Don't lose your dreams to protect your days

So for now gone are the days, when we and a couple of RVs are the only ones on the 2 lane roads. From Berkely on it was 4-6 lane highways only with busy traffic. On Saturday we had to go to Scotts Valley ( south of San Jose) to the Beemer Shop to pick up various parts for both of our bikes. Some parts belonging to Heinz’ bikes suspension has to go with us to Redlands ( south of San Bernardino) for some work up since the Beemer Shop is booked until late August and couldn’t do it.

Campsite in the San Gabriel Mountains

So Saturday after we left the Beemer Shop we turned towards the coastal Highway 101 again thinking we could camp there somewhere before going around the LA area. Mhm, not a good idea!

Every single campground was full, the traffic was heavy everywhere it was the big weekend crowd, at some point it was only stop and go. On a different note Aaron in Berkely told us that it was legal with the motorcycle to split lanes on the highways, so after a little reluctancy we now are doing exactly that! The cars are even moving out of their ways for us!

Dry landscape with few trees

We drove through large fruit and vegetable areas were you see lots and lots of bums sticking out of the fields from all the pickers. Mhm, the scent of strawberries was following me for a while. It baffles me how they have to heavily irrigate all these fields when everywhere else it is bone dry and water is restricted, just so we have the latest fresh produce in our supermarkets.

Sunset in the mountains

We drove past Monterey and Pebble Beach but didn’t really take any pictures because it was foggy and cool. We saw the big Hearst Castle in the distance but it was getting later and later and we still didn’t have any place to stay. It was too bad though because then the focus was merely on where to stay and nothing else. By 7 pm we stopped at Mc Donalds in Morro Bay to finally check on the internet if there were any Motel Rooms available. First they were pricy and second there were none available. Great! By then we were ready to wild camp somewhere!

Chilling out in the mountains

Tensions were running high but last option was to ride to San Luis Obispo, a larger town and see if they had any rooms. On the way we saw a campground and just stopped to see if there was anything for us. Heinz just went up and asked some folks and..bingo they just wanted to leave ( for whatever reason.. we didn’t care!) so we could use their spot. It was a noisy campground near Los Osos and the only thing we cared by then was to put up the tent, go inside and sleep!

Pine trees in the twilight

So early morning next day we packed up and left to have breakfast in town. We had to figure out how to go around LA and get to the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena to spend another night. By then it was really getting hot and hazy and we were hoping to escape the heat by reaching the mountains.

We drove by Santa Barbara with beautiful houses and gardens, lovely beaches, went around Burbank on a 6 lane freeway and still heavy traffic. Heinz was almost pushed off his lane by a car once, otherwise we had no problem, thank god!

We safely reached the Mountains and even found an almost empty and very quiet campground. We stayed for 2 nights just felt we needed a day to relax. We had lunch the next day at a Biker Bar ( the Newcomb Ranch) that was 5 Min. away from our campsite.

Newcombe Ranch

On Tuesday we left but had to go back the same way because the road was blocked from a rockslide.

We picked another area in the mountains of San Bernardino National Forest to stay. The heat in the valley is almost unbearable. It is close to Redlands where Heinz has to go today for his bike. Yesterday when we asked in a small town for directions to our campground we happened to ask at a hair salon. I took the chance and made an appointment right there and got my haircut that was badly needed after almost 3 months.

Newcombe Ranch

Well, we have no choice but to get used to this heat for the next little while!

Feli