Slow crawl through L.A.

We left San Diego this morning on I-5 and got back onto Hwy 1 at San Clemente. A nice drive, for a while...

As soon as we got into the Huntington beach area and started towards Long Beach it slowed way down. We finally made it to where we could bypass a lot of the traffic and the police had the road blocked off with a car fire on the main arterial bridge through the area. We had to reroute east and it just crawled. I decided to take a bunch of back roads around the area and at least we got to keep moving. We finally made it to the Marina Del Ray area for the evening and we were hot and tired from 6.5 hours on the bike and a total of 115 miles! We ran all day and never filled the tank. NOT a way to ride a motorcycle.   LOL

Tomorrow should be better as we are going through Santa Monica and Santa Barbara and up to Morro Bay for the evening. It should be a much better drive.

Just for fun I checked the GPS from he coast Hwy to Osaka Japan. (last picture...)

A few more pictures...

touring the city

Today we slept in a little and then wandered down to take the Old Town Trolley around the city to see the sights. We started out in Little Italy. The biggest Italian area in the US. They say it is bigger than San Fransisco's and  N.Y.'s combined.

From there we went north to the Old Town and the local market. These are always fun to wander through and see all the locally made stuff. (along with a whole bunch of import crap.:-) We stopped at a local Pizza place Filipe's" that has been open for over 100 year's!

We then wandered down to the Harbor and back to Seaport village, up through the Gaslamp quarter and over to Coronado Island. After leaving there we went to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.

This took most of the day and we went back to the gaslamp area for an evening walking tour called, Brothel's, Bites and Brew's. Our tour guide "Amanda" was very knowledgeable and the people with us on the tour were a fun group. We had a blast and got to try some of the  "exotic" local food and drinks along with some traditional food. It was a very good tour. Well worth doing... We ended up at the Melting pot (chocolate fondue) so Lori was very happy.

We are now back at the room, tired but happy and getting ready to hit the coast tomorrow. We are taking I-5 up to San Clemente where U.S. 1 starts and just sightseeing up the coast. I am not sure at this point where we will be stopping. We will see... LOL

Here are some of the pictures from today;

Into San Diego

Heading South Tuesday morning the temperatures just kept climbing. Running down I-395 is boring at best and mind numbing at worst. When you are hit with temps of 106, it was too much. The mountains were beautiful, but after a few minutes, that is enough.

 As soon as we hit the edge of civilization, we stopped for the night and cooled off and relaxed. The great thing about this kind of trip is, we can do whatever...

In the morning we headed up to the hills to a little place called Hell's kitchen. (the bar, not the restaurant)
An interesting place to be sure. They have a condiment bar in a coffin! This is the view on the way up. It is on Hwy 74 which is a majorly twisty road with a lot of switchbacks

 After leaving there we wandered down through Murrieta and then hit I-15 and headed for San Diego. Lori had been praying for 90 degree weather and finally got it as we crested the hills by the coast. Who would have believed that 90 degree's would feel so good!

We got a room and wandered down to Seaport Village and through some shops before getting on a "SEAL" bus/boat for a tour. Interesting vehicle!

 When we were in the water, one of the carriers came by on the way back in and we passed it. A lot of people were lining the deck.

 There were a lot of tourist ships in the area. This is one of the Catamaran Booze cruises.

 We went by Scripts docks and saw a lot of the Sea lions and went past the cages where the Navy was training dolphins.

 Needless to say there was a lot of police presence in the area as the carrier was coming in.

I did not get a clear picture, but on interest, the city is building a full scale copy of the original sailing ship that came into San Diego harbor.

Well that is it for now. Tomorrow, we are riding the trolley around town and going on a walking tour of the nightlife and the history of the brothels in the area. Fun stuff... LOL

Lake Tahoe

What can I say, it truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

We left reno this morning intending to take the Mt Rose Hwy over the mountains into Incline Village. I had checked and Nevada transpotation had said they would be all finished up by Aug 25th.. NOT!  The Hwy was closed, so we had to take I395 down to Sacramento and then Hwy50 up to Incline Village.

From there we wandered down the west side of the lake and into South Lake Tahoe for lunch.

Well I did it, it is over.... I layed the bike over in a gravel parking lot. I hit a pothole in the gravel lot and it shifted the bike. I was going slow, so I stopped and put my foot down, but it was over the pothole. The bike leaned over too far and my foot slid on the gravel and over it went. Embarrassing, but no damage. I thought I was going to bust something picking it up though. The bike fully loaded, without us on it, is about 900 lbs.

I will be more careful next time... LOL

From Lake Tahoe we went south on Hwy 89 and let me tell you, that is a beautiful drive with the last section where it meets back with I-395 being a motorcyclist's dream. The pavement is flawless and the curves just a joy to drive. I was having a great time and just enjoying the ride, when I get this tap on my helmet and Lori saying "you're scaring me"  Ok, Ok, I backed off... A little   -   LOL

The rest of the ride was just normal Hwy after that. We skirted the edge of Yosemite and got to see some of the views, but as it was in the high 90's by that time, we were ready to get off the bike.

Tomorrow we go into Corona and relax. A short day.

Here are a few pictures of Lake Tahoe that Lori took form the back of the bike.

Into Reno

We left Klamath Falls this morning to massive amounts of smoke. In some places you could not see more than about 100 yards. The lady at the hotel said there was two fires, one on each side of town and a lot of people were worried if they could not get it under control.

We headed south on Hwy 39 and wandered through the farmers fields for while before merging onto Hwy 139 and climbing up into the hills. The hills are a real fun place to ride. Lots of ups and downs and curves, just an enjoyable ride. The smoke got a bit thinner, but never went away until we got real close to Susanville.

 There's a very small town called Adin that has a general store just like out of the 50's. It is fairly big inside and they sell just about everything you would need from grocery's to Tackle, to hunting supplies, to tourist stuff and they even have a restaurant there. It kinda reminded me of Mayberry. LOL

We topped off the gas and our stomach's in Susanville and headed for Reno. A quick (road is flat and straight and everybody does 90) jaunt into Reno and we got a room at the Silver Legacy for the night.

You just have to love a town where you can an upscale room for $40 a night and (with the discount coupons) a buffet for $10 per person. and it even has good food! And a bonus!, the motorcycle parking is right by the valet where you can unload and walk through the doors and the ft desk is right there. A very good thing when you are carrying all your stuff. That alone makes me want to stay here the next time we are going through on the bike.

Well we have given our dues of gambling money and are relaxing for the evening and looking forward to a great day of riding through Incline village, South Lake Tahoe, and the mountains south of there.

I hope to get a lot of pictures tomorrow as it truly is one of the most beautiful places on earth around the lake.

See ya!

Off again!

We are out and about again. We left home last night and spent the night at Mark and Lori's place in Sumner and left this morning from there.

The ride down I-5 was normal, dull, freeway. LOL

We turned off at Eugene and headed east on Hwy 58 (Willamette Hwy). It is a very nice road that wanders along lakes and rivers and is a fun ride on a motorcycle.

We went by a town called Lowell and they have a very interesting covered bridge. I like them as we don't see too many of them around here. Right above the town and brige is an earthen dam that is holding in Lookout point lake which is about 12 miles long. If it ever let loose the town would be a goner...

There is a lot of campgrounds along the road and we wandered through a couple, just looking and it is so peaceful and quiet along the river there.

As sson as we got close Willamette pass it started to get smokey and it stayed that way all the way into Klamath Falls. (where we are stopped for the night.)

It seems there are a few big fires in the area and the smoke is covering several hundred miles.
Well, we are relaxing for the evening and are going to wander down to Reno in the morning.

Until tomorrow!