California Trip Report - Day 3
(Saturday
- April 29, 2006):
Day 3
We had a good breakfast at the
Redwood Cafe. I had been eating a little too well so I opted for a homemade
granola with yogurt and a fruit cup. We left a little later in the morning
hoping that the mist would clear. Alas, it was still misting when we gassed up
and hit the road. We started up a highly recommended road that happened to be
only a couple hundred yards from the hotel. Santa Rosa Creek Road is famous
for its picturesque farms, pretty run along the Santa Rosa Creek, and alpine
hairpins that bike magazines often use for photo ops.
Santa Rosa Creek Road and
Old Creek Road - 3D map
The road passed
the local High School and then rolled past the aforementioned farms. Numerous
cows and horses seemed to wonder why we were disturbing their tranquility.
Eventually we entered a wood through which the Santa Rosa Creek gurgled on its
way toward the Pacific.
Santa Rosa Creek Road
Once we cleared the
wood, the road started to climb. The twists started becoming tighter and more
numerous. Since it was still misting, we took these turns slowly and cautiously.
The twists culminated in back to back 180o hairpins that some may
recognize from the bike magazines.
Santa Rosa Creek Road
Hairpins
We crossed
highway 46 and descended to Highway 1 via Old Creek Road. This
road contained mostly sweepers so we were able to pick up the pace. We turned
left on Highway 1 and rode along the ocean past Morro Bay and continued all the
way to the college town of San Luis Obispo. Chevypc said that we had to use the
men’s room at the Madonna Inn....a curious request. The Madonna Inn is a lavish
hotel that has guest rooms with different ornate, themes (the rock room,
the jungle room, etc.) The men’s room was decorated in the same fun spirit. The
fixtures were fancy and expensive, but where could I relieve myself? No urinals,
only a large stone wall along the left side of the room with a drain in the
floor. Perplexed, but unable to wait, I took care of business and then low and
behold a waterfall begins to flow down the wall and into the drain. The wall was
the urinal! We dried off, thanked Phil in absentia, and left the room laughing.
We grabbed a cup of coffee and then saddled up.
We took 101
north and 58 east to the town of Creston. Creston is known for its obscenely
expensive horse farms. In Creston we picked up Route 229 which was supposed to
have some great curves. 229 was great! The curves were perfect.
Highway
229
The timing of the curves
allowed me to really establish a rhythm. This ride was the first time that I
felt “in the zone” on this bike. Have you ever yelled out loud while riding a
bike? I did! What a blast. 229 settled into a one lane curvy road…..no center
line, no traffic!
Highway 229
Finally we turned right onto La
Panza Road and entered serious grazing/ ranching country. We started passing one
bicycle after another. It turns out that we would be sharing the next 10 miles
with a huge bicycle rally. I’d never seen so many bikes. Unfortunately, we had
to temper our riding
.
We turned off La Panza and made
a left onto Shell Creek Road. This great road snaked lazily within a pretty
valley ablaze with yellow wildflowers.
Shell Creek Road
The sights, the smells made me
damn glad that I ride a bike.
We made a left onto Route 41
and rode through some scenic hill country back to Creston. We turned right onto
Creston Road and followed it and Route 46 to the town of Paso Robles, known for
its winemaking. We gassed up, had a nondescript lunch, and hopped on County Road
G14 north. After about 7 miles the check oil light lit up on the Beemer……oh
**it! We pulled over and looked for the dipstick….and looked and looked. We
called Eagle Rider and were informed that we needed to get under the bike and
view a sight glass in order to check the oil. Jim did and saw that the oil level
was fine…bike glitch. We continued along G14 and were treated to some alpine eye
candy.
Highway G14
G14 was a nice fast run. It was
mostly straights and sweepers…we could open the throttles up a little here
. We cruised past the
Nacimiento Dam and finally entered Fort Hunter Liggett. This fort was a large
training facility for troops headed to the Pacific in World War II. Nowadays, it
was mostly deserted. We did pass through checkpoints at the entrance and exits
of the base, but we were barely scrutinized. We turned left onto Mission Road
and then left again onto Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. This road ambled along for a
few miles before beginning a climb into the Las Padres National Forest. The road
began to twist as we climbed higher into the forest. Suddenly we rounded a turn
and rode smack into the middle of a misty grove of redwoods. The change of
scenery and weather was stunning. We literally ran into a wall of mist….it was
sunny and warm only 5 minutes before! The smell of redwoods was intense. It was
like a scene from Jurassic Park or King Kong. I half expected giant creatures to
crawl out of the woods. Eventually we saddled up and continued our ride.
Nacimiento-Fergusson Road now began a steep drop to the Pacific. The views on
the way down were beyond description.
Nacimiento-Fergusson Road
We made a left onto Highway 1
and began our run for “home.”
We passed Ragged Point.
Ragged Point
And we passed
Piedras Blancas.
Piedras Blancas
And finally
entered the town of San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle. Unfortunately, we rode so
much on this trip that we did not have time to visit this mansion of William
Randolph Hearst that was immortalized in the movie “Citizen Kane.” We did
however get to hang out with a bunch of friends down at the beach.
San Simeon
The two seal bulls in the
middle of the picture are fighting over the bevy of females. I’ll take the cute
little female with the pretty eyes!
It was only a few miles until
we arrived back at the hotel. We did 244 glorious miles. We went back to
Brambles for dinner. The waitress said that the restaurant was known for their
Greek food, so I ordered the baked lamb and Jim had the Souvlaki. The food was
very good. I had a glass of Shiraz and wondered how we could ever top this day
of riding. I was about to find out.
Continue
to Day 4