The day started on a disappointing note, as we couldn’t buy the camera we were looking for. We were carrying dollar cards from back home, which works at selective places, and it decided not to work at the one place we liked the camera. Anyways, we decided to start with the basic camera that we have, not good for a photographer, but decent enough for us to capture our memories.
By the time we hit the road, it was 2 pm. It was fairly late in the day to get on to the road, and we agreed that we didn’t want to go far. We were in no hurry; we had 6 months to look around the country. We exited Santa Clara on 101S. We were determined to take the highway 1, which we had heard is the most beautiful drive along the Pacific coast, but our GPS (duly christened as Tommy), insisted on taking us back to 101. It took us a while to realize that it would take us through the fastest route available, unless we changed the setting. We finally changed it to “always avoid freeways”, and Tommy let us proceed on our desired highway 1. The ride was every bit as beautiful as we had expected it to be.
The highway was closed due to landslide around the Big Sur area, and we did see signage that said “highway closed after 29 miles”. We were greedy for the view, and stretched our luck, hoping to find a detour ahead. Unfortunately, there was no detour available, and we had to ride back till Salinas and take 101 again. L We spotted the RV park as we crossed Marina, and that would be our space for the night. At 7 pm, we camped exactly in the same town, that we had had our lunch at 4 pm! But the day was well spent along the coast. No complains there.
The next morning we started our ride late in the morning, around 11 am. The ride was on 101, so nothing worth a mention, except the hearty country style lunch at Guadalupe. It’s a small sleepy town with very warm people.
The night stay was at Motel 6, Camarrillo. All ride and no play had made both jacks sleepy, and we snored our way to the morning.
Los Angeles was the next pit stop, and we were determined to use the day at Universal Studios. We reached LA around 12 noon, and after a couple of calls, parked ourselves at a motel called Econo Inn. It’s a tough choice when you are running on a budget. Very old, basic motel; but nice, clean and comfortable rooms. No internet. Spent the day at Universal, looking around and jumping like kids. Loved it. The ‘house of horrors’ and the ‘Mummy ride’ nearly killed me, while V enjoyed my plight! Total money spent = $300, way off the daily budget, but damn it!
This was Universal studios in LA and who cares!
Loafed around the Hollywood drive, after clicking pictures at the ‘walk of fame’. Unfortunately the street was closed for road repairs for that day (what luck!), hence it was much duller compared to what I had imagined in my head. Finding a parking spot was a nightmare. The public parking would cost us $10 for the motorcycle. Remember the minds tuned to convert every $ to Indian currency? Rs 500 just seemed like too much to pay for an hour!! Managed to finally find one metered parking spot and got away with paying just $1 per hour (smart me :D, pat on the back)
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