Thursday, March 8, 2007
Hwy 58, 229, Tepusquet - and a nice walk on the beach
I needed to burn off a vacation day, so I took the FJR and all its new goodies out for a day-long ride, meeting up with Carole in Santa Barbara for sunset on the beach. I tried to do this ride a couple of weeks ago, but got sick instead, and last week Carole was under the weather, but our persistence paid off.
I poked around the house getting ready for too long, but finally hit the road around 9:35am. The trip to Frazier Park was uneventful, but I did try out my snazzy new, Smitty-installed cruise control. From Castaic until Gorman I played cat-and-mouse with a black-on-black C5 Corvette, but I had to slow down just before Gorman to deal with heavy crosswinds.
I topped off the gas in Frazier Park, put on my wind breaker and neck gaiter, and headed out to Cuddy Valley Rd. Both Cuddy Valley and Mil Portrero had long patches of gravel — not just in the corners, but all along the roadway. Once I hit Cerro Noroeste, the gravel problem went away - thankfully.
Cerro Noroeste is one of my favorites, and I had a fun on the wide sweepers. At the 33/166, I put a route into the Zumo to try it out, and headed northeast. It was fun listening to the Zumo tell me where to go.
The 58 was wonderful, as usual. I only had one vehicle to pass - a small RV that happily pulled over to let me pass. A pickup pulled out in front of me a couple of miles before the 229, but I waited it out.
I love the 229 — an almost perfect motorcycle road, even if it is a little short. The 41 took me into Atascadero for a quick bite. I was running late for the planned 4:30pm meet up at East Beach in Santa Barbara, and thought I'd have to kamikaze down the 101 to get there in time, but on my way back to the bike I heard the message-waiting beep on my cell. Carole was getting the balky passenger window on the Vette fixed, and needed to move the meet time back to 5:30pm, which suited me just fine.
I stopped in Santa Maria for gas, and headed east on the 166 to Tepusquet Rd. A couple of miles south of the 166, I came across a flock of about 10-12 wild turkeys sitting in the roadway. I pulled out my camera for a couple of quick pictures, and then eased past them slowly. About a mile up the road, I spotted a single turkey crossing the road into a downhill ravine. Pretty cool.
Towards the end of Tepusquet it emerges from the woodlands and opens onto a huge, green field that always makes me smile. I had PM'ed twowheelnut a while back, and he told me that Tepusquet was open over the river, which saves about a 10 minute detour. The Zumo displays your projected arrival time, and it would have been tough to make it to East Beach in time if the river crossing was closed.
Foxen Canyon was lovely, as always, and the 154 was fast. I pulled into the parking lot at 5:28, and saw the Vette sitting in a prime spot down by the sand. Carole was down by the water when I called her, and she had to schlep all the way back to open up the car so I could change into civvies.
We walked a little too far watching the sunset, but it was such a great day we didn't want to stop. Carole got a couple of great pictures as the sun fell behind some light clouds to the west.
They're renovating lower State Street, but we found a parking spot in the lot to the east, and enjoyed our dinner at Joe's Cafe. Carole had a small prime rib, I had roast beef and mashed potatoes, and we shared the spaghetti.
It was cold when we got back to the bike at the beach — I wish I'd brought my Widders. I bundled up as best I could with what I had with me. Carole left while I was getting suited up on an ultimately successful attempt to buy some shoes at the outlet mall in Camarillo. I was tired, but mostly enjoyed my drive home. The amplirider had static problems most of the way home, and my wrists were sore from recent excersing, and it was little cold. But all in all, it was a great 470 mile+ day of riding, and sunset on the beach with my girl.
