I just posted this in Modern Vespa, but, wanted to share on this site as well; not my Buddy, but a scooter/ride.
ABQ to Chico and Back –
Work has been extremely busy so I was lucky to get time off for a vacation – we trailered our scooters from ABQ to Morro Bay Ca and rode up the coast cutting across to the central valley at the north bay ending up at Chico Ca our final destination where the in-laws live – we spent a week in Chico an then took to the Hwy back to ABQ stopping only in Las Vegas pulling the trailer all the way back with no time to scooter because work is waiting.
I intended on taking more pictures of us on the scooters, but, when ridding it’s hard to snap pictures, below are a few pictures:
Here we are at the start of our adventure; it was a cool when we started and it ends up being un-seasonably cool on the coast for our whole trip: Morro Bay
At the start, Morro Bay:
An important part of our trip was our sag – without them our trip as planned wouldn’t have been possible: Hayley, Arron our SAG with Kathleen and I having lunch in Moss Landing.
Phill’s at Moss Landing:
Ridding up the coast on Hwy 1 was Ok – the weather was cooler than expected so by the time I got to Monterey I was cooler than I wanted to be (as the weather reporters were saying “unseasonably cooler” sorta chilled me to the bone. Traffic was not that bad so I thought we would go faster and take less time up the coast than it actually took. Turns out Hwy 1 is not a very good road to go fast on, too many blind turns, too many rocks on the road, too many sharp turns, too much beautiful/stunning scenery makes it not conducive to fast ridding on this road. We were running late so when we road through the Big Sur and I saw the mountain sides stained yellow with succulents and various other vegetation I was silly not to have taken at least one picture – so if you all get a chance bring your camera the mountains will not be like that all the time.
We had to stop to see this:
Big boys:
Once in Monterey we of course did the tourist stuff like the aquarium.
Us at the aquarium:
Kathleen Jelley:
We rode further up the coast to Santa Cruz/Capitola; it will only be in the early mornings to see this scene because in a couple of hours the people come, and with the people come the cars, we stayed at the Capitola Hotel.
Capitola:
From the coast we rode into southern Santa Clara Valley, my old home; from there we packed up the scooters and trailered to the North Bay where we stayed in Corte Madera for a few days.
Corte Medera:
We rode several times into the city which was Ok but coming from the city back in to Corte Madera was pretty hairy – the scooters are a little too small for the hills, rain, wind and crazy drivers, but, the scooters are perfect for ridding through the city. Parking was abundant and most drivers were conscious of our presence. What I noticed was how much smaller the city seems when able to maneuver through the traffic ridding a scooter.
A few highlights from the city: ate at Sam’s on Bush; bought some of the best cookies, ever, at the Castro, bought some strange socks at the Height, rode down Lombard on the scooters, crossed the Golden Gate, and saw more of the city in a couple of days ever thought possible because of the ease of access on scooters through the city streets.
Fairmont: we didn’t stay there but got a picture
Not the summer of love:
Above the park:
Coit Tower:
We let the kids stay in the city, Marines Memorial, while we went to the North Bay
Marines:
From Corte Madera we rode to Santa Rosa and headed north east via 29 and interested onto Hwy 20 eventfully on to Hwy 45 into Chico.
I think I found my new favorite scooter road; Hwy 20 from Calistoga into South Clear Lake. The road was freshly paved, smooth and there was no traffic going west to east, it was a thrilling ride from the Calistoga valley into the Clear Lake valley.
Downtown Calistoga just before riding up Hwy 20, a really great road for scooters, and back down into south Clear Lake.
Calistoga:
A couple of shots of Downtown Chico
Madison Bear:
Sierra Nevada: Looking for the meaning of life
Along drive, a stay in Las Vegas, another long drive and I’m home again.
