Sir Richard Called... and the Clans Gathered

[Tyler]

All my photos here.

I met up with Doug (Bugnatr) & his lovely bride, Gayle, in Santa Cruz and then we added two more in Carmel, George(escapefjrtist) and Steve (007). Neither Gayle nor Steve had ever been down the PCH so I played tour guide and showed them a few of my favorite little spots along the way.

Bixby Bridge...

Weather was pleasantly cool and the fog broke once we got past Bixby Bridge... the ocean was an amazing blend of teal and blue...

In case anyone is wondering if I ever take a bad shot... yes, yes I do (thats Doug down in the right hand corner... lol)...

McVey Falls @ Julia Pfeiffer State Park, about 10 miles south of Big Sur... if you know where to look, you can see the falls from the road...

Moto tourista...

The bridge is still under construction after last year's enormous landslide that closed Hwy 1 for many weeks/months...

Ragged Point...

As George and I wandered about, a lady sitting outside pointed me in the direction of this guy doing his thing in the beautifully landscaped gardens...

The elephant seals near Hearst Castle... very odiferous crowd there!

A couple of bulls going at it... or singing opera... one of the two... you pick...

The Rock at Morro Bay...

Can't take this guy anywhere... well, you can but...

 

[Tyler]

Arrived at the hotel and the kicking back and relaxing had already begun...

The Peace Man, Russ (russperry)...

MadMike2...

Not MadMike2... Jill (silverpenguin) can tame the savage beast...

Fun with pillow markers... no, really!!

Dinner at The Nugget across the street...

Doug & Gayle's son, Tom, came up from El Ay to visit with them and was really enjoying himself...

Ugh!

Sign in the ladies room... wondered if this one was in honor of the upcoming Mother's Day...

George being entertained with a tall tale or two...

Simon (fjrbluesman) wasn't buying it...

Meanwhile back at the hotel... beam him up, Scotty!

Fire pit time...

Which of course involves adult libation time...

The host with the most, Sir Richard (fairlaner)...

Don (dcarver)...

 

[Tyler]

10pm closes down the bar and the firepit goes off so we all meandered to our rooms for some shut eye in anticipation for the next day's ride... the day dawned with sunny skies and cool breezy temps... lots of activity in the parking lot readying for the day's jaunt...

Richard's safety talk: "If you can't keep up, don't try."

On your mark...

Get set...

Gooooooooooooooo!!!

First treat of the day, San Marcos Rd... no pics, just riding although I did go back later to ride it again and get some pics later that afternoon)... scooted along 154...

Herding the cats at Foxen Canyon...

Roses lined the roadside along one of the wineries... the smell was lovely...

The sweet smell of freshly mowed hay...

Splendor in the vines...

Jill & Andy...

Sam (nightshine) does his "oh deer!" impression...

Ray (FJRay) with his prom queen, Patty, on their prom queen Wing follwed by Joe (Joe) on Tepusquet Rd....

Some views along the way...

Not sure who that is down there...

When we got to 166, it was 93 degrees already so some of us decided to turn left and seek cooler temps while the bulk of the group turned right to do the full loop in the building heat... brave souls? That's one way to define them...

 

[Tyler]

Ray, Patti, Joe, Jill, Andy, and I headed west for the coast... first along the delightful Harris Ranch Rd...

And then out the goatesque road to Jalama Beach...

Even though it was a horrible day at the beach, we were still glad we ventured west...

Especially the boys...

Jill and Andy on the way back out...

Ray thought I would stop here to take a photo of this fantastic barn... he was right...

That's where I got buzzed...

Decent roadside flora...

Had enjoyed San Marcos Rd. so much earlier in the day, I decided to go back and enjoy it again and take a few photos too... some pretty nifty off-camber, uphill, 5mph turns...

Decent views...

Decent twists and turns...

 

[dj bill]

bueno !

 

[Tyler]

And then back to the hotel for more fun and frolicking...

Joe and his son, Nick... nice to see them bonding on bikes for the weekend...

Daniel (sin_loki) showing Nick, um,well, I'm not really sure what...

There had been some interesting activity going on toward the back of the complex in one of the upstairs hotel rooms... a ton of young, Korean kids going in and out of the room, cameras, lights, obviously filming something... Don's explanation? Asian porn...

The sassy and brassy Ms. Valerie decided to take matters into her own hands and find out what was going on...

Turns out they are shooting a Korean version of the movie "Sideways"... riiiiiight!

Back to The Nugget where we saw some new faces in the crowd...

Sam had his hair done special just for us...

Seemed there were several birthdays to celebrate this weekend...

Back to the firepit... wish someone was videotaping this motley crew when the film crew from upstairs had moved into the outside bar area and asked everyone to be quiet when the director said "ACTION!!"... most complied... although there was a renegade or two who just couldn't help themselves...

 

[MEM]

Tyler!! these photos are cra-zeeee!!

Thank you !

 

[Tyler]

Shutdown once again by the unique personality that was our bartender, we shuffled off to buffalo as folks readied themselves for the journey home... for some it would be a short jaunt, longer for others... the Bugnatr's and I headed out at 8am, enjoyed 154 again in the early morning coolness and Doug agreed to one more photo opp at Cachuma Lake before slabbing up 101...

We gassed up in San Luis Obispo and said our last goodbyes before parting ways... they out 58, 229, and 41 before slabbing it up 5 back to Grass Valley... I, on the other hand, again decided to avoid the inland heat and hugged the coast back up Hwy 1... just outside of Cambria there was a flurry of activity with cars pulling over to the shoulder, folks getting out to look at something unusual, so I did too... and this is what I saw... right there on the side of the road...

Wait... whut??? Are those what I think they are??

Yup... zebras doing a cattle impression... seems Mr. William Randolph Hearst had acquired a few of them on his property many years ago and they flourished...

I didn't think I'd stop for many pictures since I'd just been down the coast so it couldn't be much different, right? Everything looks different when you go a different direction...

Nuts? Why yes... yes I am...

Pacific Valley...

The fog bank - nature's air conditioning - kept things at a lovely, cool 68 degrees the whole way up...

And then I put the camera away because the road gods had smiled upon me and managed to find me in the middle of whole lot of nothing traffic-wise... I wasn't gonna take that for granted so enjoyed my personal romp past Big Sur before coming to the end of the string of cars making their way home as well... Hwy 17 was jam packed but luckily I know a few ways around that which I took advantage of and was home by a little after 4pm... not bad for 300+ miles... and it was good.

Many many thanks again to Sir Richard for putting all the details in place so we could enjoy a fantastic weekend of roads, friends, and lots of laughter... can't wait to do it again soon!!

FIN

 

[kaitsdad]

Ty, Thanks for the pics and the ride reports. Miss ya'all !!!

Maybe next year.

And who in the hell painted stripes on those horses?

 

[rogdeb]

Bravo Ty !!! Great pics

 

[wheatonFJR]

bueno !

Double-bueno!

Whatever bueno means...

Looked like it was a great time...thanks for the photos and commentary.

Looks like Richard did a great job!

 

[MCML]

Molto, molto bene!

Mille grazie, Tyler.

 

[Joe]

Great photos. Thanks for the great write up.

Had a great time with all the folks.

 

[Panman]

Thanks for taking me along, I know I missed out on a good time!

 

[Auburn]

Great story Tyler!

 

[Bugnatr]

Very nice report Tyler, almost felt as if I was there.

Gayle and I enjoyed ever minute of our trip down the PCH with you as our tour guide. Really enjoyed how you threw the SUV to the CHP shark, he took the bait and we were gone!

 

[Fairlaner]

Great Pictures Tyler, as always.

R

 

[Hudson]

One of your best RR's, Tyler. Thanks for taking us along, and really loving your mad photography skilz.

 

[exskibum]

If your narrative wasn't so circumcised, I'd have thought that was a spelling error in the title, Tyler.

Nice pics, as usual, though.