The Wine Weekend

How it all began

Laurel and her hubby Daryl run a gas station down in Cambria, on the coast in San Luis Obispo County. That's about two hundred miles from our home. I am not quite sure when she came up with the idea of a ride round the wine country with the V.O.C. but we had been waiting for this ride for at least eighteen months. It was very touch and go whether we got to do it, but Laurel said she'd cleaned the house so we had to ;-)

The journey down

We left the house around 1 a.m. having placed strategic piles of food for the cat round about. It was the first time we'd left her alone so I was a bit nervous.

When we got to the bike, The engine was dead ... !

The starter just wouldn't crank. We looked at each other and wondered if something were trying to tell us something. But, after a few minutes, he tried again and it started perfectly. We rode down to the bank for some cash and it seemed okay, so we decided to say what the heck and set out. Just as we got onto the highway, a very weird critter scuttled out of our way - it turned out to be the first possum I'd ever seen!

We rode down highway 101 for about two hours. It was cold but no traffic. I saw the Milky Way, it was so clear. American freeways don't often have lights and we were up in the hills, so we got a great view (well, at least I did, from on back).

Eventually, we got too tired and cold so decided to go to the Motel 6 we'd just passed. It was relatively cheap, had a nice shower, and beds.

Arriving Cambria

We picked up highway 46 West at Paso Robles, a really lovely road. Before, we'd been through dry hills, not so attractive, but here the hills were green and, about halfway through we got beautiful views of the sea. There were a lot of bikers, all waving, and the sun was shining. We were five miles from Cambria and had half an hour to go, so we took a roadside break. A bunch of Harleys rode by and one even pulled up to make sure we were okay, showing that the family of bikers was in full working order :-)

Then, we went down to Cambria, a small, picturesque town, and easily found Pablo's, our meeting place. Laurel was there so I finally got to meet her after two years of emailing! Pablo's is a Mexican restaurant and the food was good, even if the staff did not cope so well with such a big group. The V.O.C. people were late but when they came we watched the magnificent sight of about 20 bikes riding by. Great fun.