INTERMISSION

THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT INTERMISSION

OF TWO WEEKS

WHILE I ENTERTAIN MY WIFE

WHO KINDLY LET ME GO ON THIS ADVENTURE

I WILL POST SOME OF THE ADVENTURE FOR MY MEMORY

MORRO BAY TO MONTEREY TO OAKLAND

MORRO BAY TO MONETERY


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Had a great evening looking out my window at the water drinking Brittinay's wine. It was great to relax in luxury for a day. Up and off to the car wash early to clean some road dirt off Big Red.  It was the worst self-serve car wash and did not do Red justice
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We packed up and hit the road for Monterey. Califorinia route 1 varried from 4 lane urban to rural tourist 2 lane along the coast.  It is a beautiful ride.


Rolled into Monterey early and checked in to the Surf Inn.  I went over budget in Morro Bay, but offset it with this $44 a night motel.  It was basic but clean.  Quick run around town and I was not sure why I stopped here. Been here before and really did not need to do it again.

 Now where the hell you trying to make me go gladys

 Yep, that's right. $5.84 a gallon

Eat your heart out EMU19

MONTEREY TO OAKLAND

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Had a big down pour overnight last night.  I walked up the road to Starbucks and had a morning coffee waiting for the roads to dry. Visited with Steve, a gullwing rider, in the parking lot for awhile and then hit the road.


First part of highway 1 was not thrilling.  Four lanes and not much scenery.  However, after a few miles it turned into a very nice 2 lane with great scenery.  Not nearly as much traffic as yesterday.  Sunny, cold and windy.


Lunch time we took a right off the main road to Pesacdaro. At the gas station I had a long talk about scooters with a sheriff's deputy.  He had had a generic scooter and his wife said it was ugly and he should get rid of it and get a real scooter.  So, the Vespa is at the top of the last.  Had a nice deli sandwich in this small town.


Red said, that if I was going to hide him in a closest for a few weeks, he wanted a good ride in pretty country.  We found it.


Eventually we had to turn to Oakland.  Another wild ride.  A ten mile bridge with high wind warnings and interstate 880 with 5 lanes of wild traffic.


Big Red was going to rest in a storage facility just a few blocks from the Amtrak station which is how I am leaving town. I have bought cars easier than renting at this place.  Tons of paperwork, silly rules and finger prints.  $19 for a month of indoor storage, so I could not complain much.

Steve

Road art

 Off the beaten trail.  It was great.

 Cleaning up Big Red before we park him

The Big Red house

SANTA BARBARA TO MORRO BAY

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Last night, strolling around Santa Barbara we came across a vegan restaurant and I thought Kistin was going to cry she was so happy.  So, today we walked over for breakfast and found out it is only open weekends for breakfast.  I thought she was going to cry.  So, we postponed our departure until 11 so she could get a vegan "pastrami" sandwich. Jim and I fell off the meat wagon and got vegan sandwich's also.  
Some of their menu items:

• "Tuna" Melt
• "BBQ" Sandwich
• "Pastrami" Sandwich
• "KFC" vegan

(eat your heart out Dave)

Then we were off to wine country. The ride was great.  Warm temp's, clear blue skies.  After Kristin grabbed Jim by the collar and told him the race was over and to slow down, we had time to look at the great vistas. We pulled into Fess Parker, better known as Davie Crockett, winery.  Jim  and I bought a half bottle of wine to wash down our vegan sandwich's.  I think we were both amazed at how great they tasted as a change from all the "road" food we have had over the last 10 days.


We worked our way back over to the coast were it got windy and cool.  Jim and Kristin split off to go visit her sister.  They are two great people and I am really glad I got to spend time on the road with them.


My destination was Cambria, but by the time I got to Morro Bay it was cold, windy and happy hour so I turned in.  I went to the Estero Inn.  This is were Scoot, Bob and me finsihed the race for one from St. Pete to California in 2010.(http://lostboater.blogspot.com/)  It is a boutique hotel right on the water with just a few rooms.  Brittany, who I must say was stunningly beautiful, was working the front desk.  She and I went round and round on the price of the room, but finally she said that was as low as she could go but she would through in a bottle of wine.  I pulled out the credit card.

 My first visit to a vegan kitchen

 Deb, never mind the airstream.  A vespa and one of these and you are good to go.

 This picture was not posed.

 My vegan club and a fess parker pinot noir

 Kristin smiling from ear to ear with her "pastrami" sandwich

 Sadly, Brittany is camera shy.

Holy Crap !!!!!!!

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Jim, Kristin and me headed out of San Diego around 9:30 to Santa Barbara. We could take the back roads and get there in 6 or 7 hours or jump on the freeway and be there in less than 3.  We made a compromise and took the freeway system to Santa Monica and then Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara.


We timed it for the least traffic and, for California, it was.  But holly crap what a ride.  Trucks, tanks, and anything else with wheels came flying by.  What saved us was, just before we left San Diego, one of the riders told us we could use the HOV lanes and that we did.  Jim was in the lead and Kristin was last and me in the middle to keep Jim slowed down. Kristin said 65, the speed limit, was her max and she meant it. The HOV lane got us away from all the trucks and gave a little buffer from the regular traffic.  Except for one stretch were some girl was right on Kristin's tail pushing her and texting at the same it was a good ride.  Most of the way there was a very respectful car behind and it kept a nice buffer making for a comfortable ride.


The ride up the coast was uneventful and a nice trip.  Kristin is a vegan and we started looking for a oriental restaurant for lunch to hopefully find something for her.  Odd, almost every oriental restaurant was closed.  We finally found a Thai-Peru restaurant.  An odd mix.


We rolled into Santa Barbara and got a great rate on a Best Western hotel with a water view for about what we had paid for some of the dive places on the cannonball.  Don't take that as a criticizem of the cannonball organizers.  The hotels were what they had to do and they did a great job. Well, maybe except the Sun-n-Pines in Lufkin.

 Jim trying to race away and yes there is no traffic for this moment. What fool is gong to try and take pictures in heavy traffic.

 We survived the freeway

 Why I like riding with Jim.  Yes, Kristin is important, but so is the case of beer her hand is on.

Thia-Peru restaurant 

DONATIONS

Thank you all who have pushed our donations to over $4,000.  It is very kind of you and every dollar goes to a great cause.  There is still an opportunity to buy miles as I turn Big Red east and head back across America.

THE DAY AFTER

Well, what a great ride!!  I not sure I will do it again, but I am sure glad I did this one.  But, you hear that same statement out of the veterans and they always seem to come back.


So, where did I end up?  Looks like #20.  Not bad for a first time guy without an aux tank and a catheter.  The stopping is what cost me the most position.  The modern machines in the top places all had large aux tanks and some never stopped in the 300+ mile days.  The vintage scooters that finished in the top were just damn tenacious, determined to finish and never give up.


Somewhere along the line they changed the rules.  About day 4 I think.  Mainly because Lee B was going to win no matter what because of his scooter's age handicap. I think it was a good idea as it put competition back into the race.  This was a whole new format and it had some glitches. How they come up with the scoring beats me.  These guys are rocket scientists and talk Delta and minimum points and other stuff I did not get.  I just rode Big Red hard and he loved it. 
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Updated 2012-04-30 00:26:25 +0000

Place	Name	Scooter	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7	Day 8	Total	Delta*
1	Lee B	1946 Salsbury 85	492	456	450	519	489	546	531	489	3972	0
2	mrmoi2000	1960 Sears Allstate	310	303	281	289	326	286	350	277	2422	1550
3	OopsClunkThud	2006 SYM HD200	273	291	229	271	280	312	328	220	2204	218
4	glassaye	2006 Vespa GTS 250ie	244	261	249	268	273	315	273	212	2095	109
5	feb31st	2008 Vespa GTS 250ie	281	269	226	245	247	273	300	207	2048	47
6	RockBass14	2009 SYM HD200	251	260	219	216	240	275	300	204	1965	83
7	Classic Rider	1975 Vespa Rally 200	242	251	208	239	230	287	280	191	1928	37
8	Ashrat	1977 Vespa P200	234	244	237	259	233	245	258	195	1905	23
9	Jess	2008 Vespa GTS 250	223	251	213	260	253	284	230	180	1894	11
10	JimT	2005 Honda Big Ruckus	220	234	201	247	215	242	276	184	1819	75
11	bagel	2007 Vespa GTS 250ie	241	256	179	173	227	260	255	172	1763	56
12	mapsail13	2001 Vespa ET4	210	217	212	208	202	215	266	219	1749	14
13	4n6iscool	2008 Vespa GT200	189	218	181	215	220	247	249	190	1709	40
14	shokenmaster	2007 Vespa GTS 250ie	191	224	178	217	194	218	220	186	1628	81
15	Radix	1980 Vespa P200E	184	213	191	222	194	199	243	163	1609	19
16	JimC	2010 Vespa GTS 300	187	213	176	189	165	225	242	209	1606	3
17	absurd ruse	2005 PX177	200	234	196	194	171	200	219	178	1592	14
18	Bill Dog	2010 Vespa GTS 300	176	200	182	194	182	235	211	199	1579	13
19	Scutrbrau	2010 Vespa GTS 300 Super	176	200	181	197	183	228	210	199	1574	5
20	Lostboater	2009 Vespa GTS 250ie	218	189	170	245	176	205	178	179	1560	14
21	K-word	2009 Piaggio MP3 400	181	186	160	206	208	212	198	167	1518	42
22	pozo	2011 Honda PCX 125	191	189	193	189	174	184	219	169	1508	10
23	That Scooter Guy	2009 Genuine Buddy 125	222	184	168	193	172	182	202	174	1497	11
24	capt. Gary	2004 Vespa 200L	166	183	161	187	184	199	205	165	1450	47
25	Ivana Tinkle	2010 Vespa GTS 300 Super	173	180	160	178	178	191	197	182	1439	11
26	scooray	2006 Honda Reflex	164	170	150	173	170	264	177	168	1436	3
27	TheDandee	2003 Genuine Stella	136	154	166	209	189	186	197	172	1409	27
28	cochid	2008 Yamaha C3	192		191	204	183	182	251	182	1385	24
29	maroy	2007 Piaggio MP3	183	168	155	173	163	182	177	173	1374	11
30	Georgiagirl	2009 Piaggio MP3 500	164	156	150	191	163	182	180	163	1349	25
31	toigo	1980 Vespa P200	183	182	175	186	174	182	210	56	1348	1
32	Scootertrax	2006 Suzuki Burgman 400S	164	167	150	173	163	182	185	163	1347	1
33	svhess	2006 Vespa GT200	164	170	154	173	163	182	177	163	1346	1
34	ScootChef	2010 Vespa GTS 300 Super	170	157	150	173	163	182	177	168	1340	6
35	Uncle Ben	2007 Suzuki Burgman 400	164	152	150	178	163	182	177	163	1329	11
36	ChiliP	2010 Yamaha Majesty	164	152	150	173	163	182	177	163	1324	5
37	EvelOtto	2007 Kymco Xciting	164	152	150	173	163	182	177	163	1324	86
38	spiff717	2009 Suzuki Burgman	164	152	150	173	163	182	177	163	1324	692
39	BSFF	2009 Genuine Buddy 125	184		150	202	172	182	189	163	1242	82
40	hojo1690	1980 Vespa P200	170	216	150	192	209	260	34		1231	11
41	ScooterRaton	1967 Vespa GT	237	256	209	205	159				1066	165
42	Stu	2009 SYM RV250	168	200	172	222	181				943	123
43	nustar1	1983 Honda Passport	236	200	192	177					805	138
44	GBanks66	1966 Sears Bluebadge	179	193	159	194					725	80
45	Mike Smith	1996 Honda Helix	164	166	120						450	275
46	Frank Tabor	2009 Genuine Stella	205			168					373	77
47	stellastella	2009 Genuine Stella	49					182			231	142
48	Godzilla Bobber	2005 Suzuki Burgman 400	164								164	67
49	Kraken Master	1979 Vespa P200E					163				163	1
50	Bill Murar	1958 Puch/Allstate	75								75	88

So, almost everyone packed up and headed out today.  There are a few of us left and only one other rider is riding his scooter back across America.

By noon the lot was empty.

What next?  I will be riding north to Oakland, part of the way with JimC and Krista, where I will leave Big Red for two weeks and head to Seattle to spend time with Vicki who is flying out.  I owe her a nice vacation for letting me do all this riding.  After that trip I will return to Oakland and head Big Red east at the leisurely pace that we love.

I will blog here occasionally over the 2 week break and start back full blogging on the return trip May 21.