Dream Ride: Highway 1

Traveling within the Midwest usually feels like waiting, anxious to arrive at your destination so that you can get out of the stuffy, uncomfortable car and away from the monotonous sight of endless fields of corn. The only emotion of fulfillment occurs upon arrival, even though that will be quickly followed by boredom because you're probably still be in the Midwest. I have discovered the absolute cure for trips like that and those that overlook the joy of motion: US Highway 1. Taking this road north shoves you against the Pacific coastline leaving you free to sniff the fresh sea breeze, cruise by pristine beaches drenched in ocean reflected sunlight all while flirting with the edge of the western world. Such instant gratification allows you to answer the age old question "are we there yet?" with an absolute "yes" even though your destination is five hours up the road. I took my sweet time on this road and I'm glad because I had to jump off my bike every ten minutes to take pictures of postcard worthy beaches with perfectly white clouds hovering above.

I spent five days bouncing up the coast on my way to San Francisco from San Diego. The first night I slept in San Clemente (stupid sprinklers) then with the aunt of my old dormitory roommie in Huntington Beach the next night. Night three and four I stayed in San Luis Obispo with students of the local university that I found through www.couchsurfing.com. The students and I (AH! I'm not a student anymore!) cruised the local pubs, street festivals and even attended a wine tasting. They sniffed and swirled their wines like they had done it a million times before. I just did what they did and assumed everybody from the area of the country's finest wines were wine experts. I later found out that they also had no idea what they were doing. I passed up San Francisco to spend the holiday weekend with my cousins in Sacramento. After being on the road for a while a nice, slow weekend of grilling and riding dirt bikes really hit the spot. Next I'm going to migrate back to San Francisco for some exploring.

My Plans....

I'm a bit stuck right now. I still have not found a way to get across the Pacific Ocean. Port security prevents me from getting spontaneous work on ships so the only way I would be able to get onto a cargo ship is if I paid for a passenger cabin. Sailing would be the finest way to get across but it would take about 3 months at sea to get to Asia. The only way I can think of to get across is to try cruise ships. The best thing to do right now is to hang out on the coast and talk to people at marinas, ports and fellow travelers. I'm also trying to sell the bike so that I will be flexible to jump onto a boat if the opportunity occurs. I'll switch to buses and trains after the bike is gone. It will be a sad day to see her ride away with somebody else.