did). It's amazing who you see on the road!

After our rest, we continued northward and decided to stop in San Francisco to see if they had any cold weather gear. Although the weather was nice today, if we had any more days like Friday (which we didn't), it would be nice to have some better protection. Unfortunately, Nancy had left her winter pants at home as did I. It's June in California, who needs winter riding gear?

I also should have called BMW of San Francisco for directions. Van Ness at Howard. How hard can that be to find in a city of 800,000? Well, San Francisco might be small geographically, but complex. I thought if I just continued north, I would cross either Van Ness or Howard. Wrong! After wandering through Golden Gate Park, the Presidio and Fisherman's Wharf, I did find Van Ness. We followed Van Ness for quite a ways and finally decided to stop and get directions. It would have saved us a lot of time if I had made that call from San Bruno and followed 101 towards the Bay Bridge instead of Hwy 1 to the Golden Gate. Worse, once there, we thought this dealership better catered to the four wheeled variety of BMW enthusiasts. We did see some nice cars, like the $150k Alpina, the new 6 series (Wow!) and my personal favorite, the X3.

But no T-shirts!

After leaving we discovered why public transportation is so popular in the city. Van Ness! Arghhh! Stop and go, stop and go. Two cars per light. The woman in front of me is window shopping and really doesn't car if she makes the light or not. I notice pedestrians are making better time than we are.

Finally, we "escape". We get to the Chevron station at Pine, gas up, take Pine to Franklin to Lombard and we are on our way! At the gas station, Nancy "suggests" that we might be a little too tired for the tour at the lighthouse today. I suggest that we can go there after breakfast tomorrow and she agrees.

We cross the Golden Gate and follow 101 north to San Rafael where we stop at the BMW shop. Much nicer place, but then I guess I'm biased. It's motorcycles only. I get a T-shirt and a couple of other "necessities" and we are off.

We get to our hotel in Petaluma, this time at a reasonable hour. We wasted much of the day on unscheduled, low value "detours", one in Santa Cruz and one in San Francisco. We relax (this facility, Quality Inn 5100 Monterey way, is much better than our experience in Monterey) and get a good night's sleep.

Total for the day: 192 miles.

Sunday, June 13, 2004
Petaluma to Cambria

Click here for route.

We are off by 8:45 and ride through the town of Petaluma. There are a lot of nice, older homes in town. I don't care what people say about the cow pastures, I like Petaluma! We take a nice little country road to Point Reyes, creatively named Point Reyes - Petaluma Road and arrive in this quaint little tourist town about forty five minutes later. The BMW Club of Northern California is having it's monthly breakfast meet at this restaurant, The Station House Cafe (11180 Shoreline Highway, Point Reyes (415) 663-1515), and, as we arrive, we see a few BMWs, but several sport bikes. We enter the restaurant and get a table. We don't see many motorcycle enthusiasts, recognizable by the armored apparel and "wild" hair styles (generically called "helmet hair"). I assume it's because we are early. After all, we arrive at 9:30 and the meeting is scheduled for 10. I later realize that the motorcycle folks prefer the dining facilities on the patio. Nonetheless, we enjoy our breakfast (except for the service) and are anxious to go to the lighthouse. We depart, riding through Inverness and out towards Point Reyes. The wind picks up and we are on a nice, windy, albeit slightly bumpy two lane road. Do you know that there are several historic ranches on Point Reyes which are now converted to dairy farms? One of the downsides to the fact that I no longer smoke cigarettes is my nose now works. At this time, this is not an advantage! Fortunately, the cool air and the brisk breeze keeps the aroma to a minimum and we can enjoy the adventurous ride out to the point. The view is amazing and the coastline breathtaking. We soon arrive at the visitor's parking lot and walk to the lighthouse. We both decide that we will do the 300 steps down and back on another trip. This gives us a reason for coming back. For now, we just take in the beauty of the scenery and the view.

Nancy at Point Reyes. This view is looking north. Click on image for larger version.	Nancy appears happy that we won't be taking the 300 steps down to the lighthouse. Click on image for larger version.	Bill at the lighthouse. Close enough! Click on image for larger view.

After backtracking our route back to Inverness, we continue south on Hwy 1 to Stenson Beach, a crowded venue on a Sunday morning. We cross the Golden Gate Bridge and, as we approach the exit for Hwy 1 south, I ask Nancy if she wants to go to Fisherman's Wharf. Of course, after 26 years, I know this is a rhetorical question. She says, as expected, "YES!" and we head towards Pier 39. We walk the mall as she shops and I "people watch". She remarks about my patience but admits she would probably enjoy this type of experience better with her sister Janice. I nod. We once again find Hwy 1 south and this time stay on the coast through Half moon Bay and, this time, riding straight through Santa Cruz. We stop in Watsonville for gas near the BMW dealer which is unfortunately closed. We stop again in Big Sur where we both remark that Big Sur would have been a better place to stop on both legs of this trip. We pick up business cards from a couple of the cabin facilities for future reference. Who knows, we just might come back up the coast in the near future (wink, wink).

The ride south of Big Sur is on of my favorite sections of the day. The wind has died down as has the traffic. It's just us and the RT humming along, getting rhythm with the twisties. We experience a beautiful sunset on the coast. I know I should have pulled off in Gorda to switch my glasses, but I so much wanted to make Ragged Point for our next stop. After we get to Ragged Point, Nancy remarks on how much she enjoyed the slow pace of the last part of that section. Of course, the joy quickly left when I told her I had a hard time seeing the road in the dark with my sunglasses on!

We arrive at our destination, The Blue Dophin Inn (6470 Moonstone Beach Dr.) in Cambria right before the office closed at 10 pm. Although this was a very long day (even for me), it was quite enjoyable. Lots of riding, great sightseeing, great roads. Our room is outstanding, but, alas, we can't take advantage of all the amenties due to our late arrival. "Maybe another time" we think to ourselves.

Total for the day: 337 miles.

Monday, June 14, 2004
Cambria to San Juan Capistrano

Click here for route

Monday is a "get home" day and we basically retrace our typical route south; Hwy 1 to Paso Robles then 101 to Camarillo, peel off at Las Posas Rd to PCH to Santa Monica and then, gasp, the 405 through Los Angeles.

We did stop in Santa Barbara and tour downtown. I believe this is the first time I've ever been in downtown Santa Barbara. One thing is certain; traveling with Nancy I will see things I would normally never stop for if left to my own itinerary. This is a Good Thing ^tm.

We arrive in San Juan Capistrano a little after 5 pm, pick up the dogs, give them a bath and have the bike unloaded by 8 pm.

Nancy just needs one day to recuperate before she asks: "When's the next trip?" Looks like this relationship is going to make it to year 27.

Total for the day: 312 miles.

Total for the trip: 1,261 miles.