Saturday, July 23, 2011

Day 1-The Journey Begins

After nearly two years in the making, The Canadian Caper has begun! Let me start off by saying that if today is any indication of how the rest of the trip is going to be, then I am in for the journey of a lifetime.
It all began this morning at 7am in San Diego. My dad and I left the house on our bikes, me on a 97 Harley Davidson Fatboy, and him on his 2008 Harley Davidson Road King. 10 minutes later we met up with the rest of the San Diego crew, Chochem and El Breker. As you may have guessed, these are there biker names. My dad's is Cedric, and I go by Woodstock. So, crew together we headed out to meet Chappy, our 5th and final rider, in Malibu. We hopped on the 5 north, made it through LA on the 405, skipped over to the 101 N, and coasted on into a little breakfast spot called The Old Place. Chappy's bike was parked outside and waiting for us. We were also joined by The Doc, Biggie, and D. It was a great breakfast, and a nice treat to have our guests along as well.
After stuffing our faces with fritatas, steak and eggs, and flapjacks the size of a small house, we got back on the bikes to continue our journey northward. All 5 of us now united and going strong, we continued up the 101 N. As per usual in LA, there was a tremendous amount of traffic. This made the next 60 or so miles somewhat unpleasant, but hey, it happens. Sometime after Santa Barbara we stopped in a little place called Buellton to get some coffee and stretch our legs. A short while later we were back on the road and a little after San Luis Obispo we cut west and got onto the 1N.
Cruising up the coast was absolutely incredible. The roads were beautiful, and the scenery was gorgeous as well. We stopped in a little town called Morro Bay to get a snack and drink something warm, as the ocean breeze put quite a chill in the air. Warmed and refreshed, we set out for the last 20 miles of today's journey to a town called Cambria where we where planning on spending the night. I say planning, because for this part of our journey we don't have any hotels booked. Well, as luck would have it, there were no vacancies available, so we decided to drive a little further and see what we could find. That "little further" ended up being another 100 MILES more! Yup, thats what I said, 100 miles more. Rather than our already long day of 350 miles to Cambria, we ended up doing a total of 465 miles and ended up in a place called King City, at the Keefer's Inn. I cant tell you just how excited all of us were at the fact that we finally found a place with rooms. If you have never ridden before, than it may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you, 200 miles on a bike is a pretty good days ride, and 465, well lets just say thats a whole different ball game.
As tradition would have it, me and the boys drank a toast to the Road Gods for keeping us safe today and safe tomorrow. Bodies and spirits refreshed with some drinks and a few pieces of delicious Biltong, a South African style of beef jerky, we headed across the parking lot to the only restaurant around, to get some dinner. That was an adventure all its own. There was only one waiter, and some sort of private party going on in the back, so service was not exactly quick. When dinner finally did arrive, we scarfed it down and fed our well worked bodies. It was good enough, although after more than 12 hours and 400 miles of travel, I'm sure we would have eaten just about anything. And that brings us to now. I've used up most of my remaining energy on this blog, so it's time for me to get some sleep and prepare for another day of incredible riding with the boys of the BBMC. For the next 4 days, we will be heading up the CA coast, up through Oregon, and into Washington where we will pick up our ladies who are flying in to meet us for the rest of the trip. Stay tuned, we are just getting started, and the best is yet to come. . .

2 comments:

  1. First entry and I'm already jealous. Ride safe, and have a great trip.
    -Drew.

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  2. The first thought that came into my head was how envious I am - enjoy and be safe! We'll be following your journey with great interest.

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