The day started out a tad later than we had wanted but it was too cold to leave earlier. An uneventful ride from the 150 to the 33. However as the 33 began to twist and turn spectacular yellow flowers dotted the roadway. Unfortunately, Rick is too much of a speedster to pull over so I could get a picture and not wanting to break formation I followed patiently–believing they would reappear.
Alas it was not to be so here is the best that I could piece together given Rick’s propensity to not find interesting those things that I do find interesting.
Imagine the flowers below waist high…
Scotch Brooms
and flanking both sides of this road…
and that is the image that I did not capture. Of course as we lunched Rick decided to tell me everything he knows about all of the foliage on our trip thus far. He explained how the Scotch Brights (technical name the yellow ones) are invasive and are taking over the Lupin (commonly known as the purplies) and this aggravates him as the indigenous species is being supplanted by the yellows. I found the yellows to be a stunning contrast to the greens and browns so I do not share his passionate distaste for the yellow flowers.
Dash posing for his outing
Once we turned on Lockwood Canyon Road Dash forced the first of many (too many) U-Turns to get this shot.
Thoughts are things.
Many years ago Annette and I took a motorcycle ride up to the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple. However, cold and hunger overtook all of our good intentions and we ended up eating waffles in Ojai and buying her a motorcycle jacket on Ebay.
After going to Frazier Park for lunch we went in search of route 166. This was to be the next installment of numerous U-Turns mainly due to Rick (ha ha). On our first hunt for the 166 we ended up at Mt. Pinos which is at an altitude of 8,303 feet (we had no idea). But it was so pretty up there. Hikers were darting in and out of every imaginable crevice and astronomers had telescopes with camera’s attached to rival the Griffith Observatory.
Mt. Pinos
Since this clearly was not the 166 we retreated in search of. Coming to the crossroads of 33 and 166 Rick asked which way I thought 166 was–to which I replied left. He promptly went right. Once he stopped at a gas station (which he pretended was necessary and his plan all along) we once again U-Turned and found the 166. A long, boring, windy road only to rival the long, boring windy roads of US 50. One bit of excitement was being stuck behind a semi-truck. I felt like I was inside a salt and pepper shaker I never thought it would end. I passed at the first opportunity and welcomed the long, boring, windy road into Santa Maria.
Off to Foxen Canyon Road. Unfortunately, I kept getting us lost (insert even more U-Turns). This is where I took us…and that is NOT Foxen road
What?
Back on the 154 and thankfully no more U-Turns and we were a hop-skip-and-jump from home. Here is a straggler picture. See you all in a few days as I ride to Napa to meet my Canadian friends….
BackdoorMotoAdventures 