Colorado Cruiser: 2019 Pacific Coast Highway

2019 Pacific Coast Highway - Day 8 - Fort Bragg to Santa Cruz

Today I wanted to get some sunrise pictures. I woke up at 4:00, then made myself go back to sleep until 5:00. I had set out all my clothes, camera, and everything so I could get out of the room without making too much noise and waking Russ.

Of course, I forgot allot of things and still had to use my phone light to get stuff. I got dressed and out by 5:20, then started trying to figure out I was going to go. I'd have done that last night, but I was busy writing the blog.

Eventually I found a little park about a mile and a half down the road. I loaded stuff on the bike, then pulled out a cloth to wipe off all the dew. The windshield was especially wet and as I'd finish one side, the other would start fogging up all over again. I finally gave up and just looked around the side.

It was still pitch dark and pretty cold. About 52 degrees. I only had on my mesh jacket and gloves, but I turned on the heated grips and felt ok. I meandered out to the park. The parking lot was empty so I stopped in the best spot and sat on the bike looking around.

I could hear the clang clang of a bell out in the water somewhere, and a fog horn from the direction of town. I could see the lights of a few fishing boats off in the distance, and the crash of waves from many directions up and down the shore.

After soaking it in for a bit I looked behind me for any sign of the dawn. The sky was just getting a hint of light behind the town, so i decided to go walk some of the paths.

I got out onto one of the points and tried a few pictures, but it was so dark you couldn't see anything. Then I remembered that I have a Night mode on my camera. I switched it to night mode and could suddenly see things very clearly. I took a few pictures and a warning came up that I needed to hold the camera very still.

If only I had a tripod..... So i walked back to the bike and got my tripod.

Now the pictures were coming out really nice. The water looked really blue and the waves took on interesting shapes. I'm sure the camera was "stacking" multiple images to increase the exposure. Thats a technique of shooting multiple images, then combining the data from those images, but since the waves move small amounts between each image, you get a softening effect. At least I hope it does.

I took some pictures of me in various locations, and some artsy fartsy shrubery pictures.

The sun still hadn't actually risen by the time I needed to head back to the hotel to pack, so I walked back to the bike. I stopped at an Arco to gas up, but it's been years. First they don't take credit cards, only debit, second they charge a fee for using a card. I won't be doing Arco again.

I walked in the hotel room at 7:15, expecting Russ to be nearly packed, but he was still sound asleep. I guess my bumbling earlier really hadn't disturbed him. I woke him, told him the time, and he got up.

I walked around to the breakfast room, but as I got close, John and Angela said they were going to a cafe because the hotel breakfast was pathetic. I got eggs, sausage, country potatoes, and toast. It was so big I only ate about half of it.

I got back to the room, packed, and was ready by 8:30

We started South down the PCH in 65 degrees and clear skies. It was spectacular. Just a hint of mist still in the air, and that wonderful smell (somewhat rotten) smell of the ocean.

The road was mostly back in the trees, but often we'd come around a corner and BAM, there's the ocean. Then more trees and BAM. It was pretty sweet.

We hadn't gone very far when we turned off the road toward the Point Arena Lighthouse. It was still closed but would open soon, so we stopped to take pictures.

We weren't there long when Larry spotted a whale spouting just a few hundred yards out. It even breached a couple of times. It was out there the entire time we were at the lighthouse, in roughly the same place.

Drew got his drone out and flew it around, first trying to see the whale, then over by the lighthouse. I showed him how to take a dronie and a cork screw video. Then he flew off to try to find the whale again.

Once the front gates opened, we drove in to the light house. 4 or 5 people opted to pay and hike to the top of the light house. They said it was really cool to look out.

The rest of us sat in the shade and chatted about this and that. It was a nice cool morning with a strong wind blowing. If we looked, we could still see the whale feeding just off shore. We could also see some massive rock just under the water to the North. We couldn't really see the rock, just the huge waves that would suddenly rise up and crash, seemingly for no reason.

We were at the light house nearly an hour from start to finish.

Back on the PCH, we struggled to make more miles. We hit construction after construction that really slowed us down. There were allot of twisties and it started to take a toll on me. At one point I was down shifting for a tight turn and suddenly found myself in neutral on a steep uphill. The riders behind me zipped past as I got the bike back in gear and got going again. I'm glad I had good riders behind me and/or not following me too close.

After an hour and a half of riding we stopped for gas and a bio break. The bathrooms were porta potties out in the parking lot, in the sun, baking, or should I say stewing in the heat. It was not pleasant, but when you gotta go, you put up with it.

Hand sanitizer was liberally passed out, and some people wanted full body sanitizer.

We took off again, rode more twisties, sat through more construction delays, and enjoyed the cool breezes off the ocean.

After a while I heard John say over the radio "Hey, it's our BMW buddies from yesterday!". Which meant our speed dropped significantly.

If you didn't read yesterdays blog, we got behind these 2 riders. The lead rider was pretty good, but the 2nd rider was very hesitant in turns and rode very slow. I was sure the follower was a woman, but not everyone was sure.

We followed them for 10 miles or so before Brent's bike began to overheat due to the slow airspeed over his radiators. He dropped out and waved us on. But after 5 minutes, I found a great picture taking spot and radiod that I would stop and wait for Brent. Then John found a spot and the whole group stopped.

This let the BMWs go on without us breathing down their neck, but all the cars behind them were probably still breathing so it wasn't better for them, just less frustrating for us.

I got my pictures then spotted Brent coming down the road. We both rode on to John's spot and stopped for a bit more of a breather.

It was well after noon so we started to look for lunch. We pulled into a big parking lot that must surely host a restaurant. Lo and Behold, there were the BMW riders just getting off their bikes. The 2nd rider took off HER helmet to reveal shockingly red hair, far redder even than Penny's. Maybe it was too shockingly red? Anyway, that settled the "aparent gender" of the 2nd rider.

We went inside but couldn't really find anything to eat. The snack bar was closed, the restaurant wanted $20 for a burger, and the sushi was even more expensive. So we decided to try somewhere else.

I guess a local gave Drew a suggestion so we drove another 1/4 mile down the road to "The Dog House" in Bodega Bay. It was OK food, and cost me $20 for a burger, onion rings, and a strawberry shake.

We sat in the shade while our food was prepared. I think they only have hotdog buns because my burger was rectangular shaped, what we used to call a hoagie, and the bacon was so bad that Kyle would love it (meaning it was limp bacon). I don't know how I raised a son that likes limp bacon, but we love him despite that.

The onion rings were great and many people stopped by to sample one or two or more. The burger was mediocre, especially with the bacon. The strawberry shake was great. Very thick with big pieces of strawberry. I ate about half of everything but had no onion rings left.

Back on the road again, and more twisties, and more twisties, and more twisties. This is an incredibly complex road to ride. Just when you think you're getting to a straight section, it's just more twisties.

We also climbed and descended a dozen times or more to get from one inlet to the next, then 10 miles inland and back out. But we kept going until we finally climbed up and over a big ridge and came out to a very busy are of a city. We stopped at the first gas station we saw for another bio break. This time with better facilities.

The roads all around the gas station were packed with cars so I wasn't sure how 8 motorcycles were going to get out and stay together.

Drew led the way, and Ross popped out and blocked traffic so most of us got out in one shot, but not all of us were fully ready yet, so Scott and I made it out pretty quick, but Brent got stuck when the light changed. We had only gone a few hundred yards when Drew announced that we should have gone out the other side of the station because we'd missed our right turn, so everyone crowded over to the left turn lane and made a u-turn.

We met Brent on the way and with the other bikes to block traffic, he made a U-turn right there at the light. Brent is a very good rider. I often wind up tippy-toe'ing the last little bit of a U-turn as I near the curb.

Now we were all together and ready to take that turn that we'd missed, we even all made it through the light together with just a few cars mingled in with us.

We merged onto the highway that headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a 4 lane highway, but the GPS said we needed to be in the left 2 lanes, so I hopped over a lane, then slowed down, blocking traffic to let the other bikes merge over. The car behind me was NOT happy about that, and Californians are not shy about using their horn and various body parts to express displeasure.

We got over to the correct lane and worked our way forward in the stop and go traffic. The drivers were nuts. I saw one guy zooming up the far right lane, dodging around everyone else that was trying to merge. He went until the right wall physically forced him to slow down and merge, but instead of just merging, he turned left, perpendicular to all the traffic, nudged his way forward across all 4 lanes to the far left lane, then turned in line with the rest of traffic and drove on. he literally drove across the road, almost hitting other cars and forcing them to stop to let him through.

I won't go into all the other stupid driver things I saw, but there were plenty.

We finally rode out onto the Golden Gate. I thought I remembered from my last time crossing, that the bridge had metal road surface with open gaps that looked down through the bridge. I remember being very uncomfortable because the road surface tended to grab my front wheel and make it wander left and right. But this road surface was asphalt and felt just like riding over a normal piece of road. It didn't feel at all wierd.

My video camera battery was dead so i got no video. I probably turned it on and forgot to turn it off. I also didn't feel like trying to take a still photo in all that traffic, so no crossing pictures from me. Maybe one of the rest of the group will upload some photos I can use.

On the far side of the bridge we took the very first exit, then quickly turned into a parking area labelled "Overlook" to get some bridge pictures. It wasn't a great view, just straight across the bridge rather than a side view giving some perspective. But no one wanted to fight traffic to get farther into town, so we took what we could and got back on the road.

Here is where the CB radios really were handy. As Drew led out, I could tell him when the rest of the group was on the road and how separated we were. If we got too far apart, he would pull over and let the rest of us catch up so that no one got lost.

We must have gone through 20 stop signs as we maneuvered through town. Especially when we hit a road closure and had to meander all over to get around the blockage. But eventually we got back on highway 1 headed out of San Francisco. It was very cool when we came around one corner and there was a massive beach leading South down the coast, and the PC running beside it.

What wasn't cool was the non stop traffic on the PCH. It probably took us an hour to go about 20 miles before we hit open road. Finally Drew announced that we were 55 miles from the hotel, and we all sped up to 65 mph.

But we ride for long because there was another light house just ahead of us. We turned off to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. We had stopped here 11 years ago when John, Angela, Nan (my wife Nan, not Larry's wife Nan), Shauna, and some guy on a baby blue goldwing had ridden the PCH in 2008. It was more colorful that time, but I guess it was still ok for lighthouse lovers like D'nette. I was just glad for a break.

Come to think of it, the line to the bathroom was pretty long, so maybe it wasn't so much about the lighthouse as nature.

We weren't at this lighthouse very long before we were leaving. But the parking lot was loose gravel and Ross had parked facing down hill. Then a car pulled in right in front of him, so he could get out. It took Angela and me to push him backward enough to extricate himself. I guess there were other incidents with the sloping gravel parking log but I didn't see those.

Back onto the road, yet again, and more miles to travel. This road was thankfully pretty straight and the last few miles flew by. In fact, it was such a great feeling with the cool ocean breeze, the clear roads, the sun setting off to my right that I decided to make a few calls.

I called all my kids (Koren didn't answer) and just chatted to see how their week had been and how the grandkids were. Then I called my wife and heard about the carpet cleaning and re-arranging that she's doing. I just hope I still have somewhere to sleep when I get home. It was great to talk to my family while watched the ocean and beach slip past.

We pulled into Santa Cruze and the Mission Inn as the light was fading and checked into our rooms. We asked for good places to eat and she suggested a BBQ place about 1/4 of a mile away.

I quickly unloaded my gear and started typing the blog. But I was barely started when a message arrived saying to meet in 5 minutes to walk to dinner. I thought to myself, "Why Walk" but eventually I caved to peer pressure and left the bike behind.

It wasn't a bad walk, but it was 10 minutes I could have spent writing the blog, or 20 if you count the return trip.

It was a very texas style BBQ. You ordered a the counter, either sandwiches and side, or loose meet by the 1/4 pound. I opted for a Fierce Pig sandwich, meaning spicy pulled pork, and coleslaw. There was live music playing. 2 guys, guitar and harmonica with some sort of electronic drum beat accompaniment. They weren't bad and really got your toe tapping.

Unfortunately for us, they only sang 2 songs before they called it a night and left.

We pulled together some tables and made a long enough table to seat us all. I got a lady to take a picture of us since this might be the last time we're all together.

My pork sandwich came and it was sure hot. It was hotter than I really had wanted but I ate about half of it with coleslaw to cool it off. Scott gave me some of the tritip and brisket he'd gotten. When I was full, I headed back to the hotel at a power walking pace to do more blogging.

I saw Larry ride past on his way back. Larry had injured his knee on some stairs earlier, so he rode to the restaurant.

When I got back to the hotel, Larry came over to ask if I would be interested in skipping tomorrow's twisties and heading straight to Lancaster instead. He said he was burned out and didn't think he could handle another full day of technical riding, but he also didn't want to cross part of the desert alone. Nan was also getting tired and worried about Larry struggling with his injured knee and fatigue. I told him I'd think about it.

I went back to writing the blog and looking at what tomorrow's ride would entail. It wouldn't be as much as day 2, 6, or 7, but it would be allot and there was nowhere to stop except little pullouts. That would be 100 miles of continuous technical riding. Was I even up for that?

I finally decided 2 things. First, I would be just fine if I missed that section of road. Second, if Larry didn't feel he was up to riding that section, then he shouldn't, and he should have someone with him, so I would go with him. So tomorrow, rather than taking the PCH south, we would head East and pickup Interstate 5. We would ride 5 hours rather than 8 hours.

In the end, I think I'm also relieved to have the technical riding done. It's very strenuous even though it's also fun.

With that settled, I went out to tell Nan that I'd go if they needed me to. I could see the relief on her face, but she said she'd talk with Larry to be sure that's what he wanted. A bit later they messaged that they wanted to skip Big Sur and would leave whenever I suggested.

I think we'll leave at 8:30 or 9:00, but I'll get up at 7:30 to say goodbye to everyone. I probably won't see Drew, Penny, Brent, Barb, Scott, or D'nette again as they are headed their own way home.

By the way, if you know me well, you know that I have always struggled with names. "So how are you casually tossing around the names of people you barely know?" you might be asking, especially when I routinely forget the names of people I see daily.

It's easy, I created a cheat sheet the first day and have been referring to it every few hours. Some of the people I've seen enough times to remember, but even then I sometimes stumble. So here's my list.

Gold Harley - Nan and Larry

Blue Harley - Scott and D'nette

Red Honda with Trailer - Brent and Barb

Yamaha & roommate - Ross

Drew and Penny

Ron and Karen

John and Angela

In other words, I know them by what bike they ride. Sometimes it's awkward as I had to wait to see which bike they get on before I can say "Hey Brent, how you doing?"

By the 3rd day, I could just recognize who was on which bike, but I sometimes couldn't remember the name of the Guy riding the Gold Harley, and had to look at the list to remember it was Larry.

As for Drew, Penny, Ron, and Karen, I've been on 2 other rides with them, and already had them remembered, except, again, I sometimes had to refer to my old blogs to remember actual names, rather than "That guy on the red wing with the matching trailer that led the ride" I'd see it was Drew.

Names just don't stick in my head. I sometimes have to get up from my desk, walk over to someone's cube, and read their name off the label, and that's people that I've worked daily with for years. It just goes away.

Now, John and Angela I've known for many many years. I don't think I've ever struggled recalling their name.

Anyway, it's midnight and I still have to add photos. so I'll end this here. G'night

Late news, this morning Larry says he feels ok and John says it is much less technical so we will stay with the group.

Sunrise on an ocean lookout