watching the waves roll in

 When I first dreamed of riding my motorcycle across the country, my destination was to be the Pacific Coastal Highway. I'd never been west of Colorado, and the PCH seemed like an exotic, fun, new adventure. The PCH, also known as Route 1, runs north along the California coast from Los Angeles. The highway offers stunning views of the ocean and mountains. Just stunning. We got some video on the GoPro, but you can't see the water... The water... oh the water. The way the waves crashed on the rocks made me wish I had an afternoon or fifty to sit on the Pacific Coast and watch the waves roll in. I heard a long time ago that you should "live in California once... but leave before it makes you soft." If I didn't have such deep rooting in Georgia,  I might live here for a while. Just to watch the waves roll in..

Jake and I at lunch

 Luckily, Margie and I had a friend move to the PCH area a few years ago. Jake graciously took timeout of his day to lead us around to the good lunch spot and up the highway. The road wasn't all beach front, some of it went through farmland that makes up a large part of California... we traveled pasta strawberry farm that smaller like HEAVEN.

 Sadly, I didn't get to see the Big Sur area during daylight. Such is the nature of traveling on a motorcycle I guess. And honestly, it was a rough day emotionally. The views and the company were beyond spectacular,  but the PCH is the furthest from my home that I could get, and stay on this continent. And I've started feeling my home pulling on my heart. I miss my dogs. I can't wait to bury my face in Cyrus' neck. I'm sure he STANKS  after being on my folks' farm for the last few weeks, and Dobby, the little asswipe, I am so excited to see that pup. Dammit :)

pch :)

 I guess I'm still learning my limits. I've learned a lot about what I want out of my life and how I want to live it while on this trip. Since I spend so much time alone in my helmet, I get a lot of time to think about shit. I borrowed some earphones from my friend in El Paso, but they electrocuted my brain somewhere in Arizona... so now I only use them on the rare occasion I need to use the GPS to find a location.... it's given me the time I needed to figure out what I want to do with my life, when I return home I'm going to have some major life changes. And now I feel ready to grasp the tiger by the tail, so to speak.

  We lost Big Sur to the darkness (I will be back though. I REALLY want to ride Nacimiento-Fergusson Road in Big Sur. I heard there is camping and heart stopping views at the end of the road... One day! Just not this day.), but I had Dave, a family friend, just north of San Francisco and we wanted to make it before daylight. I wish I had video of Margie dancing on her motorcycle as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge... but it was about 3am, and we were so tired and hyped up on caffeine that we forgot :(

Bodega Head

  It is effing cold in California near the coast. I wasn't prepared. I guess the moisture in the air from the ocean spray pulls the heat off you or something... because damn. Especially in the wee hours of the morning. So, for those of you who don't know how the sea affects the temperature.... The proximity of the ocean moderates the temperature.  One of the qualities of H2O, is that it has a very high Specific Heat Capacity (SHC- the energy input required to change the temperature of a substance... I'm glad that effing expensive UGA education is paying off in some way). Because of this water doesn't change temperature easily and as a result, large bodies of water have the ability to regulate the surrounding air temperature. Therefore the temp near the California coast is close to the temperature of the water. The further you travel into the continent, the temperature begins to fluctuate more between day and night.  And in the case of Bodega Bay, that temp is a balmy, moist, 55 degrees Fahrenheit. (Which sounds quite nice if you are reading this from a heat wave of Georgia- but it felt a lot colder at 4am.) I was shivering in my heated Gerbing jacket.

 It was nice to spend a relaxing day with Dave and his adorable pup Posey (And the puppy kisses eased the ache in my heart a little :) Dave showed us around the sights. He took us out to Bodega Head, where he told us Bodega Bay is part of the red triangle. The red triangle is the part of the Pacific Ocean that you can find Great White Sharks... or they find you- if you are unlucky. While we were there we saw some spectacular views, tried to spot some whales (and failed) with a new friend, watched a seal play in the surf (or hunt for lunch, we weren't sure).

The schoolhouse from the birds

 Now, for any horror movie flick fans reading this- Bodega Bay was the location for the setting of Alfred Hitchcock's cult classic film The Birds. The house is long gone, but the schoolhouse and church remain. Margie and I made sure to pay them a visit because her husband is a huge fan of horror flicks.  We picked up salt water taffy for my nieces and nephews,... oh! I almost forgot! On the early morning, FREEZING ride to the bay from San Francisco,  we passed through a fog (which is probably why it was so cold) but it had a minty spice scent. That's the thing about traveling. You get to take the bad with the good. The heavenly scent was from non-native Eucalyptus Trees that were brought over from Australia long ago.

Tomorrow we ride for Yosemite!  I can't wait :)

~Amanda Terranova

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