New Sticker Tour

Stage 4, Day 6--Morro Bay to San Francisco, CA

     I met these two gentlemen (both of them locals) at Morro Bay Coffee Co. while I was eating breakfast. It was great talking to the both of them. The one with the cap is an avid rider. He told me about his stories traveling Alaska on his bike. He gave me some great advice; we will be traveling to Alaska in Summer of 2016, so we need all the advice we can get. He mentioned how in the summer there are huge mosquitos and he also warned us about the wildlife. Apparently, some bears and elk just like to sit on the warm tarmac and won't move for bikes or other vehicles. But his best advice was on how to get to Alaska. He recommended that we take a ferry, that departs close to Seattle and then travel all the way to Anchorage on the ferry (this is a 4 day ferry ride, not for the faint of heart). Then ride our bikes south and back down to the United States (this ride is still very long, about 2,700 miles).

    

I love the view early in the morning of the California hills. The coffee shop was located next to a roundabout, a rare sighting in the USA.

Here are the bikes outside the coffee shop. Jorge is getting ready to go.

It was a beautiful morning and we had a long day ahead of us. As you can see, the sky was overcast and there was some drizzle. A couple of hours north of Morro Bay on Highway 1, we stopped to see the "elephant seals" that were lying on the beach next to the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a spectacular sighting. Seeing these mammals in there natural habit was the first for me. There were hundreds of them on the beach. There was no real barrier that prevented anyone from going down to pet them, but nobody dared tried. The noises they made were unbelievable. The noises were loud and strange, somewhat of screeching sounds. It also seemed like they were talking to each other.

This picture of me is one of my favorites; with the seals and yellow flowers in the background.

We continued our journey on magnificent Pacific Coast Highway. They say this is one of the best roads in all USA, perhaps in the world. I believe them. The views are spectacular. These pictures of our helmets are pretty cool. We're going to take one during each trip.

Here's Jorge on a quick stop to replace the batteries on our GoPro cameras.

We stopped at this restaurant that had some breathtaking views (and some good food as well). As you can see the weather had cleared up and the sky was blue and the road was dry with lots of grip. It made for some fantastic riding. 

This is the last picture I took during the trip, right after we passed the Golden Gate Bridge (the goal line, indicating that Stage 4 was complete). Overall, the California coast is everything it's hyped up to be and then some. We rode some of the best roads and saw some of the best scenery out there. We can't wait to go back and see what northern California, Oregon, and Washington have to offer.

Stage 4, Day 5--Santa Barbara, CA to Morro Bay, CA

Okay, so we woke up and left Santa Barbara around 10:30am. We stopped at Old Mission Santa Barbara and took some pictures, the place is beautiful and well maintained. From there, we headed east and up the hills on Gibraltar Rd. We stopped and took some pictures of beautiful Santa Barbara. The view was spectacular! See bottom and top pictures. I couldn't believe how unbelievably beautiful Santa Barbara was looking at it from the hills. You could see the ocean and the beautiful homes nestled in the hills. It was only 11am and I could tell we were about to have an amazing day!

We continued on until we reached E. Camino Cielo road. This road was nothing short of spectacular!!! Below is a picture taken from this road. You can see the small towns next to the Pacific and the islands far in the distance.

Camino is a winding road that heads north on the ridge of the hills, making for some incredible motorcycle riding and spectacular views. 

Above is another picture on E. Camino Cielo Rd., Fernando is heading north and just having a blast on the KLR.  After more than an hour's worth of memorable motorcycle riding, the road finally ended.

However, we continued on WEST Camino Cielo Rd., which turned into a gravel road. The road became difficult, with very steep grades and rocky surfaces. Eventually, a couple of us dropped our bikes. See picture above. We talked to a local, who just happened to be passing by, and he said the road would last another two hours. We decided to cut our loses and head back and get on an alternate road.  

 About an hour after leaving West Camino Cielo Rd., Jorge's rear tire got a flat. This is quite dangerous, but Jorge had some prior experience with flat tires so he quickly pulled over.

We put some air on the tire and headed to the nearest gas station. As you can see in the picture we took over the gas station, like a bunch of thugs :)

We finally made it to Morro Bay, before it got dark. Here's a picture of us in front of Morro Rock, a 581-foot volcanic rock that is the symbol for Morro Bay, CA.

Stage 4, Day 4--San Bernadino, CA to Santa Barbara, CA

Ok, here are some pics from our trip last March; sorry I hadn't posted these earlier.
The picture above is one of my favorites from the trip. Nothings says Californian more than the "Hollywood" sign. So many people were on that street, looking to take pictures in front of the sign. You can tell that people that live in the neighborhood are frustrated with all these "tourists" obstructing traffic to take pictures, I don't blame them.    

This second picture is right out side The Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills. We were expecting a hero's welcome when we got there, but much to our surprise nobody was waiting for us. :)

Here we are at the iconic Santa Monica Pier. Since we had left Texas last year, we were always heading west, but this was the furthers west we could go for now. 

Stage 5, Part B

Ok, here's the second part of Stage 5. We leave Golden Beach, OR and head north on the Oregon side of the Pacific Coast Highway. We will pass by Cape Blanco Lighhouse, Coos Bay, and Dunes City. They say this section of the PCH is one of the best. We keep heading north until we reach Oretown, and then start heading inland towards Portland. Once we reach Portland, we head east on the Historic Columbia River Highway--they say this road is amazing. We then cross the Columbia river and head north at Carson. This next section will be challenging, since we will be covering lots of gravel roads. Some of our riders are still not too comfortable with gravel roads, so we'll have to be careful. Next, we pass in between Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams (this section should have some of the best scenery of the trip).
We'll head north towards Packwood and then reach the skirts of Mt. Rainier, one of the iconic places of the amazing Northwest.  After that, it's pretty much a strait shot to Seattle, where we will conclude the trip.

I can't wait for this amazing adventure. Only 5 weeks to go... 

Stage 5, Section 1 (Starts Aug. 10th, 2015)

If you were wondering what our next adventure was going to be, here's the TomTom Map of the route I created for Stage 5, section 1. I've split Stage 5 into two sections, A and B. On this map you see the first part of the trip. We will be leaving San Francisco on August 10th and will conclude the stage in Seattle on August 17th; I can't wait!!!
If you look at the map we will leave San Francisco and head to one of this country's best national parks; Yellowstone National Park. We will spend the night there and then head towards Lake Tahoe. From the Lake Tahoe area we will head west, on some incredible road, towards Auburn. Once we reach Auburn, we will head to Sacramento and then head north to Red Bluff. After that, we will head northwest until we reach the Pacific Coast Highway on the Oregon side.
If you know of any good places I could visit please make a comment on this blog post.