Although the hotel room was paid for in advance, what with bar bill and telephone calls to contact Phil Hawkins, Eaglerider and limo driver, the hotel bill was an additional $62.67.
We went to IHop for breakfast and both had delicious two eggs, two sausages, hash browns and toast. Sourdough toast for me and white for Bill.
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| iHop Breakfast |
Chinese limo driver picked us up from the hotel. He couldn't understand us very well and not so sure I understood him either. Very chatty though. Also able to look up weather on his iPhone and do his paperwork while driving. Thankfully no RTA.
Eaglerider was busy. We had to sign loads of forms, which basically all added up to 'Eaglerider not liable for anything whatsoever unless the bike breaks mechanically'. I had to ask for a screen for Bill's Road Glide as none was fitted. I had to have an Electra Glide instead of planned Street Glide as someone had crashed my proposed bike. Good job we tested cigarette lighter socket as it was loose and the satnav would not charge. Pissy mechanic tightened it up. This delayed us slightly and we did not get away from the bike shop until 11:30. Bike odometer reading was 44376.
We drove South down highway 101, to try to get away from the chaos and traffic of San Francisco. How funny that we flew thousands of miles only to drive down a motorway. We both concluded that our bikes were a pile of shit and wondered why we rented Harleys again (edit: Having said that, we also have to acknowledge that the bikes didn't miss a beat for the whole trip and ate up the miles, while providing comfort. If I was on a sports bike I would have needed a chiropractor within the first week). We pulled in to a crematorium / chapel of rest for a break in downtown San Jose and to fit satnav to bike. I was glad to see the green charging light remaining steady on the satnav. I felt slightly disrespectful swigging my drink and performing light mechanic duties in the entrance of said expansive memorial park.
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| Satnav Fitting In Memorial Home |
We went to Appleby's for a coffee, two mini burgers each and some mozzarella dippers, again in downtown San Jose. We decided to head for Felton as a redwood tree park is near to there. When we got to Felton we refuelled. We didn't see the redwood park but there again we didn't look. The satnav took us back out through posh suburban housing estate, where I took great delight in blasting out rock music at my loudest stereo setting. We headed towards Apthos to pick up Highway 1 South. The temperature got noticeably cooler as we headed towards the coast. Traffic got worse again too and we did a fair bit of dodgy filtering in first gear. We stopped at Monterey McDonald's for a coffee and to plan our onward route. Technology failed me as could not load maps on iPhone or iPad. I set the satnav to take us towards Fresno to get us out of traffic and hopefully to reach warmer temperatures; it was bloody cold on the coast. The dial on the bike indicated around 55F air temperature. We did see the Pacific from McDonald's though and even made a half hearted attempt to walk over the road to the beach but the road was too busy (couldn't be arsed). We set off again. I gave Bill a wave as I just made it through some orange traffic lights and then had a laughing fit as saw him come through too. Those lights must have been red for a good two seconds. We encountered more traffic queues on the way out of Monterey but eventually it petered out when we hit highway 152. The satnav informed me that the next turn was in 112 miles on the right. The 152 was the best part of today's ride.
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| At Gustine Motel 6 |
It runs through rolling hills that are so roundly curved that they would not look out of place on a Teletubby episode. The 152 also runs alongside the San Luis reservoir, which is massive and a sight to behold. It was quite blowy at this point as we had climbed quite a way. We stopped at the retro diner at the Petro Stopping Center for more coffee and then drove to the Gustine Motel 6, on Gonzaga Road, which was in sight of the diner. I sat in the room writing our diary. The 'Mean Machine' remake, with Adam Sandler, was on the tv. At the time of parking up for the night, the odometer read 44598. That means we rode 222 miles this day.
