San Francisco and meeting Julia

Sunday 22
Today we rode along part of california State highway 35. It runs along a ridgeline giving vies into the valley and out to sea. We rode past a place called Alice's Restaurant, a favourite stop for motorcyclists.  I'm disappointed I didn't stop for a photo.
If you have the time check out the 1967 song of the same name on by Arlo Guthrie on youtube. I don't think it has anything to do with this restaurant.
From there we went into San Francisco and rode on the hop on hop off bus. It took us across the Golden Gate Bridge and around the sites of San Fran central. The tour was meant to be 2 hours but took us more than 4.
 The Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz Island

A clear day to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once out of the rush hour traffic we got onto the Bay Bridge, that was a cool ride. Overall today was cooler, we didn't need our cooling cloths at all! It is impersive how quickly the weather/temperatures chang as we go along. Out towards Sacramento to Julia's, where she welcomed us like royalty an fed us an amazing salmon dinner.

San Jose

Today was a rest day. Checking out route ideas, doing the launry and a splash in the pool.
Dinner was buffalo steak that came to us rare and we cooked it on a 700 degree volcanic rock. The rock is put in an 800 degree oven for 8 hours before being put on our plate.

We then headed for home but due to a muck up I made with uber we ended up back where we had our meal last night, stopped there for a quick drink, then put the correct address in.
The area that we are in (Silicon Valley) appears to be all new. The buildings are all 10 years old or younger, the hotel we are in is new and the neighbouring building is still under construction.

Big Sur

Today before we left Cayucos and cruised up the Pacific Coast Highway, we tried to book San Francisco, Alcatraz was already booked out and all the accommodation was expensive. I left my wife to book a room as I had a shower, she booked us into the Hilton!  And not for one night but two.
Our first stop was at the Hearst Castle but we didn't have 2 hours to spare to take a tour so we just had a quick look around the  museum.
We rode through the area where the big landslide wiped out the road and a bridge. The road has been closed for over a year and only opened again on Wednesday, great timing.
Around Carmel the temperature dropped to a point where another layer was required, half an hour later the cold turned to hot and the hot air blowing up my trouser leg felt like it was burning like sunburn. I had been warned about that and told to tuck my trow into my boots, see! I do listen. However by boots aren't long enough.
Riding on the freeways and interstates can be quite intimidating, your crushing along at 80 mph and cars are passing like you are standing still.
We are camped the night and tomorrow at San Jose. Try to catch up on some sleep.

Day one of the ride.

We are finally on the road and so happy to be away from the hugevtraffic of LA. We called in at Santa Monica, it is the end of route 66.

We just have to ride some more of it. The GPS played up again today, it was on then it was't so we used the phone again. We noticed it was on later but it went off when I turned the key on. Weird!
Solvang was another spot we visited, it looked to be a German, Swiss or Dutch town with cool houses and windmills.

Further along the road we visited the former owner of the Goldwing, Ron and his good lady Sharleen. He solved my query about the wiring, the plug I wired into was for his trickle charger and it had a relay to stop the bike from starting when connected to the charger.
Grover insisted i take him to the beach, so i did.

At our stop for the night, just past Morro Bay I re-wired the plug so that it worked however although we had power to the cigaret lighter socket the Garmin still didn't go. It seems the charger is faulty or has a blown fuse in it, I will have to get another charger for it. Back to the phone tomorrow but this time mounted with power,

Disneyland

Today we took our excess luggage to the home of Mr Keith R Ball, he showed us around his house and workshop. Wow what an amazing place, it was out of this world. He is a very interesting guy with lots of cool biker art.
We went to the original Disneyland, the one we grew up with. Micky Duck was there but we didn't see Donald Mouse,

 Third sign pretty much sums up my navigating by GPS.

Vicki was driving to see Goofy

Whilst finding our way back to the road we found a Lego shop, now we have more excess luggage. The displays there are so cool.

The plan is for an early night ready to start our journey.

Yay

Today, Tuesday, we picked up the bike.

 We installed the new battery, played wit a few buttons and we were away. The GPS worked well till it ran out of battery power on the interstate. The Goldwing doesn't have a cigarette lighter, which surprised me. We hooked my phone to my helmet by Bluetooth. This worked ok till we got into busy traffic and the noise drowned out the instructions. We went round and round in circles for ages but found the wallmart in the end. A nice pizza and beer at the pool was followed by our first swim. Before bed I had to wire in a cigarette lighter to stop some of the insanity.

Don't ask!

Early start on Monday to change ownership and register the bike. Got to the DMV to find I needed an appointment, without which I would wait 6 hours. An appointment might take weeks. A quick call and I was on my way to the A.A.A. where I could get it done quick, after they emptied my wallet the bike was sorted. Transport without an independant vehicle either sucks time, money or both. Another hunt for bike gear for Vicki, then thought best to pick up the bike.
On the way to Compton to pick up the bike, the Uber driver asked what what we were doing there. He said it was an unsafe place for whites, and told us how they had to close the hospital because too many people were dying there. It was cheaper to close it than to pay everyone who was suing them.
Another hurdle. The battery was dead, not dead flat, but dead. Shot away with the mechanic and bought another. Cool I thought. But the acid needed to rest for an hour before charging and there would not be sufficient time to give a decent charge.
So fingers are crossed for tomorrow that we get to ride it home even though Vicki has no riding pants yet.
After tea, a nice romantic evening was spent at the launderete wih with a beer whilst Vicki rested her sore feet. On a good note, I did manage to strike free wash Monday at the laundret. And the lady there was very helpful including giving me instructions on how to operate the machine and supplying me some free washing liquid.

I now need some spare time to sort out my sd cards so that my pictures can transfer to the tablet. I'll leave that for another day.

I received a call from Mr Prior, his bike arrived undamaged, he and Annette are  away on their ride in the morning. We will catch up with them in Deadwood.