I'm pretty much finished with the mods for my CTX. Floorboards front and rear, Corbin seat, center stand, Mutazu sidebags, Bestem top box...all of those and a few other odds and ends have been checked off. Nothing to do now 'cept get out and ride...maybe do a short tour to get out of the heat. Lucky for me that if I go east I find myself in the much cooler mountains as I ride higher and higher, and if I go west I find myself on the California coast where the marine layer provides natures version of air conditioning.
On Tuesday evening, my wife and I were talking about how the Sacramento region is in for eight to ten days of 100 degree plus weather. By eight o'clock we had hotel reservations and the bike was loaded for a trip to Monterey where we would stay on Cannery Row. The Cannery Row made famous by John Steinbeck's classic novel.
The valley heat made my routing decisions easy. This wasn't going to be a putz around the small roads trip. We wanted outa here. So, we hopped on Interstate 80 to Highway 37 which skirts San Pablo Bay and led us to California Highway 101 into San Francisco. I like coming into “The City” this way because each time I do it I get “The Moment”. Hwy. 101 runs through Marin County and blasts through what I think of as “Jerry Garcia” land. If you wonder what happened to all of the hippies and Grateful Dead fans...visit Marin County. They'll be just as happy as ever to see you. The last thing you'll do in Marin on this trip is to drive through the Robin Williams Memorial Tunnel. Then comes “The Moment”. As you exit the tunnel, San Francisco pops out of in front of you from the tunnels darkness. But, what you see first is that you are looking down on the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge from above. It is a beautiful sight and one that is worth repeating. Riding over the bridge is full of spectacles from walkers, runners and cyclists fighting for space on the walkway to ships waiting to enter the Golden Gate and sailboats bobbing in the whitecaps of San Francisco Bay.
Once over the bridge we exited Hwy. 101 onto Veteran's Boulevard, took a right onto Geary and followed it out to the Cliff House and what the local's call Land's End. This is the beginning of the coast highway south of San Francisco and takes one past the S.F. Zoo, beautiful surf torn beaches and hundreds of people enjoying the great outdoors only blocks away from one of the busiest cities in the world. We stayed on the coast highway, California Hwy. 1 going into Pacifica. Once upon a time I went to high school there at Oceana High before moving inland. We stopped for a quick bite and rode through the tunnel that cuts out the old section of Hwy. 1 known as Devil's Slide. I'm not fond of tunnels, but this one is the exception. I was almost killed by a slide on the old highway as a boy and as I rode through the tunnel I could almost smell the dirt in my nose and hear the rocks as they fell from the cliffs. Then, there was daylight again and miles and miles of gorgeous surf pounding the beaches as I finished telling the story to my wife over our Bluetooth helmet system for the umpteenth time.
The California coast along Highway 1 is a national treasure. It is windswept, rocky, and has been beaten by the force of water forever. The water is cold, fierce and unforgiving. It explodes when it crashes into sea rocks. This isn't the French Riviera. Everything here is in motion. Thousands of birds, sea oats moving in the wind, endless crashing waves and clouds that race across the sky. This isn't something a motorcyclist rides by...it's more like something that you are riding through. Perhaps it's like a story. Only a story that you are a part of.
Novelist John Steinbeck wrote stories like that...stories that you felt you were a part of. His tale of Cannery Row, which in those days was actually called Ocean View Ave. tells the story of the town in it's heyday when sardine canning was the primary industry. The corrugated iron canneries supported a workforce that was largely immigrants, and created a robust economy that Steinbeck described best. He said: "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses...”
While colorful, Cannery Row's past is mostly found among the ruins...buildings gone with only their foundations exposed. Monuments and placards abound with information on the people who made the town successful and what led to it's decline. But much of Cannery Row today is comprised of posh hotels and eateries with a sprinkling of shops selling clothes, trinkets and yes, there is a Harley Davidson store!
We enjoyed being on “the row” and enjoying the history and stunning beauty of Monterey Bay. Our favorite part was sitting on the bench on the beach across from our hotel and watching the sea life. Otters cruise by on their backs and crowd in together on the kelp beds where they sleep at night. Seals roll and lift their sleek bodies out of the water. And the many species of birds fly by as though they're on an urgent mission. With wine glass in hand we enjoyed the show until the chill of the sea breeze forced us back to our room.
There is so much to do in Monterey...there is the renowned Monterey Aquarium, the Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive (no motorcycles though) and nearby Carmel by the Sea. This isn't our first time in Monterey, so we chose to ride the next day. And I selected one of my old favorite bicycle rides out on Carmel Valley Road. Carmel Valley is beautiful and it's just over 70 miles between Monterey and the town of Soledad. At times the valley is wide and the road is excellent and at others the valley narrows and the road becomes wickedly twisty. In places the road is bumpy enough to have solicited comments from my pillion. Tularcitos Creek winds along the road for the first part and then leaves the roadway before you get to a summit. After the summit it's one twisty after another and you leave the cool sea climate behind as you drop into California's salad bowl, the Salinas Valley. The valley is one of California's most productive agricultural areas and it's farms and vineyards are visually stunning.
Stunning would also describe the wind as we headed up Highway 101 toward the town of Salinas and Highway 68 which would take us back to Monterey. This was one of those “lean way the hell over to go straight” kind of winds that never stops. Luckily, although fairly light, the CTX's center of gravity is low and keeps the bike really stable. Even with two of us on the bike it was manageable.
So, if you like rare views of famous bridges, expansive views of rough and tumble coastline, if you like to spend time steeped in history or if counting otters is entertaining to you perhaps you'll add this area to a motorcycle tour in the future.
Also, if you tour on your CTX and find your trips interesting perhaps you'll write a bit about it so that others planning a tour where you have been might add your knowledge to their ride. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for a new adventure to ride.
A bit more modern than what Steinbeck wrote about, but the history still lurks on Cannery Row.
One of the remains of the old canneries. There were no labor laws and long hours were the norm along the row.
Sardines were moved from boats to the canneries via underwater pipelines that had to be repaired, realigned and moved. If you thought this was my new motorcycle helmet...uh....no.
I'm hangin' out with the folks on a lunch break.
It's amazing to look over the calm Monterey Bay and to know how full of life these waters are.
On Tuesday evening, my wife and I were talking about how the Sacramento region is in for eight to ten days of 100 degree plus weather. By eight o'clock we had hotel reservations and the bike was loaded for a trip to Monterey where we would stay on Cannery Row. The Cannery Row made famous by John Steinbeck's classic novel.
The valley heat made my routing decisions easy. This wasn't going to be a putz around the small roads trip. We wanted outa here. So, we hopped on Interstate 80 to Highway 37 which skirts San Pablo Bay and led us to California Highway 101 into San Francisco. I like coming into “The City” this way because each time I do it I get “The Moment”. Hwy. 101 runs through Marin County and blasts through what I think of as “Jerry Garcia” land. If you wonder what happened to all of the hippies and Grateful Dead fans...visit Marin County. They'll be just as happy as ever to see you. The last thing you'll do in Marin on this trip is to drive through the Robin Williams Memorial Tunnel. Then comes “The Moment”. As you exit the tunnel, San Francisco pops out of in front of you from the tunnels darkness. But, what you see first is that you are looking down on the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge from above. It is a beautiful sight and one that is worth repeating. Riding over the bridge is full of spectacles from walkers, runners and cyclists fighting for space on the walkway to ships waiting to enter the Golden Gate and sailboats bobbing in the whitecaps of San Francisco Bay.
Once over the bridge we exited Hwy. 101 onto Veteran's Boulevard, took a right onto Geary and followed it out to the Cliff House and what the local's call Land's End. This is the beginning of the coast highway south of San Francisco and takes one past the S.F. Zoo, beautiful surf torn beaches and hundreds of people enjoying the great outdoors only blocks away from one of the busiest cities in the world. We stayed on the coast highway, California Hwy. 1 going into Pacifica. Once upon a time I went to high school there at Oceana High before moving inland. We stopped for a quick bite and rode through the tunnel that cuts out the old section of Hwy. 1 known as Devil's Slide. I'm not fond of tunnels, but this one is the exception. I was almost killed by a slide on the old highway as a boy and as I rode through the tunnel I could almost smell the dirt in my nose and hear the rocks as they fell from the cliffs. Then, there was daylight again and miles and miles of gorgeous surf pounding the beaches as I finished telling the story to my wife over our Bluetooth helmet system for the umpteenth time.
The California coast along Highway 1 is a national treasure. It is windswept, rocky, and has been beaten by the force of water forever. The water is cold, fierce and unforgiving. It explodes when it crashes into sea rocks. This isn't the French Riviera. Everything here is in motion. Thousands of birds, sea oats moving in the wind, endless crashing waves and clouds that race across the sky. This isn't something a motorcyclist rides by...it's more like something that you are riding through. Perhaps it's like a story. Only a story that you are a part of.
Novelist John Steinbeck wrote stories like that...stories that you felt you were a part of. His tale of Cannery Row, which in those days was actually called Ocean View Ave. tells the story of the town in it's heyday when sardine canning was the primary industry. The corrugated iron canneries supported a workforce that was largely immigrants, and created a robust economy that Steinbeck described best. He said: "Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses...”
While colorful, Cannery Row's past is mostly found among the ruins...buildings gone with only their foundations exposed. Monuments and placards abound with information on the people who made the town successful and what led to it's decline. But much of Cannery Row today is comprised of posh hotels and eateries with a sprinkling of shops selling clothes, trinkets and yes, there is a Harley Davidson store!
We enjoyed being on “the row” and enjoying the history and stunning beauty of Monterey Bay. Our favorite part was sitting on the bench on the beach across from our hotel and watching the sea life. Otters cruise by on their backs and crowd in together on the kelp beds where they sleep at night. Seals roll and lift their sleek bodies out of the water. And the many species of birds fly by as though they're on an urgent mission. With wine glass in hand we enjoyed the show until the chill of the sea breeze forced us back to our room.
There is so much to do in Monterey...there is the renowned Monterey Aquarium, the Pebble Beach 17 Mile Drive (no motorcycles though) and nearby Carmel by the Sea. This isn't our first time in Monterey, so we chose to ride the next day. And I selected one of my old favorite bicycle rides out on Carmel Valley Road. Carmel Valley is beautiful and it's just over 70 miles between Monterey and the town of Soledad. At times the valley is wide and the road is excellent and at others the valley narrows and the road becomes wickedly twisty. In places the road is bumpy enough to have solicited comments from my pillion. Tularcitos Creek winds along the road for the first part and then leaves the roadway before you get to a summit. After the summit it's one twisty after another and you leave the cool sea climate behind as you drop into California's salad bowl, the Salinas Valley. The valley is one of California's most productive agricultural areas and it's farms and vineyards are visually stunning.
Stunning would also describe the wind as we headed up Highway 101 toward the town of Salinas and Highway 68 which would take us back to Monterey. This was one of those “lean way the hell over to go straight” kind of winds that never stops. Luckily, although fairly light, the CTX's center of gravity is low and keeps the bike really stable. Even with two of us on the bike it was manageable.
So, if you like rare views of famous bridges, expansive views of rough and tumble coastline, if you like to spend time steeped in history or if counting otters is entertaining to you perhaps you'll add this area to a motorcycle tour in the future.
Also, if you tour on your CTX and find your trips interesting perhaps you'll write a bit about it so that others planning a tour where you have been might add your knowledge to their ride. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for a new adventure to ride.
A bit more modern than what Steinbeck wrote about, but the history still lurks on Cannery Row.
One of the remains of the old canneries. There were no labor laws and long hours were the norm along the row.
Sardines were moved from boats to the canneries via underwater pipelines that had to be repaired, realigned and moved. If you thought this was my new motorcycle helmet...uh....no.
I'm hangin' out with the folks on a lunch break.
It's amazing to look over the calm Monterey Bay and to know how full of life these waters are.
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