June 26th, 2014 – Fremont, CA to Los Angeles, CA ~410 miles
And so it ends – one last day for me to get from Bui’s home to my own. But because Bui’s bike was having an occasional fuel delivery issue, I left my trusty 1150GS at his place and took his bike down to LA to have our usual mechanic take a look. That’s right, even though he lives about 400 miles away from LA, he takes his GS to a mechanic near my place because we both swear by the guy. But that’s a story for another day. The real takeaway is that for the last day of our trip, Baby Jack and I had a new chariot:
Whenever I’m heading to or from the Bay Area, I try to make a stop at Casa de Fruta, usually to buy some variant of dried and spiced fruits. This would be no exception, though in the parking lot I did manage to see something I’ve never seen before: a Fiat Strada Cabrio, complete with California Historical Vehicle plates:
Enjoy the 80s goodness:
How’s that for a door handle?
Just because it was the last day, it didn’t mean I couldn’t still have some fun. So I left the beautiful PCH to enjoy some dirt and a different view of the Bixby Canyon Bridge:
It was at this point that I fell in love with the R12GS. Felt like I was cheating on my 1150:
Rock crossing:
Thankfully, it was bone dry:
Back on pavement:
Back off pavement:
At some point I hopped on Nacimiento-Fergusson road, which turns off the 1 and immediately becomes a series of switchbacks that take you high up along the coast, affording you a great view:
Bui told me about a fun dirt road that comes off Nacimiento-Ferguson. I…apparently missed it, and ended up at Fort Hunter Liggett:
My last wildlife of the trip, and it was on a military base:
Not the kind of sign I’m used to seeing:
Other things I’m not used to seeing:
And then, a sight I was now oddly familiar with. I’ve probably seen a bunch CanXpress trucks, but never cared. Now it just felt like Canada was following me everywhere.
Peeled off a couple hundred more miles of slab, and then decided to pay my girlfriend a surprise visit at work, as she wasn’t expecting me until the next day. I got there a half hour before her shift ended, so I decided to take a nap and relax a little bit. She found this highly amusing.
And…that’s it! Thanks for taking the time to follow along. I hope you enjoyed the ride.
Best,
Abhi
To the Overview
To the Top of Alaska
Go back to Day 22:
June 25th, 2014 – Twin Falls, ID to Fremont, CA ~690 miles