Big Sur

Many thanks and much love to bro Ray and Bretney for their hospitality.  Great food, drink & partying along with a workout and some hiking made for a perfect weekend to soak up the SoCal sun.  Thousand Oaks looks like it's one of those places that always has sun and happy people.  And on the hike this time there was no rattlesnake looking to bite my ankle :)

The Uly sat in a covered spot for 3 days, but quickly fired up for our Monday departure.  After some fuel we rolled north up the 101 and as soon as we left Thousand Oaks were into a damp cloud and the temps dropped ending the happy warm time.  Fog and mist until getting up around Pismo Beach.  I don't have a problem riding in the rain or even some snow, but enjoying a sunny ride in southern CA is def preferred!

The Uly has been the rockstar on this entire trip!  Every hill, turn or move on the Uly is smooth and predictable at any speed.  I'm guessing after 3000+ miles on the bike it's getting broken in and I'm learning how to ride the bike the way it wants to be ridden.  I can't say enough about the power and cornering of the Uly - it makes it so enjoyable to have that much control of a powerful bike that does what you want it to effortlessly :D

For part of this trip the Uly & I need to ride part of the Pacific Coast Highway from around Morro Bay to Monterey and experience Big Sur.  I still don't have any words to accurately describe this - to begin with, this is where the Pacific Ocean meets the California coast and it appears this meeting was/is violent.  The cliffs and erosion are massive - there probably should not be a road here as it twists and turns anyway the rocks dictate.  Plenty of fallen rock zones and just places you would not want to slip because even if you survive the fall the waves would probably be happy to crush anything on some of the rocks and very cool bridges built in the 30's.

I still cannot describe the ride itself - the weather was perfect, the scents in the air were amazing, the Uly was HUGE fun and US 1 up to Monterey was much more than I expected and everything was in it's right place.  I stopped for pics and videos and realized this is too big to explain with a few pics and even moving pics.  I was able to catch some birds and squirrels that actually like human attention, but found it difficult to capture the ride up the coast.  Everyone really needs to enjoy some time on this road - now I know why this road is featured on Modern Marvels.

Ocean and waves on the left - sunshine above and rocks, cliffs and colors to the right was most of the US 1 ride.  Not to take anything away from Big Sur; all the roads leading to US 1 were great to ride as well.  Catching all the flowering and budding fruits made for delicious scents.  Although some nights my eyes are itchy and I'm a little stuffy from all the pollen it's so worth it.  I really want to ride this again - everything a road crawling up the Pacific coast should be and more!

"All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come"