Butch please ... lets head to Paso

[budman]

Butch ended up with a bent rim and did not make Hawthorne this year and I had a family commitment so I too did not make my favorite ride of the year.

We decided to make up for it by heading to another fav destination.

Paso Robles in the middle of October.

I took a rare day off (my third in 2015) and we met on Friday morning at his homestead. After meeting his cats and saying hey to his wife we launched our adventure by riding up and over Metcalf and onto Uvas and on to Mt. Madonna and over to the coast.

The goal as always is to minimize slab and do stuff we love and explore something new.

We found zip traffic until on 152 and then it was light. With little trouble we had a fine run up the Mountain and then a little traffic on the West side.. no worries.. all fun ahead.

Soon we dropped onto 1 and Butch pretty much decided he would minimize the slab time wise. I was shaking my head saying "butch please... I don't need a speeding ticket" None to be had thankfully.

When we got to where 1 starts to narrow we grabbed gas at the Chevron and immediately found bumper to bumper.. It is only 11AM??

We started to lane share of course and having full bags I was not quite as nimble as normal, but that is OK as Butch is a very careful splitter. Soon we came up on a nasty accident and the reason we were in traffic.

Beyond was good to go and go we did.

I love HWY 1 a lot. Hell of a lot when the weather is good and we had it great!

Wondering into Big Sur we decide to stop for a light lunch as I missed brekkie and was in need of some fuel for the body.

We stopped at the Big Sur River Inn and sat on their patio.. nice spot. Perfect weather. Great stuff.

Butch pulled out the map and we spotted Santa Rosa Creek Road. Nick Haris from the AMA recommended we give it a go so that was the goal.

Below:
My Duc loaded and waiting in front of Butch's house.
Pic of the Inn.
Butch enjoying the map and thoughts of the day ahead.
A selfy of the two B's.
Me wearing my suck up shirt... (saying thanks for sending me out riding! -)

[budman]

After sucking down some Ice Tea, some salad and 1/2 a sammich we rolled back out knowing the good stuff was just starting.. .

Traffic was not to bad, but enough to challenge us here and there, which always provides some fun.

We found a couple of stops for construction, which are fine by me because we filter to the front and now don't have to pass say 10 cars or so.

I am amazed at the bravery of some of the Caltrans folks when they work on HWY 1 in certain places. Having passed them building the tunnel a few years ago I do appreciate their effort, because without it I am afraid this epic ride would not be happening.

Heading down we finally got to the Military base where the road opens up a bit and decided before long it was time for a break. We saw signs that said "Do not stop on side of road for Elephant seals" so we took a Vista turn out and took a break. The ocean was gorgeous and the California coast did not fail to deliver.

As Butch and I BSed I heard what sounded like belching and farting. We could not really see the coast below us, but I looked and saw in the water some bulls going at each other.

The pic below is not the best, but those dark heads were slapping at each other and I found out why when I moved a few feet south. The beach had quite the supply of lady friends and both wanted that turf.

We watched as a female would swim out after battle and say hey big boy and then swim back to the beach to chill. The second pic shows that bulls haram.

If you look at the beach beyond my pic you can see the beach is littered with females basking in the sun.

Glad we stopped. Nature in full force.

Last pic is Butch feeling like we are living like Kings.

[i_am_the_koi]

[budman]

We remount and continue south.. looking for Santa Rosa Creek Rd.

we knew it was out of Cambria and started at the high school. We cruise through town and saw the creek below, but no exit. We ended up pulling over and turning around to find it taking a sign that said high school.

Kids were just loading up and heading out when we went by. We continued up the road and it quickly turned into a narrow fun little road that took us to places and parts of California never seen before. We did some of that about a year ago with flying-hun showing us the way

It is always kind of cool to try new stuff.

We wound our way up the mountain and the goaty stuff did not bother Butch. He seems to be able to ride his R6 to places others would be bitchen about never losing his smile. Even the dirt on the road in '14 did not sway his joy of riding. Part of the reason I love riding with him. The other being he rides really well.

We stopped on the side of the road to actually get a visual of the creek.
A couple of pics below show us and the creek. The road provided for some good wild life action.

Tarantulas, Hawks, Wild Turkeys, a variety of squirrels and local human kind too.

After about an hour I would guess we hit HWY 46 and wondered through the opulence of the Wineries. Amazing is the transformation of Paso Robles.

We checked in at the Best Western and wondered to Bubba's for some BBQ and bourbon. I chased mine with a coors light.. just a little different than water.

[budman]

Saturday was the day of wicking.

No bags, no back packs.... all glory.

After brekkie with gassed and headed to Rossi's driveway (HWY 299).
Always a fun scoot it is. Curvy undulation is probably the best way to describe it.

After that onto HWY 58 another one of my fav's. Our destination??

Only a gas station in Taft and then the return ride to the Loading Chute restaurant after riding both HWY's again.

I led on the way down and we reconned the road that takes you through the Solar Farms and close to the Chorizo Plain National Monument.

HWY 58 is pretty much traffic free and driveway free once into it and that is the beauty of the road. The pace is dictated by how you feel and not some other vehicles... = sweet!

Along the way we saw a dude.. with two mules walking on the side of the road in the middle of fricking nowhere.

Turned out that this guy has been walking around the State for a long time. He had just retired one of his mules a few days earlier in Big Sur. A pic of him below still shows all three... not sure which one is now living the good life on the coast.

Anyway if you have been on HWY 58 before you know it is sprawling and you hit some big whoops before turning on 33 to head to Taft for gas. I mean big whoops. 3 - 6 stories high whoops that all are perfectly straight and can be run at the speed limit.....

As I said I was leading and I am not a huge fan boy of cresting hills at huge speeds (66mph) and I knew Butch would lead us to a bit more aggression on the way back North.

Also towards the end it tightens up to some good twistees...

There are several severe decreasing radius turns to be aware of and those, as I have seen from others can make you blow the DY so you have to be on alert.
We found a steer standing on the side of the road.. and I mean side, because his head was hanging over the road.. hello Mr. MOO!!

Once on 33 it is just a drone to Taft, but you get to pass some oil drilling rigs and the glorious smell of oil rigs too.

We landed in Taft and sat at the gas station. In my case laying down letting my back expand. Soon 3 other spr0tbiles showed and the ever social Butch walked up and started chatting. They suggested the "Tap Room" in Paso and a landing spot so we thought why not?

We decided we wanted a photo at the drilling rigs so you see a couple of those below. It is kind of a weird environment so I played with the photo's a bit to take full advantage of our stop.

After that Butch led us back and our pace stepped up. The tight stuff is all good going North West and the decreasing radius turns become increasing and man it is fun. Hitting the hills Butch pushed the pace to where I saw both his wheels off the ground and the smile in my helmet expanded as the poop chute contracted.. a perfect harmony found only when having real world fun.

We continued our push back and we zipped by the few cars like the hooligans we are. The only time slowing was for the 2 mules. We slowed... waived and ripped it back up. Man I love 58.

After a bit we were back to Rossi's DW. Whohaa!!! We decided to stop and take a breather about 3/4 of the way through it and pulled into a DW. Soon the auto gates swung open and I had to roll my bike out of the way of the resident.. oops sorry.

He was an older gent and asked if we were all right. I said "we are fine, we are just old and needed to rest!" With that his wife started laughing hysterically. Gawd I love this stuff.

In 15 more minutes we hit the Landing Chute.. not that hungry I just ordered some onion rings and we had an Ice Tea. I asked Butch what do you think those folks in the couple of cars we passed thought? I said "Those kids won't live to see 30 yo". Butch said similar stuff and we laughed at how immature we are.

In a couple minutes a gent walked up and said "hey are you guys on barf?"

Well shucks boy howdy... "Yes we are.. I am Budman (reaching out to shake his hand) and he said "really.. I am Larry Kahn good to meet you" Butch and I chatted with Larry for about a 1/2 hour hearing of his tail of coming to California and the life he loves so much plus the Pozo Saloon. He asked where we came from and we said Taft blah blah blah and he said he likes HWY 58. It is really good for Extended adolescence......how fricking perfect!

He soon offered to take us to the Saloon, but we were already tired and looking forward to chilling at the Tap Room.

We said another day and got his email.. next time Larry..

Back to the Hotel we changed, showered and mounted back up to go find the Tap Room. It was a couple of miles away and while I am really against drinking and riding one beer seemed OK. Nice little spot, but we missed our fellow riders by just a couple of minutes.. bummer.

After that we rolled to downtown, which I had not been to in forever and man has it changed. It is all yuppie and cool. Holy shit. We parked in Moto only parking and started walking. We had taken a recommendation for "the Hatch" restaurant from the beer keep at the Tap Room and after Butch caught up with some Halloween friends we found some damn good grub. The Hatch is worth checking out. Maybe Butch will post the foody pics.

Now to find our way back.. hell if I know. I usually don't ride at night either so I am breaking tradition in several ways.

Not a deal intuitively we made it back with not even one wrong turn. We unload our stuff and head back to Bubba's to partake in a one bourbon, one shot and one beer.

Back to the hotel we chilled and planned the route home.. sort of. Mostly we just laughed and bullshitted. Good day.

[budman]

Sunday came and the route home was chosen.

Lake Naciemento, Lake San Antonio, Lockwood, San Lucas, HWY 198, HWY 25 and then finally a little slab.

The roads are gorgeous and so is the territory through Central Cali. I noted some headlight in my mirror that came up when we were cruising at that 66mph speed and thought for a minute.. oh crap. Performance award.

It did not keep closing so I thought hmmm.. maybe we are OK and wicked it back up. The lights hung in pretty good on the twisty bits and even on the flats. When we came to the stop sign we waiting for a second at Lockwood to figure out which way to go. A blue Miata came up. Wow dude. Nice driving.

We took San Ardo road rather than San Lucas.

Well that timed out pretty quickly as the pavement called it quits..

We realized.. wrong turn So we stopped to revel in our mistake and then back.
maybe a 20 mile mistake..

Rolling through the canyon on the way to San Lucas I realized how the hell do these people live out here...? Really alone... really alone.

Once over the old bridge.. we came to 198 and headed over the hill. Butch thought is was a slab and I said.. nope.. all good. Go man go.

One last stop at Coalinga / 25 and then we continued to Gilroy for gas and slabbed it home. Good weekend.

Lets do it again Butch... Please.

[Butch]

Chicken Ramen at "The Hatch", downtown Paso...

[bikeama]

Sounds like just about a perfect ride. Enjoyed your report and pictures.

[veefereefer]

Nice! Thanks for taking us along! Now I need to take a few days off and ride!

[m0t0_ryder]

Nice!

Geriatric hooligans away from home!

[EastBayDave]

Great ride report; sounds like you all had a ball. Thanks!

[Butch]

The Mules were awesome. Not sure exactly where this pic came from, but still awesome.

[eworthington]

nice trip report! Thanks!

[CDONA]

That intersection of Santa Rosa rd and Hwy 46. If you went across 46 from Santa Rosa rd to Old Creek, Dry creek rd, what ever, it will take you to the south end of Cayucos on Hwy 1.
There is a pie stop you may have missed, Linn's has a ranch a mile or three up from the high school. Pies, preserves, n' stuff like what the Nut Tree was, smaller scale. Linn's has a couple of shops in Cambria too.
One can buy frozen pies at local grocery stores here, they will chew up a $20 pretty fast, but @ 3 pounds 8 oz, way heavier that anything else in the freezer.

[budman]

We did not go South, but looked at Cayucos as our stop the next time we do this route instead of Paso.. looks like a cool town. So your suggestion will likely get used.

Hell... I will do more research on the City to see if it could accommodate us on a spring rally. Seems like a really cool Old Cowboy on the Coast town.