Back on 101 I continued south towards San Luis Obispo, where the temperature dropped and the coastal fog came in. I stayed at a Roadway Inn in Santa Maria, and signed onto our Taco Tuesday Zoom meeting as soon as I arrived. Due to space limitations I didn’t bring my iPad, so I used my phone for the Zoom meeting and it worked fine. I also used my phone as a GPS on the bike. Using the Maps app on the phone, I could just make out the text at the top of the screen without reading glasses. After the meeting, I went out to search for dinner, but the dining options were limited. However, there was a Mexican food truck right in the parking lot so I ordered three fish tacos and a Mexican soda and ate in the room - the tacos were excellent. (265 miles)
(Wednesday, August 18). The next morning an unpleasant sight greeted me as I looked out the bathroom window to make sure the bike was still there - the bike was wet, and there was a slight drizzle. Due to the aforementioned space limitations I hadn’t brought rain gear with me, so I hoped that the drizzle would stop before I left, which it did. Breakfast in the lobby was limited, but adequate - coffee, pastries, yoghurt, and an orange. The sky remained overcast and misty, but the streets were beginning to dry by the time I left. The GPS directed me to CA 154 through the coast hills outside of Santa Barbara, and it was a good ride, the sparse traffic moving right along. I was able to enjoy about half of the twisty descent into Santa Barbara before I became stuck behind a very slow-moving car.
Back on 101 I continued along the coast and stopped for gas in Ventura, then followed the GPS to I-405 and then to Fairfax Blvd. and Wilshire Blvd. in LA where the Petersen Museum is located. This is a fairly new building and is well thought out. The parking garage is part of the building, which has three floors of exhibits. I had prepaid, so I just showed a printout with the bar code and went up to the third floor, where I wandered through exhibits of cars (and one FN motorcycle) from the early 20th Century. The lighting in the museum is a bit dim, the signage is informative without being overwhelming and in a font that I could read without readers. The cars are spaced so that you can walk around them, and there aren’t so many that they all blur together. The next (2nd) floor has exotic cars, sports and racing cars. The early (1952) Ferrari Barchetta was parked near Steve McQueen’s 1956 Jaguar XKSS and a beautiful French Delahaye.
James Hetfield is the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Metallica and is also a custom car guy. He’s worked with noted builder Rick Dore on many creations, several of which were on display.
There was a special exhibit of off road vehicles - everything from a replica of the Mars Rover to a 1916 Harley Davidson with sidecar like the one that Effie Hotchkiss rode across the country from Brooklyn to San Francisco with her mother, Avis, in the sidecar. (Mom didn’t think it would be respectable for Effie to ride alone.)
There was a section for race cars including a room full of Formula One race cars, a Triumph that competed in the Baja 1000, and a 1.1 liter Porsche that won its class at Le Mans in 1951.
This being Los Angeles, there were over a dozen cars and motorcycles that were used in movies and TV shows, including the Batmobile from the 1960s TV show. The bike was based on a 1966 Yamaha YDS3, which was my first bike.
There was also a nice example of a Nash-Healey, a 1950s sports/grand touring car that preceded the Thunderbird but was a similar concept.
Two hours well spent. I pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto Fairfax, which I followed to Hollywood, then left and right onto Laurel Canyon where I rode past The Store and up the winding, slow, and crowded road for a few miles and then down toward Ventura Blvd. where there was a large traffic jam. After waiting through at least three light cycles, I finally turned off Laurel Canyon and went around the troublesome intersection and then onto 101 and I followed the Map app to Burbank and the Portofino Inn where I’d booked a room. The room wasn’t quite ready, so I walked to a nearby Starbucks and had a late lunch and coffee. Back at the motel I cleaned up in the room and texted Andrew to let him know I was nearby and he said to come right over.
At Andrew’s apartment I met his kittens, Pan and Momo, and then used his iPad to Zoom into our Wednesday (every 4 weeks or so) meeting with several friends from college, after which Andrew and I drove to Talleyrand, a restaurant near my motel that serves traditional American diner food. Back at Andrew’s apartment we talked awhile, then I rode back to the motel and turned in.
(Thursday, August 19). I was out of the motel before 8:30 and rode north on I-5 to Castaic Junction where I went west on CA 126 to Santa Paula and then north on CA 150 to Ojai, where I got gas at the nicest Chevron station I’ve ever seen - flowers on a side table in the Men’s Room! CA 150 was a nice and curvy road that went through hills, but there was a bit of traffic and some road construction. The nice thing about the Harley is that I enjoy just cruising along on it and don’t feel like I have to pass everyone so that I can go fast on the road. In Ojai I went north on CA 33 past Wheeler Springs and then up and over Pine Mountain Summit (about 5000 feet), a great ride with good pavement and lots of curves, marred only by a couple of construction zones with pilot cars. Descending, 33 went through Lockwood Valley past Blackwell's Junction , where James Dean crashed and died, to CA 166/33 where I went east to Maricopa where I stopped at Tina’s Diner for lunch. This little town has a gas station and convenience store, but Tina’s seems to be the only business downtown.
I followed 33 north and soon rode by the Wonderful Pistachio and Almond company, which is a huge operation with several buildings and a large parking lot full of about 200 cars. North of Taft there were miles of oil fields, and then into Coalinga, where I filled up and then rode west on CA 198. This is familiar territory but always enjoyable and I enjoyed the curves and scenery and lack of other vehicles. I went north on CA 25 to Hollister and 10 miles later went north on 101. I stopped in Gilroy for a final fill-up, and an hour or so later I was home in San Francisco. The Harley worked just fine on the freeway and the back roads, and handles better than anything that heavy has a right to. I’m looking forward to more and longer rides on it - I have panniers (saddlebags) on order. (450 miles)
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