A lot needed to be done before hitting the road again. Like getting the bike, having it serviced and repairing the top-box. It all went like clockwork except there was an 'issue' with the bike's transmission which could not be fixed in time. We haven't been counting our lives, so we don't know whether this is the ninth or not.
We have now been joined by our neighbours from Blackheath who have rented a very similar, but newer and without transmission 'issues', bike to ride across America with us. So then there were two...
So our big American bike is back where it was made having been ridden in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, England, Spain, Morocco, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Monaco, Scotland, Kazakhstan, China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Or at least that's what the replacement stickers on the replacement top-box say.
Our plans for America were the least fixed of anywhere we have been. It is the last leg of our trip and it has always been so far ahead of us, but now we are here.
The plan never really evolved beyond going from the West Coast to the East and to get there before it got too cold. Jim, an American biker chum we rode through part of China with very kindly guided us in joining up the dots to make a plan.
So we started off in Los Angeles, well Venice Beach to be specific. Venice Beach, freak shows, Great Big Waves and really wide beach, swimming in the sea with pelicans, Sunday night communal beach drum-ins, beachside cafes with flies and the homeless sleeping on the beach. It's one of the craziest places in the world. Not everybody's cup of tea, but you need to experience it for a couple of days at least because it is just fascinating. It's also home to the sister motorbike cafe 'Deus' where we had lunch in Sydney. The food was nowhere near as good though.
Everyone knows Los Angeles sprawls and we were transportless till we had the bike. Public transport is hard to understand and almost inexistent.. Taxis are expensive. However Uber is rapidly creeping in town and it works incredibly well. It's the future.
One is obliged to do some tourists things in LA. We had time on our hands whilst waiting for the bike to be serviced and have a new front tyre - and be diagnosed with a suspected fatal disease - so we saw the Chinese Theatre with its foot and hand prints and decided that female film stars had to have tiny feet. We spotted the Hollywood sign but only from a distance as it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit. We walked some of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, only some because of the same temperature issue. The human washing machine that is the waves on Venice Beach became very attractive, even for those that can't swim. No crocodiles, sharks or box jellyfish here.
We visited the adjacent Santa Monica and dined on the Pier which claimed itself to be the end of Route 66. Doubtless there are many such claims.
At last en-route. We headed North on Route 1, the Pacific Highway past Malibu watching the surfers and then on to Cambria which was a jolly, quaint little seaside town with chipmunks and a very nice restaurant. This wasn't really Beach Boy territory, let alone California Girls. But there were a lot of strange tree trunks left on the beach.
Next day, big expectations! Hearst Castle was ridiculously over priced so we just used their facilities and free observation deck. Annoyingly the mist rolled in; we could only stare in the general direction of where we believed the castle to be. Onwards to an Elephant seal creche where they didn't seem to bother about the sea mist. And then one of the world's big motorcycle routes, the coast road North towards San Francisco through Big Sur. The combination of sea-mist and low cloud meant we didn't see much.
Never mind, by the time we closed in on San Francisco the sun came out and we decided that a Golden Gate Bridge photo opportunity beckoned. By the time we got there through rush hour and road works, the clouds had rolled in again. We did manage to see the Trolley buses though and dined in one of those less expensive American restaurants that serves all walks of life slices of roasted beef.
America is huge just like Australia. Australia we had little time and just had to reach our destination. So our American route can deviate a bit; for the moment you could call it, 'Not Route 66'. So the dot after Big Sur and San Francisco was Yosemite and after ridingbthrough Napa Valleystaying at one of those cute recreated Western towns, Mariposa, we rode on in and saw El Capitan. We spend the day travelling there via Napa Valley. Yosemite itself was magnificent and of a scale that was truly impressive.
Things are gigantic here. It's not just the helpings of food, so much waste too, but also the SUV's and pick-ups, though cheap petrol does help explain the latter two. Australia wins on truck size though.
The next dot is Death Valley. Let's hope that it is not an omen for the bike.
Paul & Francoise
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