Day 4 Pacific Coast Highway

The alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up and got dressed and packed up my bags. C.E. got up and started to get dressed. I took a couple of my bags and a wet towel down to my Motor. I cleaned the windshield on my Motor and, since I had the towels, I cleaned the windshields on the other Motors. I returned to my room and returned the towels. We all went up to the third floor where breakfast was being served. We took our time with breakfast and then all went to our rooms to pack the rest of our stuff. Chuck went to my room and uploaded yesterdays pictures onto the web site. We all went to our Motors and got ready to leave.

We left at 9:11 AM with Jan in the lead and rode 1 mile away to a "Rite Aid" drug store. Chuck had broken his reader glasses and needed to buy another so that he could read the menus and the bathroom doors (men/women) later. We left at 9:30 AM.

Jan continued to lead and we headed northbound on the Pacific Coast Highway. Jan had been in this area before and as he was leading, we stopped in Cambria, CA at 10:00 AM after riding for 24 miles. It was cool while riding in the 55 degree weather. We stopped for gas and also a needed pit stop. We had too much coffee this morning!

Ken was next in line to lead and was a little nervous. He hadn't done this before. He was afraid that we would later make fun of him...we did. We left at 10:23 AM heading north on PCH. After 12 miles of driving, we stopped at 10:36 AM at a roadside parking lot by the beach. It was called, "Point Pierdas Blancas." For those who don't speak Spanish, it means, "Point White Rocks." Looking at the tall white rocks in the ocean, we can see why it has that name. The rocks were white! Personally, it thought that it should have been named, "Point White Rocks because of Seagull Poop." This area was a sanctuary for hundreds of Elephant Seals. They were basking in the sun on the beach and some were in the water. One of the local guides stated that there were only females and juveniles present. The male Seals were out to sea...kind of like the six of us out on a ride while the females and juveniles remained at home! :) See ladies...we're not the only males who leave home for a time! And just like the male Elephant Seals, we will return home.

We left the lady seal home at 11:01 AM and Ken lead us north. We rode along the coastline and at times, the road was hundreds of feet above the water. The sights, sounds and smells were awesome! There is nothing like riding a motorcycle on a road like this. We passed farms with "happy cows," "happy horses" and "happy sheep." They all looked very healthy and picture perfect. We were going at a speed of about 30 mph. Just when we started to feel comfortable with the road and our speed, we would come across an area where there had been some falling rocks and we had to swerve around them. This made it somewhat difficult to ride the Motor and take pictures! We took pictures anyway...we were very careful.

We had been riding for almost an hour and a half and only covered 61 miles when Ken stopped at Big Sur Ranger Station for a much needed pit stop. We parked the Motors and quickly went to the restrooms. Funny how our vision cleared up! We left at 12:42 PM.

There weren't very many places that Ken could stop for lunch. We drove through Big Sur and a few little towns and couldn't find a place to eat. At this point, we didn't care where Ken stopped. It didn't have to be Subway or Wendy's. It could have been a taco stand, as long as we stopped to eat. We drove into Carmel, CA where Chuck took over the lead and pulled into a strip mall. There has to be a fast food place in a strip mall! Not in Carmel! We did stop at a place called, "Cafe Stravroanza." They treated us well. We left at 2:28 PM.

Just after lunch, we talked about which direction we would go. We came to the conclusion that we would go east and head to Yosemite National Park. Ken lead us north on PCH and turned eastbound at Monterrey, CA. We headed eastbound and 46 miles and at 3:20 PM, we stopped in Hollister, CA. Hollister is said to have a history or the start of the Hell's Angels. I don't know. While in Hollister, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a pit stop. We left at 3:32 PM.

Our plan was to continue to Los Banos, CA and did arrive at 4:19 PM, 46 miles later. We, again, made a pit stop and gassed up our Motors. We took a short break. We left at 4:46 PM. It was a cool 75 degrees.

It was my turn to lead and we headed eastbound. We rode for 76 miles through beautiful country on a smooth two laned road. We arrived in Mariposa, CA at 6:11 PM. we had decided that we would spend the night here and head out to Yosemite tomorrow. We checked into the Best Western Yosemite Way and went to our rooms, with the same roommates as last night. We later rode our Motors about a half mile to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we returned to the motel in the dark, parked the Motors and tucked them in for the night. It was time to go to our rooms so that Chuck and I could work on our Blogs. We travelled 293 miles today. Tomorrow, Yosemite National Park. Until then...