March 22
Some might say the best bit about Barstow is the road out. Now whether they would be referring to the general ambience of the town or the fact that the road out is Route 66 is questionable. Despite its tiredness, I think Barstow is an important place to visit on a road trip. Like an aging celebrity, it's not so much what it means today but more a rememberence of the towns history in the fifties and sixty's.
In any event, we picked-up the Mother road and I fulfilled the wish I set myself by riding on Route 66. Clues to the fact you on it are manyfold. Firstly, the sides of the road still have closed down shops, gas stations and restaurants. Secondly, there are a number of potholes and areas of creased tarmac and finally, evey mile or so, "Route 66" is painted in big white letters on the road. These letters attract the tourists and it was not uncommon to round a bend and find ten or so drivers or bikers having a group photo in the middle of the road. H just rode round them, not forgetting to give the "low V sign" as they scattered...
Two hours of uneventful riding saw the desert scrubland slowly start to turn more lush and by Acton, we were entering the Angeles National Forest. After three days of sand, the greenery was quite a difference. At Santa Clarita, we stopped at Kisho's, a Japanese restaurant, and sampled the Tempura which was very good indeed. With a small bottle of Asahi beer each the price came to about $15 each. Have rested, we then headed out of town on the 126 which becomes the East Telegraph Road. You can continue on this road direct to Oxnard but we'd been told of a fun route. Climbing up through mountain territory again, we turned left and south at Filmore into the Happy Camp Regional Park and onto Grimes Canyon Road.
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Having touched the footplate on the Softail a couple of times earlier in the trip, I realised these were just practice runs. As we made our way down the canyon, we came to a series of switchbacks (zoom in on map above) which had me scraping and scratching for about a mile. I was only doing about thirty but I defy any low-slung Harley to get down that road without grounding. A fun way to finish the leg and certainly worth taking the detour to experience it.
Around 6pm saw us entering Oxnard and a short while later, we pulled up at the Courtyard Marriot in Ventura. The hotel was welcoming, comfortable and had a nice little bar from which we availed ourselves a couple of beers. The pool also looked good, so we took a quick swim before heading out to a recommended restaurant in Ventura.
The weather was still warm but cooling as we rode out. We were heading to the Ventura Pier and Eric Ericssons for dinner. Another dramatic part of California, some of the best surfing in southern california is found here. It was getting dark as we slipped the helmets onto the handlebars to walk into the restaurant and the temperature was definitely dropping. Ericssons is a big, roomy building on the coast end of the pier with stunning views and within sound of the crashing Pacific rollers. The food is, as you would expect, fish and ours was once again, perfect. I dived into a shellfish extravaganza with Abalone, Scallops and Shrimp and H took some Lobster Tacos. A bottle of Californian white accompanied the meal and after a quick walk on the pier, we headed back to the bikes. By now, the weather was decidedly cool, even cold. Wiping the condensation off the bikes we had a chilly 15 minute ride back to the hotel where we headed for the bar and finished the evening off with a couple of Irish coffees.
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