Our last days ride–229 miles (574 miles total)

I asked Rick where we were going today and he replied, “All over.”  He wasn’t kidding. I had been on almost all of those roads with him before but the leaves were changing this time and it was very golden.

Here is a map of all three days

The day started out a bit rustic and definitely cold.

And then autumn made its appearance. It was so nice to experience fall again, it doesn’t happen too often in California.  Like big lollipops in the future the colors appeared…

Then the roads opened up and we were lucky enough to ride between golden greens.  

A series of twisties led us to the Rock Inn, lunch, and an eventual parting of ways

 

 

Bernadette’s first trip to the Rock Inn

 

Highway 74–142 miles

We started out our day at a leisurely pace.  Getting to the 74 was all freeway for about 45 minutes which is never pretty but it is expedient. Once off the 91 and the 15 it was another twisty ride but alas not as nice as yesterday’s in my opinion.

 

The view from the Lucky Cafe(I stand corrected Rick has informed me it is the Lookout Cafe). To the right is the road we took to the cafe.

 
There was another couple at the cafe clearly madly in love and all touchy feely.  Laura said the guy was obviously having an affair. After hearing this Rick decided it was time to step up his game!

Well he gets points for trying –After this spectacle off we went and there was a nice stretch of twisties until we finally reached Mission San Juan Capistrano and decided to eat at the Mission Grill.  The leaves were changing (as much as they ever do in California) which was a lovely site even if fleeting …

Not certain if this a a political statement sculpture or just a tourist attraction but it was certainly the best part of the lunch

Well, in all fairness the fries were pretty yummy

Rick then  went inside the Mission while Laura and I wandered the Mission Museum for gifts. I got my standard tourist squished penny and Laura got gifts for the grandkids.  That’s pretty much how Europe will be too…me with pins and stickers and patches (do they have squished coinage?), Laura gifts for the kids, and Rick all about the t shirts

Tomorrow our last ride for this trip sans Laura (she has to work). Rick and I will try out my Sena and have an intercom. For some reason we cannot get all 3 to pair up. Rick has informed me if I am too chatty for his liking he will not let me use the intercom in Europe. Hmmmm, I think I should be the one concerned–everyone knows he is the chatterbox!

Highway 39–203 miles

Met up with Rick and Laura off Azusa exit and took a fantastic ride on the 39. This is a ride that they have ridden many times but my first. Rick says we are preparing for our Alps trip and if this ride was any indication of what that trip will be then I will be in paradise. 
Here are some pictures and they do not do the ride or the road justice 

And for lunch we stopped at the Crystal Lake Cafe where 3 sweet kitties ruled the roost. They looked like my beautiful Blusey 

  
After the ride we stopped at Chaparral Motor Sports. Damn that place is huge. We decided it would be prudent to sit on the bikes we will be riding in the Alps to make certain that me and my short legs can touch. 

We found the Honda NC 700 bikes we will be riding and lucky for me I can touch 

Then we went in search of Rick’s ride and luckily we found that as well 

Once we returned home Rick and I set off on our next adventure…

My favorite 357 Smith & Wesson 6 inch barrel (I was a tad bit nervous bringing that to Rick’s on the bike but what the heck).  That big old scary black gun is Ricks Springfield XD40 

  
And this is my target…Take that!

  
Tomorrow we ride Highway 74 and visit San Juan Capistrano. Nice!

It has been almost 3 months since my last confession…’er I mean ride.

That is truly embarrassing.  So off to the monthly ride with CCR I went.  It was Dash’s turn to enjoy the out of doors

 

Rick would have loved this ride

As with all of Ron’s (CCR leader) rides there are plenty of twists and turns.  It was a lovely day and in total I rode 260 miles with most being Ron’s twisties.  About 12 of us showed for the ride–no group picture it is hard to wrangle all of these people together.

I am still getting used to the Sena (versus the Go Pro) so everything seems a tad wonky.  It was a nice beginning with sweepers galore.  Now on Dash I am always at the back of the pack so it was me and Sweeper Bob for the entire day. He is a truly patient guy.

Just before we stopped for lunch at Malibu Seafood my ocean appeared.  Seems you can’t really ride anywhere in CA without the ocean in sight.  But this is also where the twisties arrived.  And I literally got motorcycle sick.  Somewhere in these turns there was a stretch that didn’t offer any relief; and of course I entered the first twisty on the worst possible line available, “no worries” I thought “I’ll just fix this…” —Hmmm.  Well those darned turns were so tight I could not correct my crazy entrance and it was grueling.  I was all over those twisties (not in a good way) and by the time they spread out so I could correct (and not just look like an imbecile) I was nauseous.   I was happy to stand on terra firma that is for certain.

The rides that Ron lays out are always filled with surprises and on this one he outdid himself.  Teeny tiny little roads with interesting signs.

 

I was certain we would be going in endless circles

And this charming sign.  They really meant it, that road curved right back on itself.

We ended up in Calabasas at a biker bar place but I just wanted to push on home.  Sweeper Bob offered to find some more sweepers for us and I tagged along behind him for a change.  How he found these roads is beyond me and I cannot even describe them other than they were off of major arteries.  Now Bob likes frogs a lot!  He has them bungee corded to his bike (front and back) I decided they were clearly toads and off we went on Mr. Toad’s wild ride home.

I felt like I was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

A fantastic ending to a fantastic day.

Stay tuned- November 20th sees Bernadette getting her November ride to visit Rick and Laura….