Day 50 – San Diego, CA

Day 50 – San Diego, CA     10/10/10     Mileage: Local miles

The morning was SoCal spectacular and we had breakfast outside on the patio. Bob and Janet’s neighbor Norma joined us and she is a real character…in addition to being a total cougar! Lol! She happens to be from Bolivia originally and traveled in Baja Mexico quite a bit, so she gave me some great information and contacts for the road(Thanks Norma!).  After breakfast we adjourned to Bob’s man cave, otherwise known as the garage. And what a 3 car garage it is… I’d be proud to call it my living room! The walls are adorned with racing posters and memorabilia and pictures of Bob from his days racing Formula V and Formula Ford race cars.

Me and my Uncle Bob...

Bob's man cave...I love it! One of these days...

Me and Janet...

Me and Norma...

Bob and Janet's house...

 There also happens to be BMW 335i turbo hard-top convertible parked in there also…so that spiffs things up a bit! After that I was off to run some errands and change the KLR’s oil.

The old turkey pan in the parking lot oil change trick...

And no trip to SoCal would be complete without a stop at In-N-Out…so I got that done also!

In-N-Out...a SoCal institution!

This place was hoppin! Look how many they have working behind the counter!

Back at the house, Janet had another nice dinner prepared and Norma joined us for a drink as well. We had some great laughs and good conversation before calling it a night. Tomorrow I’ll be heading for Mexico after taking care of some last minute tasks.

Day 49 – Los Angeles, CA to San Diego, CA

Day 49 – Los Angeles, CA to San Diego, CA     10/09/10     Mileage: 133

After a nice breakfast with Steve and the family, I packed up the bike and hit the road. My destination was my Uncle Bob’s house in San Diego, but I had one stop to make along the way in Lomita to get 2 new tires put on the bike. Once at MC Tireworks in Lomita, I was greeted by Mike who had arranged for my tires to be waiting for me…and sure enough they were! In the interest in saving time and money again, I took the wheels of myself on the side of their shop so they can swap the tires on the rims.

First the front wheel...

While the rear wheel was off, I also took the time to swap out the drive chain and both drive sprockets.

By putting the bike on the center stand and balancing the bike on one of my side boxes...I could pull off both wheels at once...

I’m not carrying a socket and breaker bar large enough to swap the front drive sprocket, but they were happy to lend one to me which was much appreciated! The owner, Paul, is also a nice guy and we chatted about bikes and the trip….and he even bought me a soda. All this took much longer than I hoped, so I got a late start down to my Uncle Bob’s and didn’t pull into his house until 7:30. I hadn’t seen him and his wife Janet for some 15 years, so it was so great to catch up with them! Janet had an excellent dinner of filet mignon and tuna steaks prepared…just a tad nicer than my regular diet of simple road food! They also have a really nice house…..so between the food, the house and the SoCal weather…I may never want to leave! After catching up on the years gone by and the trip, we all called it a night.

Day 48 – Los Angeles, CA

Day 48 – Los Angeles, CA     10/08/10     Mileage: Local miles

Today was all about getting the KLR serviced, and I had a service appointment at Honda of Hollywood….which is also the local Kawasaki and BMW dealer.

Honda of Hollywood (and Kawasaki and Suzuki and BMW) ...

The valves were due for adjustment, and I had to pick up a few more oil filters and other parts. I was able to save some time and a few bucks by stripping the bike myself in their parking lot.

Stripped naked and ready to be serviced...

While the bike was being serviced I went around the corner to a café to get a bite to eat and catch up on the blog. After returning the bike was ready to go (for you tech heads: intake valves were fine, exhaust valves were slightly loose and needed to be re-shimmed), so I put it back together and they gave it a full cleaning as part of the service….cool! 

Looking good and feeling good after having the valves adjusted and a good cleaning!

If only the owner looked and smelled as nice!

That was the first wash it got…aside from a quick power-wash in Fairbanks…since leaving NJ, so the KLR looked as good as new! After that was dinner with my cousin Steve, his wife Rachel, son Leor and Leor’s girlfriend Maya.

L to R: Me, Steve, Leor, Rachel and Mocha the lovable pit bull.

Steve recently published a book titled “Up in the Bronx”, which I am making my next read.

Here is a link to buy it on Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/Up-in-the-Bronx ebook/dp/B0040GJDDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286831544&sr=8-1