We had planned on leaving early for to see the redwoods, just north of here. But something caught the eye of Josh. He was reading my blog entry from yesterday and discovered Hulu.com. And from there, something incredibly magical happened.

He and we discovered….

Oh yes, Time Tunnel, starring Tony and Doug. Sure, yes, their names are unassuming and incredibly boring and white¹.²

Anyway, we were delightfully distracted by Time Tunnel. This was the episode where Tony and Doug got captured by aliens in the year 1883. It was amazing.

So that was our morning.

Finally, around 2pm or 3pm we got ourselves together, hopped in the 9th Street Limo that I had waiting for us and departed, first stopping at Whole Foods for some unwhole foods. We live for irony these days.

After vegan snack buying, we headed for the wilds of The Area Just North of Here. We were in search of the Big Tortoise. The Big Tortoise once terrorized Berkeley proper, but then fled, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

We ran through the briers and we ran through the brambles. We ran all the places where a rabbit wouldn’t go. But we did run through the places where the Big Tortoise would go.

Along the way, though the danger was great. We saw many creatures.

We perchanced to catch a quick glimpse of the wateraccoon. The wateraccoon is half raccoon and half fish. They dwell in the deepest, darkest parts of the forests in The Area Just North of Here. I was only able to capture the raccoon part of the wily wateraccoon. And even this was amazingly rare.

It was then that we spotted what we believed to be Big Tortoise. He was sitting on a log, unassuming. Some turtles aren’t bothered by anything. Even flying saucers. And there he was.

All I managed to capture was a blurry picture. This was horrible. We wanted so badly to not just capture a picture, but the Big Tortoise himself!

But all of a sudden a Great California Sky Whale swooped down from the heavens!

We cowered in fear! Josh and Cole ducked for the cover of the brambles. I picked up a large pointed stick to defend the cowering couple from almost imminent danger!

The Great California Sky Whale first attacked me with his dorsal fin, knocking me back several yards. I regained composure and struck his fluke³ and he let out a frightful bellow!

It was then that the Great California Sky Whale picked up Josh in his sharp teeth, and tossed him to and fro, eventually nearly impaling him on a nearby wooden fence that was built in 1903!

We all screamed! AH! And Cole, in her most daring display of heroinism yet, jumped into action! She grabbed the pointed stick from my hands and did battle with the Great California Sky Whale and the Big Tortoise. She was momentarily helped by the wateraccoon as he splashed his deadly water at the Great California Sky Whale. The Great California Sky Whale retreated as Cole chased him over the nearby hill to his super secret hideout – The Barn with Two Things on Top of It.

Oh what glory! With Josh and I nearly spent and defeated, Cole was the hero and the Great California Sky Whale would bother us no more! Huzzah! And huzzah again!

Here is the historical picture of the historic holy ground where the great battle was waged. It is considered one of the most sacred places in The Area Just North of Here. For it is here that the only victory in the great war against the Great California Sky Whale had been achieved.

It is here that three warriors stood/slumped victorious!

And they have renamed this sacred soil, which was once called The Area Just North of Here… Bear Valley! For what is more ferocious and mighty as a bear⁴? And what is more serene than a valley? Here, in this most serene of places, the great bear of a battle was waged and won, saving the good citizens of The Area Just North of Here.

Upon fully realizing our triumph, we were carried on the shoulder of small, furry creatures to the Forest of Endor where we were worshiped as god and the golden one told the story of our previous victory at the Battle of Yavin where we lost 90% of our fleet, but managed to evade their turbolasers to fire proton torpedoes into a two-meter wide exhaust port. Everyone said it was impossible, but it’s not. I used to shoot womp rats back home and they’re not much bigger than two meters.

This is all a vastly different story, so I digress.

Anyway, it was an incredibly lovely day. I even conquered a Great Stump on my way out of Endor.

We then went back to the 9th Street Limo for our journey back to Berkeleyland.

Upon the reaching of Berkeleyland, we watched the first five episodes of Flight of the Conchords and then took rest.

And you should take rest too.
Good night.

1. Sorry to anyone named Tony and/or Doug – but it’s true. I know it’s not your fault. It’s your parents’ fault for naming you Tony and/or Doug. But it’s true. [↩]
2. Oh, and for you parents out there who have named your children Tony and/or Doug – unless you’ve named them this in honor of the 60’s sci-fi TV show, Time Tunnel… shame on you! [↩]
3. Which is totally not even vegan. [↩]
4. Except, perhaps the Great California Sky Whale. [↩]

What started out as an ordinary Friday, ended in a blizzard of weirdness by the time midnight rolled around.

Again, this morning was all about not doing much. And I could really get accustomed to not doing much. Aside from showering, the only thing I accomplished was changing the headlamp on the scooter. All works just fine, by the way.

But around 1pm is when the day started in earnest. I again rode to downtown to hang out with Cole. I’m getting used to riding in this town, which is vastly different than riding in other towns. I’m not really sure why.

I parked in the same spot as yesterday, next to a Bajaj and an older, probably early 60’s Vespa.

That mostly just made me miss having an old Vespa. I’m hoping this doesn’t translate into me getting another old Vespa. But I’m betting it will. My scooter plans and herd must not expand beyond my means.

Or I have to have a garage. In which case, the scooters will breed like rabbits.

We ate at Long Life Vegetarian Chinese Place and again it was good. Josh joined up this time and we had a lovely dinner. I got Soy Chicken & Tofu in Spicy Sauce, and though it’s not very spicy, it is pretty good. Not as good as the Veggie Beef though.

And when we were finished feeding, we walked over to Comic Relief, the poorly-named, but awesome comic book store. I bought too many comics, but regret it not.

The jewel in the crown of my purchases being Incredible Change Bots by Jeffery Brown, possibly my favorite writer at this point. The book is a parody of Transformers and it made my day.

I also picked up Summer Blond by Adrian Tomine and Only Skin by Sean Ford, which is turning out to be basically amazing.

My problem with me and comics is that I don’t live close enough to a good comic book store to really keep up. For example, I was reading Buffy Season 8. I read the first five issues and haven’t been able to get to a store to get the rest. Now they’re up to issue 14. I can’t just jump in and read it without reading 6-13. Sad. The same goes for the new Firefly comics. The same would go for Angel Season Six, but I never saw Season Five, so it just didn’t matter much.

Speaking of Firefly, I was telling Cole about the fanfic by Steven Brust called My Own Kind of Freedom. I’ve not yet read it, but I’ve heard it’s great. So if you’re a fan of Firefly, check it out. And if you’re not a fan of Firefly, why aren’t you? Seriously, go watch it! All of the episodes are available for free (and legally) online at Hulu. You will thank me later. There is also a movie you’ll have to rent called Serenity. And then the fanfic. Which is here.

We staggered home eventually and Cole and Josh made us breakfast dinner. Pancakes, french toast, sausage and bacon (all vegan). It was magically delicious.

And that brings us to Bowie, doesn’t it.

Last night, we watched The Man Who Fell to Earth. It was a huge slice of weirdness ala 1976 starring David Bowie, Rip Torn and Buck Henry. And it has to be seen to be believed. Now, I’m a huge fan of weird. Give me a weird movie and I’m all over it.

But this one was unbelievably tedious. Though it clocks in a bit over two hours, it seriously felt like four. And I’m also a fan of long movies. I’m the only person in the universe who liked The Postman. Long movie? No problem! Weird long movie? That’s ok too! Man Who Fell to Earth? Oh my…

It’s definitely got a 2001: Space Odyssey feel to it. Yeah, it’s sort of like if 2001: Space Odyssey was a softcore porn staring a very skinny David Bowie for eight or nine hours. Should it be watched? Yeah, probably. More than once? I don’t see how.

The movie looks good, very late 60’s (though it was from ‘76). It was shot almost entirely in New Mexico. The plot is meandering and basically pointless, but I’m guessing that the plot wasn’t the point or something.

Anyway, if you have a burning desire to see David Bowie or Rip Torn nude¹ , then you pretty much have to see this. As for me, I’m just glad that it didn’t give me nightmares. Very glad.

And then I went to sleep. I nodded off a little bit during the Bowie movie, but not enough to actually miss anything. Sad, really.

Miles today: 5
Miles total: 4987

1. We were delightfully spared the sight of a naked Buck Henry. Thank you. Thank you SO much. [↩]

Having not much to do is a wonderful thing. This whole trip has been pretty tough. Long days, waking up early (which I do anyway), pretty strenuous stuff. It takes its toll, so it’s nice to have nothing to do sometimes.

And for me Berkeley is almost that.

But around 1pm, Cole, the mysterious heroine of this post, calls and I ride over to near Shattuck Street and park the scooter next to a 2005 Bajaj Chetak. I think motorcycle/scooter parking might be free in this town. Hard to say.

We head to Herbivore for a bite to eat. A guy who looks a bit too much like Prince takes our order and I get this amazing wrap thing.

It was pretty delicious.

I wanted to check out some record stores, so that was next on the agenda. I got the new Elvis Costello album, a David Gilmour/David Bowie 10″ of them covering a couple Pink Floyd songs and a TV Personalities remix 12″. The Elvis Costello album came with a little card that sends you to a website so you can download mp3s of the music. The whole album, actually.

Listening to it now. It’s called Momofuku. Not bad at all! It’s a good purchase. I think I’d definitely buy more music if it were on vinyl AND you get free downloads. Woo!

I can’t listen to the other stuff because Cole and Josh don’t have a turntable right now, but I’ll just ship them back with the rest of my stuff.

Outside the record shop, I discovered a new level of bike locking security. Duct tape. It was amazing. If I were a bike thief, I wouldn’t mess with this simply out of respect. It’s brilliant. Check it out.

All of this was taking a lot of time, but that’s great. The weather was good and the time flew by.

That Cole girl wanted to head to the farmers market and so we did. Lovely. Wonderful place. Lots of fresh organic stuff. They even have apple cider out here! Weird!

While we were getting some bread, a little kid of maybe seven years asks the guy for a muffin. The guy gives the kid the muffin and replaces that muffin in the display stand with another. He then said, “Like magic!”

The little kid sort of freaks out and says “No it’s NOT!” The kid’s mother (who was carrying a canvas bag with The Nation logo on it) then had to explain that he didn’t mean it that it was really magic.

I would pay this mother ten whole dollars to hear her explanation of why her kid freaked out at the mention of magic. Just what is she doing to her children? Strange folk round these here parts.

On the way back to get my bike, I came across two instances of poetry. The first was the Poem Store. The Poem Store is simply a guy with a typewriter who, upon giving him a certain amount of money, would write you your very own poem. I didn’t have much money, so I skipped this feature. However, what a fun job. I think I want to do this.

The next instance of poetry came from an older fellow named Mathew H. Lares. He was selling a few poems for $2. I decided that since I had only two dollars, he would get it. I bought them and do not regret the purchase. Not my style really, but good writing and a good cause. There should be more poets hawking their stuff on the street. Again, I want to do this.

Oh so then, I ride back to Cole and Josh’s only to discover that I brought the wrong house key with me. I can’t get in their apartment. So I ride to where Cole is nannying to get her key. But she gave her key to Josh because he gave his key to me. So there I sat, locked out.

I decided now would be a good time to get a start on changing the headlamp. My scooter keys and my tools are all outside. So I did that and such things were fine. I still have to finish it though.

We ended the evening by watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, Beast of Yucca Flats.

Good day? Sure was. I slept well!

Miles: 7
Total miles: 4983

My first full day in Berkeley, California. It’s weird to not have to load up and ride 200 or 300 miles to wherever. It’s a culture shock.

So I woke up and just sort of milled about. Played on the internet and talked to Josh and Cole before they left for work. Josh bought cinnamon rolls (VEGAN cinnamon rolls) for us and they were delightful.

They both left for work and I decided to shower and watch American Gladiators online. Guilty pleasure much? Sure, but who cares? It’s Hulk Hogan and a bunch of people getting the crap kicked out of them. How can you not like this?

With nearly every show being shown on TV also being shown on the internet, I’m trying to figure out the need for TV (meaning cable or satellite) if you have a good internet connection. Now, wherever I end up moving, they’re sure to have some 3-in-1 deal where you get internet, phone and tv for $100 a month. It’s hard to beat that and I would probably take it. But seriously, TV on the internet is the way to go.

Cole called and asked if I wanted to meet her for lunch. So I rode out to where she was nannying, and we walked downtown to Long Life Vegetarian Chinese Restaurant. We were there twice before when I was here last. They make an amazing “beef” thing. Very good.

After foods, we walked around the downtown. Berkeley really is a great town. I don’t want to slag it off. It’s got great shops and the folks whom I’ve met are pretty nice. It’s also got a LOT of Volvo station wagons and more professors wearing socks with sandals than you would ever.. EVER want to shake a stick at.

Seriously folks, if you wear socks with sandals, stop it. Make a commitment. If it is cold enough to wear socks, wear shoes as well. If it is warm enough for sandals, forgo the socks. Are we clear on this?

The town also has its fair share of older women with long gray hair in bib-overalls.

Most the folks here are extremely impressed with themselves. Well, most of the professionals here are. The regular folk are fine.

Berkeley is great for pedestrians and bicyclists. If you are either, you’ll love this town. It’s not amazingly scooter-friendly, but most towns aren’t. I believe it’s because scooter friendly is also motorcycle friendly and nobody wants motorcycles in their town. Especially towns with a lot of bicyclists.

Bicyclists have to obey traffic laws. Yes, they get their own lane, which is great, but they still have to stop at stop signs and red lights. They can’t cross at pedestrian crosswalks (unless they’re walking their bike).

This all adds up to me telling the bicyclists of Berkeley that they are not pedestrians. If there are pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk (or more likely crossing at a crosswalk without looking in either directions – just dumb, people) I’ll, of course, stop.

However, dear bicyclists, you are not pedestrians. If you are waiting on your bike at a crosswalk (or just zipping across the street via a crosswalk), I’m not going to stop for you. And don’t give me that overly self-righteous look, ok? It’s completely lost on me. Go eat some free-range organic chicken and leave me alone.

There, I said it.

But really, Bekeley is a wonderful place. It’s beautifully laid out, sort of like Santa Fe, but green and without the Santa Fe style houses.

We walked up to Live Oak park and watched some squirrels (this is all happening with the kid she nannies for, by the way – she didn’t just leave him at the house). And then we made our way back to the house, hanging out there for a bit.

During the hanging out, we saw deer in the back yard. I snapped some pictures. These deer are much smaller than Pennsylvania deer. And the mother (we saw a mom and two fawns) would hop instead of run. It was freaky.

They were there for a good ten minutes and seemed pretty unafraid of us. That’s probably not a good thing. Of course, it’s not a good thing for deer to be in your back yard if you live in a city. It just means that the city is WAY too close to where the deer live. Which means the city is way too big.

Our deer friends then made their way to the street in front and then down the street to wherever. Again, not a good thing.

But cute. Oh my, cute.

From their porch you can see “the city.” Berkeley and Oakland are cities, but not THE city. THE city is, of course, San Francisco. This is a weird place. But you can see the Golden Gate Bridge from their porch. I bet you pay a lot of money for that.

So I rode back to Cole and Josh’s house and wait for them to return. They do to discover that Josh’s bike has been stolen. A filthy yegg had creeped his or her way into their fenced-in area and burgled the bike. Dastardly, for sure.

But the bike was gone. Two bikes in three weeks. I promptly went and locked up my scooter. Covered it too. First time I had to do that this whole trip.

Josh’s family had invited us over for some dinner and so we went. There, we tried to think of five non-George Lucas/Steven Spielberg films that Harrison Ford had been in. We also discussed many other important topics.

His family is pretty cool. Huge family, with the aunt and uncle and cousin or two there. They even had great dogs. Weird, huh? Weird!

It was late when we got back and soon after, we were sleeping.

Great first day in Berkeley. Thanks!

Miles today: 5
Miles total: 4976

In 2004, I described the town of Carpinteria, which was my home for the night, like Milton-by-the-Sea. I think it’s changed since then. It’s a lot more upscale than it was. And that’s a real shame.

I wanted to get up early so that I could get an early start so that, if it came down to it, I could ride through Big Sur and straight onto Berkeley – a distance of at least 375 miles. That was a lot and I figured that I wouldn’t do it, but you know, just in case.

Making my way around town, Carpinteria didn’t have the charm it did four years ago. Sure, some parts did, like Casa del Sol, the motel that housed me. But not much else.

I have a thing for old motels. Not run-down motels (well, I have a thing for them too, but it’s different). This motel was great. The walls are poured concrete. Very cool. The ceilings are hardwood with real beams. Easy to love. Ok, the heater didn’t work and the bathroom was redone in some crappy 80’s homemaker style, but everything else was alright.

For the first part of the trip, I was avoiding highways. I wanted to see some towns. The first “town” that I came across was Santa Barbara. It’s odd to go from the blindingly poor conditions of the desert to … this. “Privileged” doesn’t even come close to describing it. I often describe this kind of stuff as “Bucknell Parents’ Weekend 24/7.” But even that doesn’t touch it.

Everyone who lives here, everyone, is several thousand times richer than I’ll ever be (and ever want to be). It’s amazing how ridiculous it is.

However, Santa Barbara, like Santa Fe, is a nice looking town. Santa Fe is nicer (sorry, Santa Barbara, but deal with it). While there, I saw the most amazing bus. Not a VW Bus – not exactly. It was an old school bus, painted blue like the sky, man. And it had a VW Vanagon welded to the top of it… and a little patio thing out the back. It was pretty cool.

I wish I would have taken more pictures or coaxed them into giving me a tour. But it was early and… well I just should have anyway.

Goletta was the next town. Actually, it’s sort of attached to Santa Barbara – but very very very clearly not Santa Barbara. First of all, their Main Street runs perpendicular to Santa Barbara’s main street. And it’s clearly not Santa Barbara.

Goletta is “famous” because that is where Ebullition Records and HeartAttack ‘Zine existed/exist. They’ve put out some great records and hopefully will again.

I didn’t stop there or anything, but it was neat to go through the town.

“The One” is California Route 1. It’s famous for its ocean views and twisty, windy ways. But before it gets all twisty, it winds its way through some very picturesque central Californian hillsides.

I was usually all alone on this road, which is often how I like it. And on the occasion that I would hit a small town, it was usually pretty unassuming. A few of them were fairly impressed with themselves, but I didn’t stay long in those towns. They have no soul and will suck yours out.

Lompoc was a nice town. Small, mostly latino. Union Pacific Rail had a little depot here and I’m betting most of the population works there – or in the fields picking the stuff that will be carried by Union Pacific. Guadalupe was also a similar town.

But soon this stretch of road, which took me 14 or so miles away from the Pacific Ocean, would be at an end. Basically it ends with elephant seals.

Thousands of elephant seals use this one particular beach for mating, birthing and molting. Today they were molting. However, over 4,000 baby elephant seals were born here in Decemberish. The seals are often here and when we were through here in 2004, they were also present. As were a ton of people. And ground squirrels. Very not shy ground squirrels. Adorable.

It was time to hit the road. The twists awaited, so I geared up and hit the twists.

Now, I’m not usually a huge fan of “twisties,” but these were fun and the road was usually my own. Had this been a weekend, that wouldn’t be the case. But it wasn’t and I had a great time.

For nearly 80 miles I got a perfect view of the ocean. I saw cliffs and bridges built in the 30’s and very few other motorists.

It was a perfect ride. If I could turn around and do it again, I would.

I twisted my way to Big Sur State Park. This was supposed to be where I was going to camp, just like in 2004. However, it was 2pm. And I was cold. The temps were in the high 50’s and would only be dropping. The air is crisp, but soggy, because of the ocean. Cold and damp was on store for me through the night.

Or, I could ride through to Berkeley – some 150 or so miles north. Could I make it? My headlamp was still out, though I bought a replacement for it in Goletta. I should be able to make it to Cole’s well before nightfall. But what if I got lost or something?

I figured it was worth the risk. I didn’t want to stop riding. Sure, I put on 175ish miles, but could I really go for 175 more? And most of those would be interstate miles.

Hm. Yes. Yes I did. I felt like riding on the interstate. There, I said it. I guess the twists got me all twisted.

And as for fears of getting lost, well, I got lost. Several times. But this was fun too! It’s great to see the look on someone’s face when you pass them going 80mph on a little red scooter. That is especially rewarding when it’s an SUV or a Harley. The look they give you is worth the risk of going 80mph on a little red scooter.

A few sort of faulty directions later and I was there! Here! I was in Berkeley and Cole and Josh were welcoming and wonder and we had pasta (the quintessential tour food) and it was good!

What’s in store for me for the rest of the week? Who knows! Let’s rock!

Here are my pics.

Miles today: 420
Mile total: 4971

… since starting Route 66, I mean.

Today is the start of a new leg of Route 66. This leg lasts only two fully days of riding and then I have a much-deserved week off.

During that week, I’ll still have daily updates and will hopefully be riding as much as possible.

If any scooterists out in the Bay Area want to show me around, feel free to let me know.

Next week – The Loneliest Road in America (till SLC)…

The blog will probably change a bit. There have been SO many things that I wanted to talk about concerning riding, but have left them out in favor of Route 66 stuff. My philosophy was that Route 66 stuff is happening NOW. The random stuff about riding will happen again, so talk about it then.

Random stuff like – yesterday I noticed that my headlamp was blown. The day before that, it was the highbeam, now it’s both. I’ll be stopping at an autoparts store and fixing it on the road today (or tomorrow). The running light still works, so I do have some protection.

I should have carried a spare. Lesson learned.

Ok folks, it’s nearly 8am on the left coast and that’s when I’m hitting the road.

Big Sur tonight!

“Every exit is an entrance somewhere else” – Tom Stoppard

It’s sad to see it go. Just as it was sad to see it go in 2004 and 2006. When I woke up this morning, just as I had woken up the mornings of the last day of 66 in 2004 and 2006, I imagined being able to spend time at Santa Monica pier. To gaze into the Pacific Ocean and recount my weeks on the Mother Road.

This morning when I woke up, I knew it was the last bit of Route 66 I’d see for awhile. I knew it was the last time I’d open my guidebooks and research the history of past alignments. I knew from here on out, things would be very different.

This morning when I woke up, I showered and loaded the scooter. The family who stayed next to me brought a pick up truck’s worth of stuff for the weekend. They had more camping supplies than I’ve ever seen anyone have. I had a Vespa’s worth.

I rode out of the campground to Daggett, where I left off yesterday. And in Daggett I wandered around, explored the small town a little.

Daggett was the last Route 66 town I would explore on this trip. From here on out, things are too hectic, especially on a Memorial Day, to do much more than ride.

I was told to explore Sante Fe Street a bit. So I did. On it I found the Daggett Garage, which has an amazing past. You can read it here. Very neat.

Yesterday, I said that Daggett wasn’t a good place to stop for the night. I take that back. Not that the KOA was wonderful or anything, but everything that came before Daggett and everything that came after Daggett were very different from each other. Basically, from Barstow on, it was very LA.

Not that there isn’t great stuff in Barstow and Victorville, there is. But the population increased and the ability to just pull over and take pictures decreased. It became less about doing and more about seeing. LA is basically all about seeing. Most cities are. The Route 66 that I like is very rural. LA has some great stuff and I think it’s a pretty ok town. But it doesn’t beat Daggett, California.

Barstow, which is basically Daggett’s parent city, has a bunch of motels and generally keeps a Route 66 vibe. It’s bigger than I remember it and on this holiday morning, traffic was dead, but that’s ok with me.

A lot of distance separates Barstow and Victorville.

Jack Rittenhouse says of this point -

You are now leaving the vast desolation of the Mojave and are entering a region in which many small towns lies close together. The nearby Mojave River provides enough water to enable shade tress to grow in these towns, although there is still bare desert between. The region is full of dude ranches, small farms, and “desert hideaways.”

Much of this is still true. These towns aren’t so small anymore. The shade trees are less, as is the amount of bare desert between. But mostly, this still holds true.

The towns of Lenwood, Hodge, Helendale and eventually Oro Grande, while still separated by desert, are basically run together. Upon this desert separation houses have been built and developments have popped up. This is no longer a lonely stretch of road.

One of the final Route 66 icons (going east to west, that is) lies on this stretch. The Bottle Forest.

Route 66 has a lot of weird. I like weird. And the bottle forest is weird. Elmer (aka the Bottletree Man of Oro Grande) has constructed a whole forest of bottle trees. Two years ago, we stopped and talked with him for a bit. But today I was more in the mood to get to Cajon Pass before the traffic returning from a crappy weekend in Vegas got there. More on that in a bit.

After a pretty huge cement factory, I came into Victorville. Over 30 miles had passed since Barstow. I was low on gas and thankfully Victorville provided. I think I would like Victorville. It still seems to hold onto some of its small town charm. Unfortunately, the city is moving in. Over 200 movies were filmed in Victorville. The town used to resemble a typical “wild west” town. Most of those movies were wild west movies like the Gene Autry picture, Twilight on the Rio Grande.

Even the Jazz Singer was filmed here. I think this might just be the last Route 66 town (again, going east to west).

All morning I had been dreading one thing. Actually, all throughout the planning of the trip, one very small stretch of road had me so terrified that I was happily going to go three or four hours out of my way to avoid a 10 minute chunk of interstate.

That chunk is Cajon Pass.

Cajon Pass drops a billion feet in only a couple miles. Ok, it’s not that bad. I think it’s a 6% grade. Which also is fine. However, the speed at which the kind folks going into LA take this pass is amazing. When I did it in a car, at 85mph, I was terrified.

I figured a scooter just couldn’t do it. I was told by locals to skip it. I was told by a guy at the campsite where I stayed the previous night that with the wind and fog and trucks, he wouldn’t do it on a scooter.

It’s always wise to heed the advice given to you by locals. But in this case, I did not.

I stopped at the Summit Inn, gathered some strength and tore out onto the interstate expecting to have to do 80mph just to stay alive.

The winds were picking up, the fog was thick and settling in, and the speeds of the motorists were amazing. Rittenhouse suggests that “sometimes it is necessary to use second gear for safety,” but these folks weren’t paying much attention it.

After about 30 seconds, an 18 wheeler passes me. He is going about 65mph, I had not yet picked up full speed. When he pulls in front of me, he slows down to about 55mph. And he was my front door all the way down the pass.

Thank you, unnamed trucker. Thank you for quite possibly saving my life.

Near the bottom of the hill is the exit for Cajon Blvd, Old 66. I take it and follow that (mostly) into San Bernardino.

You can read more about Cajon Pass here.

San Bernardino is where the LA portion of Route 66 is in full effect. From here on, it’s a city.

There are many relics of Old 66 along the way. And it’s definitely not something that should be missed, especially for the 66′r who wants to do Chicago to LA.

This time I was taking a slightly different alignment, going through Chinatown.

I got a little lost along the way, but managed to figure it out.

See, California is REALLY amazingly good at marking which roads are Route 66. However, they don’t seem to find it important to tell you when a road stops being Route 66. Like, when you have to turn left on whatever street to follow Route 66. They just don’t mention it. Thanks, California.

I’ve also noticed that California randomly has numbered exits. Some are numbers and some just aren’t. That’s an improvement, but it makes no sense at all to just do like half of them (though even that is giving California way too much credit). Seriously, fix this.

In cities, it’s pretty well impossible to pull over and take pictures of stuff. Even though there are a ton of red lights, it seems that there just isn’t enough time to pull the camera out of my pocket, turn it on, take the pic, turn it off and stuff it back into my pocket. So I decided to just hang it around my wrist and not turn it off. I would take a picture at every red light that stopped me.

I did this for quite some time and it seems to be a pretty fun thing. I wish I would have thought of this before.

I hate driving in LA. But riding a scooter in LA isn’t bad at all! I thought it would be worse. It almost makes me like the town. Today showed me a side of LA that isn’t all evil. I could probably live here… but wouldn’t. It’s just too big.

And there I was, only a few blocks away from finishing Route 66. I got a little sad.

Several minutes later and I found the archway over the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier. I pulled over the best I could to take a picture or two. The endings of the Route 66 journeys always seem anti-climactic. I’d love to get out and take pictures, visit the pier, like I did in 2006, but today that wasn’t possible. Much of the street was blocked off for Memorial Day festivities.

All I could manage was a picture taken practically over my shoulder.

There was hardly even time to think, “what will I do now?” Route 66 and Jack Rittenhouse have been my companions for nearly the whole of this journey. As I made that turn north on California Route 1, I thought, what will I have to guide me? What is the plan? Was Route 66 just my schooling to get me started? Is it up to me to guide myself, and you, the reader, through the rest of America?

Maybe.

It’s worth a shot.

So let’s get started, ok? From Ocean Ave, where Route 66 unofficially ends, I swung around to California Route 1 and took it north. My destination was Carpinteria, CA, roughly 70 miles up the coast.

For you long time readers of my blog, you might remember Carpinteria as the town where Nikki, Ashley and I stayed after finishing Route 66 and before heading onto Big Sur and visiting Cole.

My plan after Carpinteria? Heading to Big Sur and visiting Cole. Somethings are best left unchanged.

Route 1 is a twisty little road that appears and disappears with California’s amazing lack of signage. I was following it and suddenly, just before Oxnard, it was gone. Where did it go? I’m not sure. I stopped an asked directions and was told that it would start again, just stay on US 101. I did and it did and it was great to see the Pacific Ocean again.

Along Route 1, there are lots of places to pull off to view or swim in the ocean. I gladly took advantage of one about 30 miles north of LA.

I got off the bike and walked up on a rock. While I was up there, an asian woman in her early 20’s approached me holding a parking or speeding ticket. “Are you the ticket collector?” I wasn’t really sure why she was asking me, but I said “… no?” She tried to explain that she wanted to pay her ticket to me. Yeah, she thought that I was a cop. Why? Maybe it was the bright red scooter with Pennsylvania tags. I really have no idea why she thought I was the fuzz, but it was cute. She laughed, a little embarrassed, and walked away.

A bit farther up the coast, I pulled over to see an amazing art project along the side of the road. Someone had stacked up pillars of rocks. Some were miraculously balanced on top of each other. This was great. I’m glad I wondered onto it before they were knocked down.

Back on the 101 and a few miles later, I was in Carpinteria and then at my motel – La Casa del Sol! Definitely not the nicest joint in the world, but I’m a sucker for 40’s and 50’s era motels. Even if they are a bit run down.

However, I do want to start camping. Or at least staying with people. We’ll see how that goes.

And for those who are wondering, every exit is an entrance to somewhere else. The blog will keep going and I’ll keep posting. I can imagine that this will take on a slightly different feel, but it will still be here and I hope that most of you will keep reading if you like it.

Here are my pics from today.

Miles today: 264
Miles total: 4551