Central Coast '10 -
Day 2
101 clear?
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Total: 238 miles
Est. time: 8:30 hours
[ Sunday - May 2,
2010 ]
I don't know what time I got up. All I know is it's bright and
there is a lot of talking. 8:30 maybe?
Well? Do we cook or do we go out to eat? Bryan was
concerned about the inconvenience of cooking, but it's tradition for
me. Not only that, for some odd reason, food seems to taste way
better at a campsite. Maybe it's just me but I know what I like,
despite appearances of inconvenience. I asked the Captain to
assist Nu in getting food, but it's not his cup of tea to grocery
shop. I had forgotten he doesn't do that stuff. No
problem! I quickly boiled water for coffee and then took off to
help Nu at the local market. Eggs, sausage, bread, hash browns,
orange juice, and two gallons of water. When we both got back, I
setup the second camp stove and went to town cooking food. Ho
ho! The Sgt got SPAM! Not only regular SPAM but Spicy
SPAM! Oh yeah baby! We're going to rock this
campsite! 
Spicy SPAM creams the hell out of regular SPAM.
Something is missing from this picture... eggs!!!
Oh yeah!!! Chowin' it down!
Caramelization in action!
The breakfast club.
Damn! The first set of eggs are toast! They're broken and
screwed up. It always has to happen like this before things are
peachy. I guess screwing up has to happen before perfection will
manifest itself. The Sgt ate it anyway, but wanted seconds to
make up for
the screw up. Man this stuff is damned fine! The
stoves (MSR Whisperlite) are freakin' hot. I can't seem to get
the flame settings right, but I don't think any of us really cared that
our spam is a little burnt. Oh! Make that caramelized. 
I even made and brought my own SuperChunks spices. It was
originally for the burgers we were suppose to have last night, but I
didn't get a chance to use it because we decided to eat out
instead. Heck, the concoction will work on anything. I use
it
at home on eggs, fish, toast, steaks, burgers, and all manner of
edibles. Come to think of it, it will work on granny apples too,
but that's another story for another time. Some of the guys
eventually mustered the courage to
brave my spices. Oooo yeah!! Quite the kick. I had
mistakenly put in regular paprika instead of sweet paprika. In
other words... spicy! But it's damn fine. It puts hair on
your chest. I'll make a new, less flamin' batch, and bring it on
the next trip. Nothing like a little mistake to make life zesty.
Rodents of the coast.
I have to hand it to them. They're bold.
Look! Some of the rodents managed to carry the Captain's coat up
the tree.
It's almost noon when the rubber starts spinning. Just as
promised, Hwy 1 is beautiful.
Fuel once again. This is when the GPS gets stupid. Even a
brand new FOOB (fresh out of box) BMW Nav IV. I can only surmise
the GPS thinks we can't perform a U-turn. We make this long way
round loop that could have been accomplished within less time and
distance by a simple U-turn. It goes to show that following the
GPS literally can sometimes create grief. Zen driving is the
answer.
The location where we could have made the U-turn.
Funny thing through all this. While we're on our way back to Hwy
1, we stop at an intersection. What do I see on the street
sign? The name of the street is Halcyon. What is blaring
through my speaker? "Halcyon, on, on, on ..." from Orbital.
If it's not a case of synchronicity, I don't know what else to call
it. Talk about the right time and the right tune.
As we making our way south on the 101, I get this odd sensation on my
neck. Is the high collar of my Rally 2 Pro irritating me from
wearing
the suit for too long? That's odd. I don't recall ever
having a problem with the suit before.
Santa Maria to Santa Barbara was no distance at 65 MPH. It was
decided earlier that Santa Barbara is the late lunch destination.
Once we pull off Hwy 154 onto the foothill roads, I pull over to start
restaurant searching. Next thing I know, the Captain is next to
me saying his Starbucks sensors are on high alert. "Alright, lead
on," I
said. Next thing I know the gang explodes in a barrage of radio
comments. Something to the effect, "Does he know where he's
going?" The debate rages on as we swerve from residential to
residential street. He's not lost. He is just lost.
Too bad he can't hear us because I think he would have crashed from
laughter. "I know where we are!" I exclaimed in my helmet.
We emerge on the main stretch of SB. The Captain darts
for Starbucks like a leper spotting some loose alms on the
ground. The rest of
us ditch the Captain for a Carl's Jr. lunch.
[ Thursday - June
3, 2010 ] - Stupid computer (Windoze) crashed! What a
waste of time putting everything back together again. Oh well,
back to the story at hand.
During the course of the late lunch. Speedy, Sgt, and Bryan
decided they were so close to home that they're just going to take the
101 and skip the rest of the ride. I have my doubts and expressed
my concern that the 101 is normally terrible on the latter part of any
Sunday. Can the 101 be clear at this time? A look at their
Google traffic via their iPhones shows that the 101 is clear.
OK. I guess it is clear. We'll take the gamble. 101
home it is.
We get on the 101 south. OK. It looks good so far.
Perhaps Google traffic was right. Oh man, bad thought. It's
plugging up. Stop and go. This is exactly what I was afraid
of. Speedy and Sgt started splitting. I can't do that to
poor Johnny. He's unfamiliar with the freeway notion and I'm
going to force him to split? That's not cool. I radio to
Speedy, Sgt, and Bryan that they can go ahead and split. I'll go
ahead and stay behind and take care of Johnny. In the end, only
Speedy and Sgt split ahead. The rest of us stayed behind as a
pack. Yet again, I wish I had the GS. The 12R is good, but
it doesn't do so well in traffic. It's easy for the bike to
overheat in this conditions. The temp sensor is climbing.
If it gets to the third notch, I'm existing the freeway. Sure
enough, overheating goal achieved. I'm off the freeway and so is
the rest of the group. Alright, it's a slight detour, but we're
back on our originally intended route.
I haven't been in this direction around Lake Casitas, but it's
spectacular. Yes this is a longer route, but it's well worth the
extra time. Eventually we take the 33, 101, 126, and reach
Moorpark to take the 118, 210 home. This is the last fuel
stop. It's also the last chance we have to say farewell up
close. Hand shakes are passed all around. 56 miles
left. 76 miles for Johnny. As with every trip, the last leg
home is always a mad dash because of metropolis drivers. We're
all home safe. It was a wonderful short trip. Now the
question is begged... "When and what is next?"
[ Monday - May 3,
2010 ]
An email from Bryan reveals that the odd sensation felt around the neck
on the way home from Morro Bay was actually the neck being sun
burned. I was right in that it is not the suit. Sun
burned? What the heck?
Pre -planning
Day 1 - Wasn't that the SUV?...
Written on: May 11, 2010
Last modified: June 4, 2010
