We changed our routine a bit this morning. Since the hotel we stayed in didn't offer any kind of breakfast, and since the heat of the afternoon is so intense here we decided to set the alarm clock for 5:30 AM and try to get an early start on the day. That went off without a hitch and we were on the road at 6:00 AM today. This being the 4th of July holiday, and the early hour there was almost no traffic to contend with. We did still have some red lights, but even them we made better than yesterday. We really couldn't have timed a ride through Los Angeles any better and we were pretty happy with our plan. We tried to follow route 66 as much as possible, but the signage was spotty so we just did our best. Along the way we needed to stop at Dodger Stadium for one of our GT waypoints. We first arrived at a back entrance with no signage of any use to us so we had to work around to the front and finally found a banner sign that would have required us to park near the street and then stand in the street to get the photo. Then up an entrance driveway we saw a better sign, but it was behind some gates. We spotted a guard so rode up to ask if we could get a photo. He was less than helpful. He told Larry that "this property is closed to the public right now" and that we couldn't take ANY photos! Larry tried to schmooze him but he was having no part of it. Finally, I had pulled up and said let's just park in front of the gates and get our photo there. Apparently the guard then told Larry that we "were under video surveillance and that we should get one photo and the leave so that's what we did.
 |
| Dodger Stadium |
From the stadium we head back on route 66 through downtown LA. Eventually we are on the final leg riding down Santa Monica Boulevard. That was quite a trip, starting out with neighborhoods where all the windows had bars on them and transitioning on through to Beverly Hills, crossing Rodeo Drive, and finally reaching the end at the Santa Monica Pier.
 |
| Larry at the end of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier |
From here we head north t try to run another famous motorcycle road - Mulholland Drive. As we re following the GPS route, I (who am running lead today) see an exit off the freeway that says Mulholland Drive, which I decide to take thinking I am only cutting off a tiny bit of the very start. We run the rest of Mulholland but we are disappointed and not impressed. Disappointed because we never saw the section I most wanted to run as seen on you tube videos - apparently it was the short section I cut off at the beginning! For all the rest that we did run, is was very twisty, but with a endless driveways and terrible pavement conditions it was not much fun to ride. Oh well...
So now we are headed south on the freeways right back through downtown LA headed for Yorba Linda CA and the location od Richard Nixon's Presidential Library. Before we get there though we needed to stop for breakfast, so we jumped off the freeway in Downey CA and found a MacDonalds right off the exit! The place was PACKED with a large table of retirees, a drive through line that was at least 15 cars long and snarling all the parking lot, and prompting some of the drive through customers to instead parka nd come inside to order. As a result our breakfast stop lasted 42 minutes.
The breakfast did rejuvenate us though and now we headed to the Nixon Library. It was easy to get to and find,and not too difficult to get the required photos.
 |
| Nixon Library |
From here we would have to run back up almost to where we started the day and then on to Pasadena. I must say that getting around on the freeways is pretty quick and efficient, though a bit daunting with the California drivers dodging in and out of lanes and generally totally ignoring any speed limits. We get up to Pasadena and first go to the post office, which has NO city name on it, but the city hall is right around the corner and, nope, no name on it either. Then there's a police station on the same block and finally - what we need, even if I did have to park on the sidewalk t get the photo!
 |
| Pasadena |
Now we are finally heading out of town and into the
Angeles National Forest, and what turns out the be one of the best, if not the best, motorcycle roads I have ever ridden - the
Angeles Crest Highway. ou know its gonna be good when you are heading up the first hill and there's a road sign showing the squiggly arrow indicating curvy roads - for the next 55 miles! Not only is this road continuously twisty, and climbs up and over the San Gabriel Mountain range, but the road surface is outstandingly good with fairly light traffic and plenty of turnouts for slower drivers to use and most of them do!
 |
| Angeles Crest Highway Track |
 |
| Angeles Crest Highway Elevation Profile |
Most of the highway is posted at 45 MPH, with a few shorter sections at 55. It is so twisty however that cars are very hard pressed to make those speeds and even motorcycles need to be in capable hands to actually manage that. We did manage to cover the 64.3 miles shown in the track file in 1:37 for an average speed of 41 MPH. Pretty decent considering we stopped for an 11 minute break.
 |
| Bikes at break on Angeles Crest Highway |
 |
| View from break stop on Angeles Crest Highway |
When we finally get to the end of the Angeles Creat Highway, we have descended some 4000 ft of elevation from the peak, and the temperatures are beginning to rise. As we now head north the elevation continues to drop slowly but steadily. By the time we get to the town of Littlerock we are tired hot and hungry so we stop at a little Mexican cafe and get a decent lunch. Then we decide that we're done enough for the day and figure to get a hotel room 17 miles further on up the road in Lancaster CA where there are at least 20 hotels listed in the GPS, including one of Larry's favorites a Holiday Inn Express. We pull in there and it seems a bit busy, but there's a limo in the entrance and it looks like a wedding party. Larry heads in to get a room, but after about 10 minutes he's motioning me to come in. It turns out that there is a huge softball tournament going on and ALL the rooms in ALL the hotels are booked solid! So we decide to call Choice Hotels who can check availability of several different brands of hotels for us along our route and we end up learning that the nearest hotel with room is 90+ more miles in Bakersfield CA. It's not 100 degrees and 3:15 PM. There's really nothing to do but suck it up and ride the final 95 miles so we wet our shirts for cooling and head out. Now, in addition to the heat, there's a heavy wind that is sometimes cross and sometimes nearly head on just to make the ride a bit more challenging. As we roll towards Bakersfield the temp is rising steadily now, and it ends up topping out at 110 degrees. We finally arrive at our hotel at 4:22 PM and are we ever glad to get into an air conditioned room!
So as soon as we get cooled off and our laundry in the machine, Larry is figuring out our next two nights of hotels and calling ahead to make reservations so we don't repeat the unplanned extension of the day like we had today.
Today's Stats: 376.9 miles in 10:58 elapsed time, 8:00 saddle time.
