Thursday, March 31, 2005
Road closed
For a variety of reasons, I got a late start on my three-day ride up the coast, but left around 10:40am. Based on a suggestion from my boss, I took a different route to Camarillo, with mixed results.
In the past, I've always slogged across the 101, and always get bogged down going through the Valley. My boss suggested the 210 to the 118, then surface streets from Moorpark into Camarillo. The freeway section was fast, but some high wind gusts added some unwelcome drama. Once on the surface streets, the construction delays and farming truck traffic slowed things considerably. Next time I'll stay on the 23 down to the 101, which is still way past the worst of the Valley traffic.
Early on, I was getting the false power cycles on the V-1, and I tried to fix it by twisting the fuse block, but wound up pulling the positive lead from its spade connector. After breakfast I found a Radio Shack, but was unsuccessful in making even temporary repairs. I was without radar detection for the remainder of the trip.
The combination of the late start, unplanned traffic in Moorpark, and 45 minutes trying to make electrical repairs with 50mph wind gusts, I had to make changes to my route if I was going to get a decent room and make my 6:45 movie time in Paso Robles. The first change was to skip SR-154 and Santa Rosa Rd. Instead I took the 101 to SR-246, then west to Drum Canyon. The wildflowers were in full bloom throughout the hills into Los Alamos, and further on up Alisos Canyon to Foxen Canyon.
I had skipped Tepusquet Rd. the last time I was up this way, and was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the recent rains had wiped out the roadway that crosses what I think is the Santa Maria River. The detour to get back to Tepusquet was 8.5 miles, and I didn't really have the time.
I made it to the Motel 6 in Paso Robles at straight-up 6:00pm, but still didn't get as good a room as I'd hoped. Upstairs, mid-way between the two sides of the parking lot, with a lot of freeway noise, but it worked out okay.
I made it downtown in plenty of time to see the 6:45pm showing of Hostage. I loved the original story by Robert Crais, and the movie came close to the overall feel of the book.
