Free lunch

They say there's no free lunch. 

I have a lot to pay up for then; throughout this trip I had lunch paid for, my back tire paid for, a free night in a hotel room (floor camping!), a free campsite, a guy randomly gave me 60$, another free hotel room, dinner paid for.... 

Not sure what's next (in life, now that I'm home) but I've accumulated massive karma points (or spent them?) and I shall have to pay it forward!

PCH camping

I took a good long morning walk before checking out of my Venice Beach Hostel and heading to Deus Ex Machina for one final coffee and hitting the PCH north. 

I rode through Malibu, Santa Barbra, Lompoc, and San Luis Obispo without much fanfare. I stuck as close to the ocean as possible on the 101 (or 1, depending on where). I did have trouble paying for gas using a 50$ bill I had hidden in one of my "secret travel spots." I had no troubles using it down the road, despite the disgruntled and rather rude cashier who rejected my perfectly legal tender. 

Other than that one hiccup, I was starting to wonder why, exactly, all these people had told me this ride was beautiful. Sure there were hills, some ocean, beachy towns, but nothing particularly spectacular. Had I become numb to beauty? I'd seen so many things up to this point, both on this trip, and in previous ones. Maybe I should have taken highway 33 through the Lost Padres National Forest as recommended to me by another rider from DEM. 

I'm not sure exactly when the landscape changed. At some point I released a long-held breath; I'd hit curves again!  The ride up to Plaskett Creek (where I spent the night) was amazing! The sun was setting off the coast, and the road was a squiggly line set out before me. I pulled into a motel lot just off the highway to inquire about accommodation. 200$/night was the cheapest she could offer me! Thank-goddess I had my tent, as just up the road was a campground. It was full.

I pulled into the campground anyway. Denis, whom I initially mistook for the campground host, indicated that it was just him on his site, and that my bike would easily fit in next to his. I pitched my tent on the grassy area behind his campervan. 

The slightly slanted ground, coupled with my nylon sleeping bag and my slipperyish mat, meant I woke up the next morning culled in a ball by the tent door. Not the most comfortable wake up I've had.

Oh, and while I was packing up, I got harassed by this bluejay!

I packed up quickly ready to hit the road ASAP. One of the women at a nearby campsite was cleaning out her sleeping bag and getting her dog into the car to go to town for some medicine. Apparently her pooch was sick. Unfortunately, she didn't follow the "left loop only" road-sign arrows, and attempted a right turn out of her site, promptly hitting a massive boulder which clearly did not improve her morning. I helped her maneuver the car around the boulder which had relocated itself partially under her car and closer to the middle of the road. 

Denis woke up and made me coffee as he'd promised the night prior. We had a good chat before I hit to road on my way to SF!

Rode out through this in the morning!

Los Angeles

I reached the city at a decent hour (from Vegas) and checked in at my hostel in Venice Beach. My buddy from NZ, Andrew, came to pick me up and we headed to his friend's then Ubered to a German sausage house. The beer was great and the food good. I ubered home pretty early because I was exhausted.

Early to bed, early to rise! I got up as headed out to ride around the city. My first stop: Hollywood! It wasn't far from  my hostel by motorbike.

I rode my own motorbike though Hollywood. That was freaking cool.  Basically, when I get to a new city, my MO is to walk out the door of my hostel in the morning and keep walking until the sun goes down (usually stopping for food only after I've been hangry for over an hour) In LA, I got to do the same thing, but my ability to explore was expanded by being on my motorbike!

MY OWN BIKE ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD!!!

I did the drive, then quickly checked out the walk of fame (while parked in a loading zone). Then parked at the Hollywood bowl to get a picture of the sign and eat a snack. Then somehow managed to find the Conservatory via some back roads while I got to know my clutch really well at some hilly stop signs. I am good with directions but I doubt I'd ever be able to retrace that route!  Being on a motorbike certainly has it's perks because I got to cut the cue of cars and park right by the entrance to the upper park.

I met a fellow biker (on a sparkly yellow Harley) taking pictures of the sign from the conservatory; he's a photographer for Nco. We chatted for a few minutes, and he gave me a card and offered to ride with me going forth for a day or so as he has some time to kill. Unfortunately I never got in touch with him after this.

I headed into the conservatory to wander around (giant tesla coil! - Kent, I think you'd like this destination) a bit and grab some food (was definitely getting hangry at this point). I sat outside in view of the Hollywood sign while I ate my sandwich, and talked to my tablemate - a woman from Oklahoma who'd been in Europe working for the UN and was trying to decide on her next move.  I took a nap on the front lawn after lunch.

I headed back to the hostel after a long day of riding around. I hit rush-hour, but fortunately, California's riding the line rules meant that I could cut through all that traffic! I would go crazy in a car, but on my bike I could keep moving even when all the cars were stopped. I did have to pull into a lane to let some other bikers pass - clearly I wasn't going fast enough over the white lines for them!

Dinner back at the hostel consisted of one of my "free-bin" concoctions - I attempted curry, but couldn't find curry powder in the local grocer near-by. I bought coconut milk and veggies, and managed to find cumin powder in the free bin!  Dinner wasn't great.

Deus Ex Machina

The next morning I went to check out Deus Ex Machina as recommended to me by the Tamales. The place looked closed from the front, but they have a lovely patio in the back, great coffee and good snacks. I met a German couple who's first stop this was (at the guy's insistence!).

After coffee, I rode up to the Getty Museum. Once again, being on a motorbike kicks a$$. The guard instructed me to ride around the gate arm and park right by the entrance! I decided to do the "hike" on the way up and take the tram back down. Silly Laura. 'Twas not a hike, twas a walk up next to the road. oh well. It made for good exercise that morning - my calves were killing me by the top. I thought I made it just in time for the Architecture tour; however, the guide didn't show up, so we waited ages for them to find a replacement. This set me back a bunch of time, so I didn't make it back  to see Henrik off. I also didn't budget for the amount of time it took for me to wander through the photography exhibits and then through the beautiful gardens.

Requisite Architectural photo illustrating the facade.

The whole museum is covered in and Italian white stone that adapts to different structures depending on their use. Each building is uniquely designed for its purpose (gallery, research, cafeteria etc.) and yet they are all tied together by their stone facades. I can only imagine how hot the walkways would be in the dead of summer - sunburn from underneath anyone?

I got back to the hostel in time to meet up with Yannick for dinner. We walked down Venice Beach till we hit a Swis/German restaurant. After good food and better beer, we continued down to the Santa Monica Pier. It was like a mini-stampede midway, with a beautiful view of the beach in the setting sun. We walked into Santa Monica to get hot chocolate (it was chilly!) and catch the bus back to our hostel.

I still love to climb things! There's all sorts of cool gym equipment on the beach.

I missed Yannick in the morning by just a hair, grabbed my free breakfast and headed to Deus Ex Machina for coffee again (and to browse the store that had been closed the previous day) before hitting the PCH north!

Beginning of my PCH journey!

Home

Yup, I'm home now.  As usual, I've overrun my blog (like over running your headlights). I get distracted by the beauty of where I am or, as was the main case here, I  crash after a day of exploring or riding. I will fill in the blanks of how I got home, but it's going to take a little time. The big perk though is I will hopefully now be able to add photos!

-LJ

Road to Zion

We were up early tearing down the tents and the guys made pancakes for breaky. I stopped in tropic for gas and coffee as usual while the guys booked it for Zion to meet a friend at 10. I took my time, probably a little too much, before continuing on after them.

I reached the park gates at 9h57. Then there's a 12 mile drive to the visitors centre, beautiful drive! But I was focused on the time. Worried I'd be holding them up. I messaged Albraa as I arrived the panned meeting place only to find out they couldn't get parking, so they'd gone into Springdale (nearest town) to park and shuttle from there. I got priority motorcycle parking! No shuttle for me. I snacked, checked out the gift shops and refilled my water while I waited.

With the guys and their friend we grabbed a shuttle to the Grotto to begin out chosen hike up to Angel's landing. All the while wary of the dark cloud that had been following us since Bryce.

The hike is 5 miles (8 km) and 1488ft (454m) elevation gain. The last third of the trail is along a ridge with full drops on either side and chains so one has something to hold onto. Twas challenging! And we were being chased by that cloud, but it was still sunny, though quite windy, when we finally made it to the top.  Going down was more fun as I treated the chains like a repelling line,; holding on and bouncing my way down.

As we made our way down, I joked that someone in our group has a horseshoe up their bum given the luck we'd had with the weather (sunny for rafting despite snow the previous day, no rain on us in Bryce). We did a second hike up to Emerald lakes, before heading back to our respective vehicles and going in search of dinner.

We stopped at a very random roadside stop with a petting zoo and some sort of exhibit. There was a gift shop that reminded me of the scene from Zombieland where they destroy one. Our meals were massive and the bread addictive! I had ribs. Much needed protein after that hike!

The trick with Utah is that this restaurant only served food, no alcohol. The Tamales had complained about this, but I hadn't encountered it. The guys wanted to grab a final beer with their buddy, so off to find a bar we went. Thanks Google for directing us towards whatever the palace we eneded up at could be. It was an Eagles club; kinda the place you night expect to be a motorcycle gang's clubhouse. They welcomed us in, signed us each up with a membership so we could stay and buy beer. They had pool and, much to Henriks excitement, shuffleboard! One of the older fellows had to explain him the rules.

Our hotel down the road in Saint George was...  Well Albraa put a hole in the wall with the door. Enough said.

Las Vegas

It's been over a week since the guys flew home /away, and I'm still updating you guys on what happened in Vegas! Nothing we had to leave there, except some cash!

The ride from St George to Las Vegas was brutal. The wind though the desert was awful. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate wind? Alot. I dislike it very much. Sometimes I wonder why I chose a sport that exposed me to wind. Constantly. The interstate highways always exacerbate this.

I broke off the interstate west of Vegas to ride though the Valley of Fire state Park. I would have like to try some hiking there to break up the ride but the guys were already waiting for me. I got into Vegas after them, and planned to stop by the motorcycle shop that had my new rear tire (the Tamales had convinced me I needed one, as if Mike's advice wasn't enough). The thing about being on a bike though is that directions are hard. I'm good with directions and I can usually memorise my route well enough but in the heat and with my data failed, i panicked and headed towards where the guys where at (an outlet mall!). In the end I was only about a block from the shop when I turned around. Patience is a virtue I'm still learning.

In the end, I wound up costing the guys about an 1.5 hours while I dropped my bike off for service. For this I felt guilty, so I bought a round of drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe on the strip.

We spent our first night at the Tropicana and wandered the south strip after attending a comedy club, and our second night at Bally's where we wandered the northern end. Both nights I gambled about 10$. Didn't win anything. Didn't break even. Oh well, there's my contribution to the Vegas economy. Like it needs it.

Our first day, the one at the Tropicana, we spent time at the pool chilling (aka burning) in the morning then drove to check out the Hoover dam.

The next morning the guys left early for LA. I took an uber to the shop to pick up my bike with its NEW TIRE!!!! That took absolutely no getting used to. I understand now what the guys at cycle city meant when they said my old one was planed and would ride funny. So much better! This is was corners are supposed to feel like!

I hit Macdonald's on my way out of town. The interstate between Vegas and LA was as bad as into las vegas, I had to pull over to recover from the wind. I stopped at a gas station where they were calling  numbers for shower slots. I ate something from the hot foods kiosk; not sure what but it was yummy!   I reached LA at rush hour, but the traffic, surprisingly, didn't phase me. (see next post....)

Bryce

My first Bryce post was epic; too bad you'll never read it. My tablet shut itself off before I could save. Oh well, you get this version!

I left the fancy Bryce hotel and headed vw k the way I'd come in search of breakfast and coffee. In Tropic, there was a great place at the bryce canyon Inn. From there I headed back down the highway and randomly turned towards Kodachrome Basin State Park. I started the day with  short hike off a gravel road (I'm getting better at these!) then headed dealer into the park fora longer one. This was a mistake.

The loop hike I did through the Basin was probably one of the most boring hikes of my life. At one point, I dropped all my gear so I could jog to check out the final cave to try to make the hike end quicker. I don't know if it was the heat, the scenery or my mood, but it was a slog the whole way through. Getting back to the parking lot was a huge relief.

Back in Tropic I grabbed lunch (an epic steak taco salad!) then drove back towards the Bryce, stopping for a hike at Mossy Cave. I made a bit of my own  trail here,qnd enjoyed dunking my feet in the cool water of the falls. By the end of the hike I'd finally heard from Albraa.  They were at the KOA and headed for Bryce. I agreed to meet them there, but as I was getting back on my bike, they drove by! So we played follow the leader into the park, and walked from sunset point to bryce point.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast in town so we could do a quick 4 hour hike before the rain that was predicted to start at noon. There was a big black ominous cloud, but the rain  never hit us. It did hit our campsite, but everything stayed dry in our tents. We just chilled out around the campground for the afternoon while the guys did laundry.

The next morning we packed up quickly and headed out to Zion!