There comes a time in life when one wants to REWIND and go back to reclaim the things one leaves behind in the process of participating in the rat race. In 2008, the yearning began for me and I bought the Intruder in Feb 09. It could have been a flash in the pan but I did manage to do a decent 8000 Kms of touring that year riding all over in North India.
The bike brought about a new dimension in my life! In addition to giving peace to me that I so longed for, It brought in my life wonderful people who I would have never met had I not taken this path. Soon I met 4 other guys with whom we created a group called REWIND and we became REWINDERS!
The PCH Trip in California was born out of one discussion we had during the Auto Expo in Delhi and we wholeheartedly painted it into reality and rapidly too. Come March and here we are.
We left Delhi to arrive in Los Angeles on 8th March and planned to keep one day to recover from the jetlag. The actual ride is scheduled to begin on the 10th at 10AM in the morning. However, yesterday night, we decided that one day was too precious to waste and we will try to advance the trip to today, 9th March. Its 6 AM here as I type the Introduction of this post sitting in my hotel room at the WESTIN hotel near the Los Angeles Airport, I can see planes landing every minute from my window. I intend to keep it very interesting with lots of pictures and details.
THE PLAN.
All those who have made time tables in school know that it is more a statement of intent. What happens actually is always different but the time table does help in forming the agenda. Our agenda for the trip in brief is given below and is an extract from a mail I received from Chief Planner of the trip - Amar Kohli aka Tinu:
A road trip riding along the coast of Pacific Ocean, Mountains and wine country of California [Napa Valley] up to San Francisco then return via the Yosemite National Forest [game reserve] back into LA. We plan to make it a 7-10 day trip starting March 10th onwards, the bikes are proposed to be Electra glides, Goldwings and road king as per our choice.
The Trip starts in Malibu Beach and we ride north approximately 150 Kms to the a small Dutch village Solvang in the start of the Napa Valley which is California wine country, we will stay one night at the Robert Mondavi wine estate of in any other wine estate. In the morning we proceed to Big Sur which is at an elevation of 8000 feet and is a hill station resort, this is a 250 Km drive from the wineries into the sierra Nevada mountains. We have lunch atop the summit and rest for awhile before descending the same day into the town of Carmel along the PCH and ride along the coastal road stopping to swim in the ocean and eat long the several texmex restaurants on the beach side, this is another 100 KM or so.
From there we proceed towards the bay areas and cross the bay bridge and then the golden gate into San Francisco! This will be the 4th day depending on how much we stop.
We leave Frisco for the Yosemite National Park which is the largest game reserve in California, once again it’s at a climb of around 4000-8000 ft, this ride is around 300 kms into the forest. We stay the night or so in the lodge and leave back for Los Angeles which is again 450 kms or so.
In my next post, I will introduce the riders (REWINDERS) and the RIDES!!