Motorcycle Philosophy and the Ortega Highway

Day 144 saw me riding from San Diego to Long Beach in California. This was my last full day of riding and I wanted to make the most of it.

I started early as I had a lot to see and my first stop was Balboa Park and the Museum of Man. I was too early to go into the museum as it was not yet open when I was there, so i took a couple of pictures with my point and shoot camera. I believe the tower is called the California Tower....

I tried to go see the Cabrillo National Monument – a lighthouse – as I had been told the views from the point upon which it sits are fantastic. It wasn’t to be though as the US Navy don’t open the road until 10am each day. I am not sure why and the guard didn’t know either, but I just accepted it and turned around, carrying on my journey north.

My next stop was at La Jolla and I looked at the seals before getting a coffee and some breakfast. I chatted to a guy called Joel who had become a motorcyclist a few years later than most of us and he told me how much he was enjoying what had now become a new passion for him. Nice one!

The previous evening, I had changed the ISO setting on my camera to a very high setting for some night photos. Today was an absolute disaster as I forgot to change to back to a slower speed / higher quality so when I looked at my pictures from my last full riding day, they were, well, rubbish!

I have junked most of them and have included just a few here. This is La Jolla and because of my lack of a brain on this day, it doesn’t look at its best....

I went to see the San Diego California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, near to La Jolla. It is a stunning church with high reaching spires and its white finish to the building makes it seem like the church is glowing...

At Cardiff, I stopped to look at what seemed like a very peculiar statue. It seemed to be a young boy surfing while wearing an army uniform. I got chatting to a local couple who told me the story of the statue. Meant to be honouring the many surfers along this part of the coast, the statue shows somebody learning to surf, but the local surfers complained the figure was in the wrong pose and limp-wristed. Now knicknamed the Cardiff Kook, people have jokingly added items to the statue and this seems to have become a local prank that people enjoy.

The statue is sometimes dressed in clothes, wears a hat, or one elaborate prank saw a huge shark being added about to eat the poor newbe-surfer. Thankfully, nobody has vandalised the sculpture and I like the fact that the protest continues in a light-hearted way. When I was there, the statue looked like this....

I wanted to get some last pictures of the California coast. The ISO problem made them almost un-usable....

The highlight of my day was meeting Steve Johnson and his friend Jack. Many of you will have read Steve’s blog, called Motorcycle Philosophy, and especially read of his recent ride to Alaska and back. We had arranged to meet at Oceanside and we first rode to San Clemente for lunch. We of course talked about bikes, including riding in this part of California, which has the almost unique blend of being able to ride by the ocean and in a very short amount of time, you could be riding in the mountains just inland.

After lunch we set off with Steve on his Honda ST1300 and Jack on his Suzuki V-Strom DL650. I had read about a great riding road called the Ortega Highway, which has a reputation for being one of the most dangerous roads in the US. I thinks that reputation is diminishing now for as Steve explained, a lot more car traffic now uses the road and that has slowed down the sports bike riders. With Steve in the lead I could quickly tell he could handle his Honda very well and he soon disappeared into the distance. I tried to keep up, but I didn’t want to become a part of the roads reputation!

We reached the top of the ride at a place with a terrific view of Lake Elsinore. Here are Steve (on the right) and Jack....

The view of the lake....

All too soon, I needed to head off back down the Ortega Highway and bid farewell to Steve and Jack. It was good to meet Steve after reading his blog. The name of his blog, Motorcycle Philosophy reflects the fact that Steve likes to read and write about the feelings of riding motorbikes. It is the ride itself that he likes towrite about. His blog is great reading!

On the way back down, I stopped very briefly at the Hells Kitchen, a favourite watering hole for local bikers....

I was late to meet another biker who had responded to my blog by writing some comments and we had exchanged a few e-mails. Having agreed to meet at Mothers Bar just outside Long Beach, I had to crank the bike up a bit to get there in time and I skipped a few places I had wanted to see on the way. I arrived at about the right time, but the guy I was to meet didn’t show up....

On my last full day of riding, I did 203 miles.

I have just a few posts left to write about the tour and on Saturday, I am going to be making an announcement....