shout out to California members

[cmawest]

wife and i are getting ready to spend 10 days in California. our route is colorado to vegas to bakersfield to morro bay. and stay 10 days on a military base hotel.

what we hear on the news is scaring the heck out of my wife, the crime out there sounds really scary. we are towing the valk out on a trailer with my pickup and are told the #1 carjacking victims are pickups. i am a former police officer and do carry, but no one with a brain wants to kill another person, vacations just ain't worth that.

how dangerous is our route out and back ? i do it 2 to 4 times a year by myself on the bike and no one has ever tried me, but thats one of the nice parts of riding a bike, most gangbangers think you are more scary than they are (i think its because of all the 1%'ers on the coast) i don't think they ever read my patch ( CMA ) biggest club around :-)

your thoughts ?

[sidecarwilliam]

I live here and travel with my wife both in a car and on my bikes (solo and sidecar) and have had no problems in the areas you are traveling in.
On the Space Force Base I can not think of a problem you might have.
Morro Bay is nice and I have never had a problem there, beautiful area.
I would stay away from the SF Bay area (where I live) especially SF and Oakland and LA but other than that I would say you are good to go.

YMMV

bill.

[cmawest]

thanks, i needed to hear that, i have been riding out to morro bay for 10 years now with the CMA ministry, had a heart attack and haven't made the trip for a couple years, its a shame whats going on out there, i was stationed  in the bay area during viet nam, loved it, have relation in pacifica and cotati, they have both told me the same thing, they will come visit us instead, we have no such problems in western colorado, too many armed cowboys for them.


two valks, one triked, one not -- best of both worlds

[Bret SD]

@cmawest, concur with @sidecarwilliam.. Publicized violence in California has been blown way out of proportion. Avoiding the shizholes like LA, SF, SJ and others will keep you clear of the most crime.

I lived on the Central Coast for 10 years, it's beautiful up there and Morro Bay is a fine place. North of there you have Hearst Castle and Big Sur just to name a couple of great spots to visit. I don't know about Bakersfield anymore, it wasn't bad 40 years ago..heh

If you want a cheaper place to stay you should check out San Simeon Lodge to the north, it's one of our favorite places to stay due to lack of crowds and good prices.

[cmawest]

yeah thats pretty much the normal everywhere, for the life f me i don'r know why someone don't sue the major news services, the worse they can make it sound the bigger the story. we have seen all them things, but i'm retired navy so we sta on the military bases. camp san luuis obispo rents us a 2 bedroom house on base for about half the cost of a hotel out there, so that part is taken care of, winter is about to land in my back 40 and last winter i had 9 feet of snow piled up, so we want a couple warm weeks before it caves in on us. i'd move t morro bay but for what a house costs there i can buy 500 acres of elk filled land with a river running through it and a 2500 sq. ft. house on it. for a beach front place i could buy everything for sale back here, so we will settle for a visit.

[Savago]

What was said already: avoid SF, Oakland and LA and you should be fine.


While in California, I would try to visit:
a) Sequoia National Park (NP).
b) The Big Sur.
c) Yosemite NP.

And if you are up to a lengthy and awesome full day ride on the twists, check the CA-36 in NorCal. It is known as the "Serpent to the Sea", about 140 miles and 1811 turns.
 

[Bret SD]

And if you are up to a lengthy and awesome full day ride on the twists, check the CA-36 in NorCal. It is known as the "Serpent to the Sea", about 140 miles and 1811 turns.
 

Think I read about that road on Pashnit dot com, have you heard of the site? It's a huge site dating back ~25 yrs, now the owner is revamping it starting in NorCal.. it's chock full of incredible ride areas in California.

[Jess from VA]

Over 30 years ago, I took my new wife to LA to visit with my long time best friend and his young family.  We lived on March AFB (Moreno Valley/Riverside).  My buddy had a very small house, so I asked him to make me a reservation at a nice motor court motel, and he did.  After dinner and a nice visit, back at the motel that night, some drug crazed pimp was upset that one of his girls was taking too much time in one of the rooms (he didn't know which), so he went around screaming her name and banging and kicking on doors, for over an hour.

My wife wondered why the cops never came, and I said because no one wants to have to come back to LA and go to court and testify against that asshole, so no one is calling the cops (me either).  When he began beating and kicking on my door, I had the wife slide to the floor behind the bed and aimed my Browning Hi Power at the door.

What are you going to do?

I'm gonna give that asshole one chance to leave, but if he comes in this room it's two in the chest and one in the head.  Put your fingers in your ears honey.

He really worked on my door, but couldn't get through.  Lucky for him.

He kept that up for a long time, and the cops never came.  

Screw LA.


CMA West, I hope you have a nice trip.  

[Savago]

Think I read about that road on Pashnit dot com, have you heard of the site? It's a huge site dating back ~25 yrs, now the owner is revamping it starting in NorCal.. it's chock full of incredible ride areas in California.

I learned about the road on that site. I rode the Serpent to the Sea in July 2019 with a French friend.

We started the day in the SF Bay Area, rode North to Redding and stopped for lunch.

Followed next through the CA-36 all the way to the Pacific, where we stayed in a hotel in Fortuna for the night.

The following day we rode back South, through the CA-01 (Pacific Coast Highway). Rain the whole way from Fortuna up to Jenner, where finally the rain stopped.

Even with the bad weather in the second day, I really enjoyed the ride.
 

[The emperor has no clothes]

If you get back up that way, check out Platina Road out of Redding to Hiway 36. Really enjoyed that. 

[Savago]

If you get back up that way, check out Platina Road out of Redding to Hiway 36. Really enjoyed that. 

Yeah! I heard good things about the Platina Road!
 

[Robert]

My son in law just came back from a business/pleasure trip to Cali and echoed what everyone else has said. California is such a beautiful state and much to see.

I used to love the rides through Bakersfield and the high desert occasionally you see some very interesting things. It was the first time in my life I actually witnessed lightning going from the ground to the sky.

[Bret SD]

Think I read about that road on Pashnit dot com, have you heard of the site? It's a huge site dating back ~25 yrs, now the owner is revamping it starting in NorCal.. it's chock full of incredible ride areas in California.

I learned about the road on that site. I rode the Serpent to the Sea in July 2019 with a French friend.

We started the day in the SF Bay Area, rode North to Redding and stopped for lunch.

Followed next through the CA-36 all the way to the Pacific, where we stayed in a hotel in Fortuna for the night.

The following day we rode back South, through the CA-01 (Pacific Coast Highway). Rain the whole way from Fortuna up to Jenner, where finally the rain stopped.

Even with the bad weather in the second day, I really enjoyed the ride.
 

Very cool! One day I will ride up there 

[Bret SD]

Over 30 years ago, I took my new wife to LA to visit with my long time best friend and his young family.  We lived on March AFB (Moreno Valley/Riverside).  My buddy had a very small house, so I asked him to make me a reservation at a nice motor court motel, and he did.  After dinner and a nice visit, back at the motel that night, some drug crazed pimp was upset that one of his girls was taking too much time in one of the rooms (he didn't know which), so he went around screaming her name and banging and kicking on doors, for over an hour.

My wife wondered why the cops never came, and I said because no one wants to have to come back to LA and go to court and testify against that asshole, so no one is calling the cops (me either).  When he began beating and kicking on my door, I had the wife slide to the floor behind the bed and aimed my Browning Hi Power at the door.

What are you going to do?

I'm gonna give that asshole one chance to leave, but if he comes in this room it's two in the chest and one in the head.  Put your fingers in your ears honey.

He really worked on my door, but couldn't get through.  Lucky for him.

He kept that up for a long time, and the cops never came.   

Screw LA.


CMA West, I hope you have a nice trip.   

Gees Jess, that's one hell of a story, never experienced anything like that, even when staying in Compton while working up there.

[F6Dave]

When I rode US-50 to California in August I stayed in Paso Robles for 3 nights. I paid $135 for a great suite in what was the nicest La Quinta I've ever stayed in. In fact that rate was the lowest I paid during my entire trip. Paso is a great town with 200 wineries and home of the mid-state fair. It feels a lot like western Colorado and I never felt the least bit unsafe.

I rode to the coast twice as it's only about 20 miles from Paso. I took Old Creek Road, which is a motorcycle favorite, and it had new pavement! I had it to myself except for 3 Alfa Romeos with factory plates running some kind of test. The road ends at the PCH/Highway 1 in the coastal town of Cayucos.

Highway 1 was (and still is) closed for repairs just south of Big Sur. This was great for riding as the road is nearly deserted north of Cambria. I rode up to Ragged Point, then backtracked to Morro Bay, stopping at the elephant seal overlook and other great spots. FYI there's a place in Morro Bay called the Taco Temple that has incredible seafood.

When I headed back to my hotel temps were in the upper 50s in Cayucos. 21 miles later in Paso it was 104.

Highway 1 just south of Ragged Point


Morro Bay


Old Creek Road between Cayucos and Paso Robles, or Pass of the Oaks

[Jess from VA]

Gees Jess, that's one hell of a story, never experienced anything like that, even when staying in Compton while working up there.

Well Brett, I have a story about someone trying to kill me in Detroit once (for about a half hour)(70s), and another about the Libyans trying to blow up my wedding in Ankara Turkey (with hand grenades)(80s).  But I'll spare you.   

Now it's just the daily cell phone drivers.   

 

[Bret SD]

Gees Jess, that's one hell of a story, never experienced anything like that, even when staying in Compton while working up there.

Well Brett, I have a story about someone trying to kill me in Detroit once (for about a half hour)(70s), and another about the Libyans trying to blow up my wedding in Ankara Turkey (with hand grenades)(80s).  But I'll spare you.   

Now it's just the daily cell phone drivers.   

 

Had one of those try and kill me with their cart in Costco this morning ...