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entry 8: san louis obispo, california to san diego, california 11/07/05

The telephoto lens at work - can you spot Arnie?

Back on the road we headed south on highway 101 and spent the next two days riding at 75 mph, which after the slow coastal road of Highway 1, seemed like madness. The towns of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara brought us the Terminator (now the Governator) and Spanish Missions. In San Luis Obispo, Arnold Schwarzenneger was due to appear at the hotel next-door to the one we were staying in. I grabbed the camera and dressed in my best set of sandals and tee-shirt I camped out to get a good shot of the governor. I was hanging out with a TV crew and reporter, when the front man for Arnold told us he would be arriving in ten minutes and would we mind moving into the reception area where we could all have access to him. I thought WOW! This is going to be great! The only hitch I had was when they asked for press I.D. at the desk and of course I had left my Unassociated Press credentials back in the hotel room. So as it turned out I snapped two 100-foot shots of Arnie as he was whisked out of his limo and into his press conference.

On to Santa Barbara where the mission was well worth the $4 price of admission. The mission was founded in 1786 and was built by the Native American known as the Chumash, which the Spanish encountered in the area. These people impressed me by their ability to learn European trades such as carpentry and construction. They combined these talents with their own beautiful artistry to make a mission that is a wonder to behold. And as so many native tribes across the continent, they succumbed to disease, broken treaties and a loss of identity. The Santa Barbara mission was one of more than a dozen Catholic missions the Spanish government established to counter the encroachment of Russian interests from the north.

Doing the Hollywood "thing" - checking out Sid Graumann's Chinese Theater.

After our time at the church we decided to head further down the coast to spend a few nights in what some people consider the sin capitol of the world – L.A. Well, not exactly L.A. but Hollywood. Our over-all impression of Hollywood was that it is better to see what Hollywood produces rather than what the place actually looks like. The streets were dirty and the place was rather rundown. The Chinese theater was pretty cool with the hand prints of so many big names but “fake” was the main theme that ran through my mind most of the time. By the way, the traffic didn’t turn out to be the nightmare we thought it would be, although we did not travel during rush hours and used the MTS (Metro Transit System) subway system to get around on which is a great system.

Next stop - San Diego. Upon arriving, we rolled right onto Coronado Island, just off the coast of San Diego and also the site of our “splurge” for the month. Hotel Del Coronado is a beautiful old hotel that has hosted presidents and movie stars for almost 120 years. “Some Like It Hot” was filmed there with Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in the leading rolls. Somehow I don’t think we made the same impact when we rode up to valet parking on our bikes, but they did let us park our bikes in their lot for free. The “Hotel Del” has a lobby that would make my Dad, a craftsman in woodworking, drool. Coffered ceilings with cross patterns fit for a cathedral and wood pillars polished so many times that you really could see yourself. The entire lobby had a dark golden glow to it. The weather was too cool for using the pool but the beach was great for walking and the next morning I was doing just that when the rumble of jet engines crashed overhead. Two Navy F-18 Hornets, flying slow and low, lined up for their landing at the North Island Naval base, which is located at the tip of Coronado Island. As chance would have it, the aircraft were flying off of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which appeared on the horizon twenty minutes later as it was pulling into port. I had served on this same vessel twenty-five years ago and had completed my Navy basic training in San Diego, so this moment held a bit of nostalgia for me. The crew was coming back from their adventure and Lynne and I were starting out on ours. We stayed two days at “The Del” enjoying the atmosphere and food and then rode off the island to find the home of Pug and Dave.

Our newly-found west-coast family - Andria, Dave and Pug.

Cousins of Lynne’s once-removed, we had met Pug and her daughter, Andria, only briefly ten years ago at a family reunion. We had never met Dave. It’s always a crapshoot when you stay with relatives as sometimes their interests are so far removed from yours that you blurt out “We can only stay the night, we have reservations in South America.” But that did not turn out to be the case at all. In fact the similarities in our lives made the time spent in their home quite wonderful. They were the best of hosts and Pug provided home-cooked meals that really hit the spot! So good in fact that we stayed longer than we had intended. Funny thing was, they too thought our arrival was a bit of a crapshoot!

On the topic of our bikes, we had them serviced at North Valley BMW, in Escondido. We had them check the valves, change the oil and filter and put on new tires front and back. Lynne’s bike had come with Metzler Tourances and mine with Michelin Anakees . Both had worn incredibly well – so much so that the backs could have gone another couple of thousand miles and the fronts showed almost no wear. However, we thought it best to start with as much rubber as possible because we are unsure when good tires will be available down the road. Once again re-packed, we headed off for what I consider to be the true start of our adventure – Mexico!

From Lynne:

The coolest part of this leg has been getting to know a bit more of my family. Including these three in my family circle just about doubles it's size. With any luck, our paths will cross again soon.

A few things Tom forgot -

A great evening in San Juan Capistrano - an interesting town with lots of nooks and crannies. I wouldn't mind doing a trip along the southern coast of CA someday and spending some more time in a few of these seaside towns.

A fun day at the San Diego Zoo (let me interject here that riding boots are not the proper attire for this attraction - the hills of San Francisco have nothing on this place).

The "camera-around-our-neck", "we're-hicks-from-Hicksville" bus tour of the movie stars homes - see the gallery for exciting photos.