Pearls On Wheels

  On 5 May 2014 we rode from San Francisco on Flower Power, a BMW GTLe, to Fresno. This was the beginning of an outstanding adventure. We have learned a great deal about life in America. In eighty days we rode 27,500km (17,000miles) an average distance 343km/day 212miles/day. The longest days were 730 Km from Dingwall in Nova Scotia, the furthest east point on our journey, and Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and the next day from Fredericton to Montreal 850km. We visited 32 states in the USA and 5 provinces in Canada, 24 National Parks and National Monuments, Kennedy Space Centre and places of historical significance in civil rights and civil war history. We visited mostly small towns. People were kind everywhere. We especially enjoyed the hospitality of Jim and Bernie at Cocoa Beach, Pete and Danielle at Lexington VA and Vergennes VT, Chantal et Jean in Montreal, Anne and Joe at McCall ID and Mark in Portland OR and Sandy Hook, Whidbey Island WA. The weather was kind. The sun ...

We set off from San Simeon early. It is cool 59degF/15degC and the skies are blue. We ride South and leave CA1 and head east through the Cuyana Valley then to Ventura on HWY33. This route takes us off the busy highway from Obispo into farmland and mountains. A day of arid scenes, dry stream and river beds, irrigated fields, pistachio orchards, people harvesting strawberries, mountain passes and wonderful winding roads. We reach the hwy101 near Ventura and are on the freeway for about two hours. It is warm here 95degF/35degC. Traffic ebbs and flows. One of the ebbs is caused by a motorcycle crash. Traffic police, an ambulance and firemen are on the scene. A very sobering site. Dick as always provides a good gap between us and the car in front - vehicles in the lane behind us seem to mirror this. When we get near to Santa Monica we accept the welcome arms of a car pool lane on the inside of the freeway. This gives us a fairly free run for the 55miles to the Long Beach off ram...