July.22.2009It was a little chilly leaving San Francisco. Had a late start also. The day was supposed to be light(only 150 miles ish), so I wasn't that worried.
Got my first taste of winds after crossing the bay. My poor little bike and I were being blown all over the road. That lasted about 30miles till the coast. The Pacific Coast Highway was amazing! It's an endless windy road pulling you along the coast. Every turn has it's own speed rating, and as I learned in CA over the past week, happened to be the perfect fun speed on a motorcycle. Plenty of lean, without scrapping the pegs.
This first day also marks the moment I fell in love with the RVs who should not have been on that road. Because they drove incredibly slow, the RV's provided a perfect excuse to crawl at any pace I pleased. If I ever got antsy, I could just buzzed past them.
I'd only 'planned' the first two nights resting spots before bouncing SF. Since I've NEVER toured before, it was impossible to predict how far I could go. What were my physical and mental limits? What were the limits of the Buell Blast now that it had 50+lbs of gear, tools, camping equipment weighing it down? No idea.
First night's rest was at a KOA. I'd booked it mostly because of the laundry service. It'd been nearly ten days at that point and I was pretty stoked about the prospect of clean cloths.
Worked out great. They even had a comunity kitchen so I didn't have to set up/breakdown my camping stove(fires are a sketchy thing anywhere in CA it seems).
Lastly, about the Blast. It handled admirably! Then again, the bike has always loved putting along at 40-50mph. We'll see how he handles when/if I need to get on a highway!
