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Springtime on the Pacific Coast Highway

April 13, 2004 - Monterey to Santa Barbara, California
9 hours, 20 minutes - 246 miles

TODAY'S MAP: (from the H.O.G. members trip planner & MapQuest)
april 13th map

With no pictures for this day of the trip, there isn't anything to show and not a whole lot to talk about. My visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium was very cool - especially the gigantic Outer Bay tank/viewing area.

As I cruised through San Simeon, I actually pulled in to the parking lot for the tours of Hearst Mansion - maybe next trip. See, it was spring break week in California when I travelled through and most places I went were seeing higher than normal visitation. The wait for a tour at the Hearst Castle was about an hour and it was already 3:00 PM when I went through. Heck, I saw the Aquarium today, right?

The ride was comfortable and uneventful - even though I came close to running out of gas before I got to Lompoc. I'm coming down the highway and I pass a gas station with no particular thought of a problem - heck Vandenberg Air Force Base was coming up in a few miles and there'd have to be a town and some gas stations and such nearby. So as I come right up to the front entrance of Vandenberg, I'm looking for a place to get fuel as my gas gauge needle rests securly on the pin just below the 'E' and I've gone about 125 miles at this point. The next sign I see says "LOMPOC 15" so I hope for the best and keep my hand out of the throttle until I get to the first gas station I see just outside Lompoc. When I put 3.6 gallons in a 3.7 gallon tank at 139 miles, I know I've pushed my fuel to the limit that I'm comfortable with. This will come back to bit me in the ass day after tomorrow, but for now, I'm cool with my obviously perfect knowledge of my bike's fuel usage...

I pulled in to Santa Barbara at about 5:30 PM - just in time to continue to polish my lane-splitting technique in the commuter hour traffic. I pulled off the highway and headed right for the beach, finding a room at one of the (spendy 'n trendy) beachfront inns along Cabrillo Boulevard right across from the wharf. One thing I was beginning to discover was that the farther I went south, the more expensive the hotels were getting.

Funny thing about Santa Barbara - I don't think they like businesses or something. That's probably not the case at all, but being a beachy resorty kind of place that caters to the rich, over-60 set mostly, they like their little village to look - well, villagey. It's like Stepford - all the buildings with perfect whitewashed stucco and Spanish tile roofs. AND, not a logo, or a sign, or a billboard anyplace. At least within a mile or two of the beach, anyway, I had a devil of a time trying to figure out which business was what.

Oh well, a comfy room and a really nice long walk on the beach made the stay enjoyable and it would be off to see the tiny little village of Los Angeles the next day.

GO to the next day of the trip

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