jyambrovich
aka Papa Yams
Hi all,
I finally had the foresight to take a week of vacation in which my birthday occurred. Add the Memorial Day Monday holiday and I get some time on the bike!!
I live very close to the Monterey Bay (south of the San Francisco Bay) so I'm pretty blessed as far as riding roads, conditions, weather etc. Still, we've had a lot of rain this season and the little nubbies were still clinging to the new tires I put on the bike 3 weeks ago. I'm heading to Redmond for the International Rally (my first rally) so I need some practice riding long days with gear packed on the bike. Time for a ROAD TRIP!!
Started on Monday the 24th, paying close attention to the fantastic route suggested by Daryl Richman (thanks Daryl!!) through the Monterey County and San Luis Obispo wine country to end up at my dear friend Sheldon's house in Bakersfield. 340 miles of roads I had (mostly) not ridden before. Nice day!! I've got some pics to share but they'll have to wait until I get home to resize them to attach.
Tuesday May 25 - my birthday!! Woke up to sunshine and friends to share breakfast with. Done with the prelims, it is 9 am so I jump on the bike and head out. Up and over Walker Pass (Hwy 178) and over to Hwy 395. Jump on headed south to my destination - Lakeside CA (outside of San Diego). Take a couple of stops / detours to keep things interesting (scoped out a lake to take the extended family camping with the grandsons) and saw the "airliner boneyard" outside of Mojave. Looks like SFO only in a smaller space!! Also was a HUGE solar-powered electricity generating facility. Skipped the last scheduled detour of the day because my rump is gettin' TENDER. 8 hours and 360 miles, not surprising.
Got to spend my birthday evening with my son Brandon, his beautiful wife Heather and their son Keiren (we call him Little Man #2 because he's our second Grandson). Gosh am I blessed.
Got up this morning, everyone is already gone to work (HEY - this IS my vacation you know). Got myself and the bike fueled up and off I go to visit Mt. Palomar and the Palomar Observatory. Rode up there on S6 (looks like a snake trail on the map) and IT WAS FUN!!! Three squids came roaring around me in an uphill corner (jackass...) and were gone before I could even get much of a look at their bikes (none were SS1000RRs). Spent some time looking at the telescope and absorbing the info. TIME TO GO - getting a little itchy to get back on the bike and head down the mountain along the other road. Also a very nice ride, one I RECOMMEND TO ALL OF YOU!!
Stopped in historic Julian, CA for lunch and to buy one of the famous apple pies from the Julian Pie Co. Can't wait to dive into that one tomorrow.
Time to sign out now - more in a day or two.
I finally had the foresight to take a week of vacation in which my birthday occurred. Add the Memorial Day Monday holiday and I get some time on the bike!!
I live very close to the Monterey Bay (south of the San Francisco Bay) so I'm pretty blessed as far as riding roads, conditions, weather etc. Still, we've had a lot of rain this season and the little nubbies were still clinging to the new tires I put on the bike 3 weeks ago. I'm heading to Redmond for the International Rally (my first rally) so I need some practice riding long days with gear packed on the bike. Time for a ROAD TRIP!!
Started on Monday the 24th, paying close attention to the fantastic route suggested by Daryl Richman (thanks Daryl!!) through the Monterey County and San Luis Obispo wine country to end up at my dear friend Sheldon's house in Bakersfield. 340 miles of roads I had (mostly) not ridden before. Nice day!! I've got some pics to share but they'll have to wait until I get home to resize them to attach.
Tuesday May 25 - my birthday!! Woke up to sunshine and friends to share breakfast with. Done with the prelims, it is 9 am so I jump on the bike and head out. Up and over Walker Pass (Hwy 178) and over to Hwy 395. Jump on headed south to my destination - Lakeside CA (outside of San Diego). Take a couple of stops / detours to keep things interesting (scoped out a lake to take the extended family camping with the grandsons) and saw the "airliner boneyard" outside of Mojave. Looks like SFO only in a smaller space!! Also was a HUGE solar-powered electricity generating facility. Skipped the last scheduled detour of the day because my rump is gettin' TENDER. 8 hours and 360 miles, not surprising.
Got to spend my birthday evening with my son Brandon, his beautiful wife Heather and their son Keiren (we call him Little Man #2 because he's our second Grandson). Gosh am I blessed.
Got up this morning, everyone is already gone to work (HEY - this IS my vacation you know). Got myself and the bike fueled up and off I go to visit Mt. Palomar and the Palomar Observatory. Rode up there on S6 (looks like a snake trail on the map) and IT WAS FUN!!! Three squids came roaring around me in an uphill corner (jackass...) and were gone before I could even get much of a look at their bikes (none were SS1000RRs). Spent some time looking at the telescope and absorbing the info. TIME TO GO - getting a little itchy to get back on the bike and head down the mountain along the other road. Also a very nice ride, one I RECOMMEND TO ALL OF YOU!!
Stopped in historic Julian, CA for lunch and to buy one of the famous apple pies from the Julian Pie Co. Can't wait to dive into that one tomorrow.
Time to sign out now - more in a day or two.