Lompoc July 2008

July 17 - 20, 2008

Trip Report

Trip Prep

My wife, Chris, IMed me last Thursday and said that she wanted to get away, so how about going to Las Vegas on the bike? At first I thought she was kidding, but I soon found out she wasn't, so I told her that Vegas would be too hot to ride to, what if we went up to Santa Maria or near there? She said fine, so I started looking at motels in the gereral area and found a Best Western in Lompoc.

This is the first time my wife has ever gone someplace on the bike like this. We have done rides of 160+ miles before, but those were one day and usually about 60 miles at the most before stopping for an hour before doing the next leg. Can you say total shock to me? It was for me, for her to even suggest it. Maybe $4+ per gallon of gas isn't all that bad?

Day One

We left about 3:15pm on Friday (an hour and 15 minutes later then I wanted to! We rode up I15 and took off on Hwy 74 and made our way through Elsinore (it was 100º through there) to Ortega Hwy. As soon as we started climbing, it got cooler! We had to sit and wait at the construction for about 20 minutes, but I found some shade, so it wasn't too bad.

From I5 we took the Toll Road Hwy 73 over to I405. As we got closer to LAX, the fog had started rolling in and it started getting cold. We continued north to I105 where we went west so we could catch Hwy 1 near LAX. On the north side of LAX, we stopped for gas. We hit some traffic a little farther north (through the Venice area) and I did a little lane splitting, but not too much. Then we caught I10 west and then down to PCH where the traffic was dead stopped...well almost dead stopped. Since it was getting colder and it was driving me crazy, I started slipping through the traffic. Not everyone was too happy with me, including Chris! I told her to hang on and close her eyes!

The traffic cleared up for the most part about 5 miles up the way, but we lost a lot of time. The lanes were very narrow and it took a lot of maneuvering to get around the cages. Some tried very hard not to let me by. They failed!

We got through all of that and continued north where it just kept getting colder and damper. We had to pull over and get our liners out and heavy gloves. Once out of Malibu, the fog went away and the traffic lightened up and we started making good time again. As we were going through Ventura, Chris was complaining that her neck was getting cold, so I pulled off and we managed to find a Big Lots where she picked up a couple of small thin blankets.

Since it was close to the time the sun goes down, we decided to stop and eat before heading to Santa Barbara. I'm glad we did. After dinner, I went ahead and attached my riding pant shells and we took the blankets Chris bought and wrapped them around our necks and headed north to SB. The temps were dipping into the low 60's by the time we made it to SB, so the blankets worked out really well.

Because I don't really like the cold winds on Hwy 101 near Gaviota, where the hwy heads away from the ocean and into the mountains, I decided to head up Hwy 154 out of SB and go through the mountains. I just took it slow and easy and even pulled over for a few cars so they could pass me. It took us a bit, but we came to Hwy 246 and we headed west through Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton and finally made to Lompoc around 10:30pm.

Day Two

The next morning we got up and went to the breakfast the Motel provided. (Not really a bad breakfast either. After breakfast, Chris wanted to take a nap, so I told her no problem; I’ll just walk across the street to the Honda Dealer! So that’s what we did.

While I was in the Dealers, I heard a ST1300 ride up, so I had to go investigate. As the guy was pulling his helmet off, I asked if he is on ST-Owners.com. He said yes and that he was Bob, also known as “BluByU”. I immediately recognized him from last years Fat Cats Meet & Greet! So we started talking and come to find out, they have a regular gang that hangs out Saturday mornings for Coffee & Donuts! Talk about picking the right motel! While there, Mike (last name?) rolls up on a 03 ST1300, which has over a 111K on it. Totally amazing! He is in the middle of trying to sell it for only $3,000. That bike sounded pretty darn good for a bike with 111K on it. If I had the bucks, I’d buy it for a commuter and leave my 05 for my rides!

While in the store, before all the commotion outside, I saw that they had older style CorTech GX-Sport jackets, similar to the one that I crash in, hanging on the walls. They had a couple of 2XL “Red”, which is what I was looking for and couldn’t find when I found the GX-Air at Newenough.com and bought that instead. The GX-Air is great for summer, but I’ve been thinking of picking up a solid jacket come winter. I asked if they were discounting them since they were last year’s jacket and they gave me 10% off! So I went back to the motel room with a new jacket!

Chris and I then took off for Wal-Mart, and then headed for Solvang where we were going to spend the afternoon. We found parking in the shade and then trekked through town until we found a nice diner!

After eating Chris wanted to hit a couple of the quilting stores and I wanted to go to the motorcycle museum. The museum had a number of interesting bikes.

Of course an Ice Cream was necessary to give us the energy to get back to the bike and head back to the motel!

After resting up from all the walking we did for the day in Solvang, we got on the bike again and headed out for some dinner.

Day Three

Sunday morning, after breakfast we loaded up the bike for the ride home. One thing Chris made perfectly clear…do not go through Malibu again! We left around 11:00am and after stopping for gas in Buellton and then in Solvang for a loaf of bread (and like we had a lot of space left after my great find the previous morning- the jacket…), but I did find a “safe” place for it in the topcase and we were on our way again and back to Hwy 154. A short time on 154 and the weather cleared nicely, until Cold Springs bridge, then we hit a wall of fog and that was with us all the way into Santa Barbara.

On Hwy 101 we saw a couple of ST1300’s heading north as we were passing that little coastal town that had that horrible mudslide a couple of years back.

As we were coming into Ventura, the traffic started slowing down, so we decided to take Hwy 126 and go through Santa Paula and Fillmore. Once in Fillmore, we stopped at McD's and had lunch. We were again on the road and took I5 south then I210 east, Hwy 57 South to Hwy 71 which feeds into Hwy 91, the I15 south to home. But 30 minutes out, we stopped again and took a little break.

We got home around 4:30pm.

Chris did really great. It was a bit hard on her and next time, if we leave late like we did on Friday, we’ll do two motels (the first one will be closer) so we don’t have to have such a long day. Besides that and the lane splitting in Malibu, she enjoyed herself. Although she just doesn’t want to let me think that I can get her to go for rides all the time…

Pictures of our Trip: Pictures