Pacific

[As I write this, t is 3:00 am in Reno, Nevada on Monday, 21.  My last post was written three days ago in the Imperial Valley of California. I am several days behind on the blog, but will do my best to catch up.]  

Continuing Thursday's journey, we chose to avoid the famous traffic of Los Angeles by staying north of the Angeles National Forest.  We continued west across the desert toward Palmdale then made our way southwest through the hills on Soledad Canyon Road. 

There's a look that Marty gets in his eye when he is about to cut loose.

The ride through Soledad was both beautiful and thrilling.  Between the weather, the scenery, and the 20% higher price of gasoline ... I don't understand how anyone can live in California and not own a motorcycle.   

We stopped at Santa Clarita for our evening meal, we finally found an In-N-Out burger and stuffed ourselves with double cheese burgers and shakes.  In California, fast food restaurants are required to post the calorie count of their menu items.  Since we had never eaten lunch and had muscled our bikes across the desert, we earned every calorie we consumed.

From Santa Clarita, we continued due west to Ventura and the Pacific Ocean.  Highway 120 through Santa Paula is lined with farms that grow avocados, strawberries, and other items that fill the produce section of our grocery back home.

As we approached the ocean, Marty made it clear that he would only get to see ONE Pacific sunset and he would not miss it stuck on the bike.  We pulled off at Ventura and shot pictures as the sun disappeared behind the hills of Santa Barbara.

My goal for the day was a campground about 30 miles west of Santa Barbara, but the sun was down and we found an open spot in a county park named Faria Beach.  We camped overnight sleeping 50 paces from the pounding surf.