To America We Go

Through a maze of highways we made our way out of San Francisco, through Palo Alto, Cupertino (we didn't see A) and Scotts Valley. Towards the coast the weather turned cold and misty. We passed a gathering of bikers and decided to stop and look around. It turned out to be veteran's gathering and some emotional speeches by mothers who had lost sons in the Iraq war made us realise the personal impact that the war has had on American families.

Our first brush with the law: I saw the cruiser entering the on-ramp and matching my speed and coming up behing me. Then the lights were flashing and I pulled over. "Did you know you were doing 85mph in a 65mph zone?". "I'm sorry officer, these miles-per-hour are really confusing, I'm used to kilometres-per-hour". "Just slow down, alright?" :)

We eventually got on to Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. I can only describe it as a road like Chapman's Peak road, but 100km long. Unfortunately it is Labor Day weekend here in the USA (Labor Day on Monday 6th), so everyone was out on the road, and the ride was not about the twisties but sticking behind the bumper of a car in front. The road is single-lane with almost no overtaking opportunities. The ride was incredibly long at these speeds and it was almost dark by the time we reached our target destination.


We had been forwarned that we should reserve a place to stay the night before we set off, so with the help of LastMinute.com we had found a reasonably priced hotel in Santa Maria. Just as well as everywhere was chaos and while checking in three other people were turned away as the hotel was full. We ate at an interesting steakhouse and collapsed shortly after.

After breakfast we'll be setting off for LA, keeping close to the coast.