24th May
After beautiful weather all weekend, I open the curtains to a dull overcast day…
I pack the bike - quite a job – I’ve unpacked everything during the last week and it seems reluctant to return to the constraints of the panniers. After much head scratching and re-packing, I’m on the road for 1000 and heading south down the Pacific Coast Highway. I ride slowly, taking in the views, which I don’t think I’d ever get tired of…
Traffic is light, with a large percentage being RVs – often rented ones (you can easily tell these, they are covered with rental stickers and driven by cretins). The vast majority of the PCH seems to have solid yellow lines, precluding overtaking. The more experienced drivers do the decent thing and pull into specially made passing bays to let faster traffic pass. The rental drivers tend not to (probably because they are unaware of anyone behind them
)
I ride through Big Sur, and decide to give the State Park a miss, as the top of the hill is obscured by a large black rain cloud that looks like it’s open for business…
I stop and take some time at the idyllic little cove at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It’s a beautiful and extremely tranquil spot, despite being less than a quarter of a mile from the PCH.
A little further down the road, I stop and watch some fishermen.
They are clearly optimists, as the Pacific is alive with sea lions – which are far more of a threat to the local sea life…
The Elephant Seals, however, take life much less seriously – the only thing they're they’re catching is some serious sun…
…in fact, they are everywhere you look, looking like washed up driftwood all along the beach…
I pull in to the EconoLodge at Morro Bay and check in – no Internet connection – not even dial-up, but it’s been a good, slow day, so I kick back and do my elephant seal impression…
After beautiful weather all weekend, I open the curtains to a dull overcast day…
I pack the bike - quite a job – I’ve unpacked everything during the last week and it seems reluctant to return to the constraints of the panniers. After much head scratching and re-packing, I’m on the road for 1000 and heading south down the Pacific Coast Highway. I ride slowly, taking in the views, which I don’t think I’d ever get tired of…
Traffic is light, with a large percentage being RVs – often rented ones (you can easily tell these, they are covered with rental stickers and driven by cretins). The vast majority of the PCH seems to have solid yellow lines, precluding overtaking. The more experienced drivers do the decent thing and pull into specially made passing bays to let faster traffic pass. The rental drivers tend not to (probably because they are unaware of anyone behind them
)
I ride through Big Sur, and decide to give the State Park a miss, as the top of the hill is obscured by a large black rain cloud that looks like it’s open for business…
I stop and take some time at the idyllic little cove at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It’s a beautiful and extremely tranquil spot, despite being less than a quarter of a mile from the PCH.
A little further down the road, I stop and watch some fishermen.
They are clearly optimists, as the Pacific is alive with sea lions – which are far more of a threat to the local sea life…
The Elephant Seals, however, take life much less seriously – the only thing they're they’re catching is some serious sun…
…in fact, they are everywhere you look, looking like washed up driftwood all along the beach…
I pull in to the EconoLodge at Morro Bay and check in – no Internet connection – not even dial-up, but it’s been a good, slow day, so I kick back and do my elephant seal impression…
