The Thrill

I was on the 101 between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo the other day when I was filled with the familiar feeling of elation and exhilaration that accompanies unplanned, self-contained travel. You don't have to ride a motorcycle or be afflicted with a wanderer's spirit to understand the sensation of freedom and the allure of the proverbial open road. The recipe is simple: pack every worldly possession you could possibly need for survival, pick a point on the map, throw some Vedder on the iPod, and take off.
I'm leaving Monterey today and heading up to San Francisco to see some friends. Monterey has been great. I've been staying between my good friend Gray's house and another good friend's parent's house. I went down to Big Sur yesterday and hiked around for a few hours. The smoke from the fires in the area had cleared and the weather was perfect. I had lunch literally in the Big Sur River.
On day one of the trip Brother Fish and I went to Six Flags and went on the new X2 roller coaster. If you live in Southern California you have to go on this ride. It changed me. There are flame throwers. Enough said. I stayed at my cousin's house in Valencia that night and headed up to lake Casitas the next day to camp and fish for a couple of days. I probably fished for 10 hours and didn't catch a thing.
From there I went to Santa Barbara and stayed with my cousin Mattie on IV for a night which, at this point, is just about all I need of that place. I had fun there, I think. From SB I took a little detour inland and rode up past Lake Cachuma to a place called the Cold Spring Tavern. The tavern originated as a stopover point for stagecoaches back in the day. Now its a dark, cramped, novelty restaurant with a bunch of goofy shit on the walls. I had a venison burger. It was awesome. As I was leaving I noticed that traffic was backed up for about a quarter mile. I rode up to the front to get the scoop. There was a jumper on the San Marcos Pass Bridge (about 200-300 feet above the ground) that, fortunately, the cops were able to talk down. I rode by and saw him in the back up the Trooper's car. He wasn't looking so good.
After that brush with someone else's death I made my way up to San Luis Obispo to visit my neighbor Zoe who goes to Cal Poly. She lives in a house with a pool and 4 other girls from the soccer team. Those parties are usually pretty boring. I stayed there for a night and the next day called my friend Gray who informed me that he was having a party at his house in Monterey that very evening. The decision was an easy one to make. Three hours and about 500 bends in the road later (Hwy 1) I was here in Monterey.
So thats my story. Things are going well, the bike (a.k.a. The Rhino) is running like a champ and I'm off to my next desty. Thanks for checkin in and look for new pics in a day or two (the link is on the right hand side of this page). Much love.
Dane