Day 47 – San Francisco, CA to Big Sur, CA

Day 47 – San Francisco, CA to Big Sur, CA     10/06/10     Mileage: 169

 The run down to Big Sur was only going to be a few hours ride, so I was in no rush to leave. Linda and I went to Starbucks for a coffee before I said goodbye and hit the road. There were some nice sections of highway 1 south of San Francisco, but not quite as good as north of the city.

I stopped for lunch in Santa Cruz and took in the sights for a bit.

I continued south and also detoured through Monterey where I had my first brush with the law! He pulled me over for rolling through a stop sign and speeding. Whoops! The officer was astride a BMW “R” police bike…so being a fellow rider I gave him the brief story of the trip and told him its the first time I’d been pulled over in 11,000 miles! It must have worked, as he gave me a good talking to, but in the end only gave me a verbal warning. Whew! Honestly, I can’t believe I’ve made it this long…as I’ve definitely been taking some, errr, liberties with speed limits and the occasional passing in a double yellow line.

After that I blasted…I mean…quietly and slowly…rolled out of town. As I approached Big Sur, I saw a dirt road that ascended up into the mountains with an ominous sign saying it was impassable when wet. Now that sounds like a fun road that I have to check out!

It was a very narrow, steep and rutted dirt road, but a piece of cake for the KLR….good fun none the less! The rain unfortunately started which was a bummer as I had totally planned on camping in Big Sur. I tried to wait it out for a bit but the forecast was for showers all night. With that bleak outlook I found a room at the Fernwood, a cute place with a bar/restaurant and general store.

After settling into the room, I went to the bar for dinner and a few drinks, used the wifi for a bit and then called it a night. Tomorrow I should make it down to LA…