Day Five

Spent some time walking around town this morning and visiting the local Spanish Mission. Then we went out for a ride around some of the Wine Country. A nice day. We returned in the early afternoon and VROC people started arriving. I should take some people and bike pictures but since everyone else does maybe I will stick with my format.

Couple of pictures of the town of Solvang.

Old Spanish Mission in town.

Wine fields.

Of course a cactus in bloom.

Day Four

The day started out perfect, but we soon found ourselves riding through a chilly fog bank that lasted the rest of the trip down the coast. As soon as we headed inland it cleared up and got warm in a hurry. We stopped and did a tour of the Hearst Castle and still got to Solvang a day ahead of time. They said no problem and we got checked into our rooms, so we are the first arrivals. YEAH!

Beautiful start to the day.

Bet you didn’t notice this in the last picture. Well camouflaged.

One of Mr. Hearst’s guest cottages.

The Roman Bath out-door pool.

The main house (Castle).

The heated in-door Roman Bath (under the tennis courts).

Day Three

The weather just keeps getting better. It was warm when we left the coast and headed inland to Willits. Highway 20 is as exciting as Highway 1 was. Then it was 101 to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate.Construction at the toll plaza made a mess, but we got through it and continued South on Highway 1 again. Pulled up for the night in the quiet little town of Santa Cruz.

Rolling hills and vinyards south of Willits

Coast south of Frisco

Pigeon Point Light House

View from the Wharf at Santa Cruz

Day Two

What a difference a day makes. Started out with the rain gear stowed, visors up, sunglasses on and liners out of the jackets. We took 199 from Grants Pass to the coast then turned south on 101. When we got to the junction I talked Don into going Highway 1 along the coast. Wow! That was a workout for us and the bikes. So we stopped for the night at Fort Bragg.

A little Americana from Grants Pass.

First picture of the California Coast.

Skunk Train in Fort Bragg.

First Day

Day one is done. We started out in the rain and stayed wet until south of Corvalis Oregon about 3:30 in the afternoon. There is not much to enjoy about I-5 in the rain except that we were on our way. The camera stayed tucked away in the interest of keeping it dry. We pulled up for the night in Grants Pass where it was not only sunny but the AC was on in my motel room. What a difference. We chanced to talk to another rider who was also getting a room. His Name is Jason and he started out from Broken Arrow Oaklahoma riding a Kawasaki enduro to the west coast on the Trans-American Highway. Don and helped (watched mostly) him change out all three bearings in his rear wheel in the parking lot and put on a new tire as well. He sure knew what he was doing. Nice guy and good entertainment. We wished him luck on the last leg of his journey to the coast and a safe return home.

He borrowed a bearing puller from the Auto-Zone  store next door to remove the old bearings. He put the new bearings in a plastic bag and placed it in a bucket of ice. Then he used his camp stove to warm up the wheel so when he put the cold bearings in they were easy to tap into place. Pretty slick for a parking lot job.