Cambria to San Francisco

The ride from Cambria to San Francisco took us past the Hurst Castle, we passed on tour and settled for a picture of the sign. Most of the day we rode directly a along the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway which is carved into the side of the cliffs. At times we would be at sea level, others we would climb hundreds of feet above with nothing to our left but a steep vertical drop to the ocean. Early in the day we made frequent stops at to take in the views, at one point finding dozens of Elephant Seals lying on the sand. On Friday we passed a number of bikers on I 15, probably heading toward Sturgis… today we were joined by many more, as well as many in cars and motor homes.

You may have heard that California is warm, but I doubt that anything north of LA along the coast could ever be confused with sunny Florida. We started in leather and we didn't take them off for breakfast or even our peanut butter sandwich that we ate while sitting on a log along the side of the road. The ride was breathtaking … not only the views but the sensation of riding along these cliffs and turns with no guard rail to break our fall. We came across the remains of a few small rock slides, and one point where the paved road ended for just a few yards. The day may have been best summed up when, as we rounded one of the many sweeping curves revealing the Pacific hundreds of feet below, Debbie said… ‘Oh God how beautiful… enjoy it because we may never take this ride again’ I think that the COLD is the biggest drawback for her, but then I could be wrong. Since I have been sitting hear writing she has made 3 phone calls with the cold being the focus of the conversation.

We rode through towns like Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey and Half Moon Bay. As the day wore on fog began to move in and we began to wonder of we would get rain before we reached the hotel.
San Francisco does have its hills and we were faced with roads that seemed nearly straight up and down as we rode through town. After checking into the hotel I talked Debbie into one more short ride to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner, where she also picked up a fleece jacket to help keep her warm as we ride farther North in the next few days.