Wonderful pics and write up.
Very sorry about your friend Sanjiv and wish him a fast recovery.

Although our Incredible India has excellent destinations for bike rides, it has terrible infrastructure and worse is in such unforseen emergencies, we have to depend only on god or our luck to make a difference between life & death.

Please keep it coming.

Sorry to hear about Sanjiv. Wish him speedy recovery. All the best for rest of your trip.

In US you do not even need to call 911. Same situation happened with me twice. One great thing about them is they will never allow you to stay on the road with injury. Whatever little it might be. Everything is so organized there. Actually in all first world countries it is almost same. They value human life the most.

Very nice photos, Anurag ...hope your friend gets well soon, and ride!

Day 4 - Solvang

As I mentioned, Sanjiv's trip was clearly over. We went to bed in a solemn mood at Hadsten House Motel in Solvang where we had had a prior booking. We were very confused and did not know what to do. At night, we took turns to see Sanjiv or tend to his needs if any. The next morning at breakfast, sat down and discussed the trip. Finally, we decided that Sanjay Aggarwal, Tinu & Sanjiv will drop out as Sanjay might need to fly back with Sanjiv while Tinu, being well versed with LA will need to work with their logistics of an early return.

We were left with Ajai Gupta, his brother Sanjay and I to continue with the trip. The spirit seemed to have died down. We extended the stay at Solvag by one more day to give some rest to Sanjiv and re-work things out.

At noon, all the 5 riders who could still ride, decided to take a short ride along the wine yards of Solvang. This was a short 15 mile trip and here are some pictures of this ride:




















After getting back, we went for lunch in the town, just a short walk from Hadsten House Hotel where we stayed. Solvang is a quaint laid back town which was setup by Danish settlers in approx. 1911. Quality of life is excellent and it reminds one of being in Europe. All houses, shops, streets and are like being in a fairy tale.

Here are some shots of this photo walk...











Our Hotel











I went back to the hotel as my shoe's sole came off whereas others went on with their non-photowalk. I spent some quality time processing images and updating day 2 post.

From hereon, 3 people will go back to India and three will continue the tour.

@Anurag: Solvang is beautiful. It should be, as you said, like a fairytale ...have you been there before or is this the 1st time?

Sorry to hear about Sanjiv, wishing him a speedy recovery.

Anurag Sir excellent log and outstanding trip so far... though the riders are less now, but then seeing the places through your pics, I think some wonderful days are ahead.... take care, ride safe and all the best

@Shivashu - Thanks. I hope the ride goes on well. Right now I am in San Francisco and today we did the Muir Forest where the big redwood trees are, the Napa Valley and the Sonoma Valley (both California Wine areas). Today's ride was 170 Miles approximately..

@ Satellite Kid - This is my first time in California and second time in USA.

@ Jonak - Thanks. I agree, they value human life more... We in India should have a campaign to teach people to be considerate, kind and civilized.. The madness on the streets is too much and will one day lead to a disaster.. The government is also responsible to create the necessary civic infra.

@ Haroon, Thanks for following.. I hope I will not disappoint.

@ Ken - Thanks mate.. lets catch up when I am back..

@Naughty Vaish, @BI - Thanks for following and liking the post

it will go well Sir, Muir Forest and the Wine areas would have been a natural beauty ... waiting for your pics eagerly. And yes Sir, kindly click your pics along the bike as well take care Sir, and ride safe

Sorry to hear about Sanjiv. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

Do keep the logs and pics coming, sir.

Wishing Sanjiv a speedy recovery.... All the very best to the riders!

Wishing Sanjiv a speedy recovery. I'm glad that even after this untoward accident , REWINDERS have decided to go ahead with the trip..... real biker's stuff.

These huge bikes and awesome locations are perfect stuff for laid out evening for me......

@Anurag Sir - Me too enjoying your ride here in Delhi and glued to this thread.

Extremely sorry to hear about Mr. Sanjiv. Wishing him a speedy recovery and a safe flight back home...

And as far as the trip is concerned, I am sure with the updates so far its still going to be a super exciting one although the presence of the members who left would be seriously felt, but nonetheless I believe the spirit is there and the three riders would make this trip a memorable one for everyone...

My best wishes are with the Rewinders and would like to see more and more of the ride and the vistas through your wonderful photography...

Ride Safe...!!!
.....................................
Raktim Baruah

DaY 5- Ride to Carmel

On 12th March, It was Tinu's birthday. We wished him and had breakfast together for the last time and thereafter the three members of our team left for Los Angeles. Ajai, Sanjay and I started at 10 AM sharp towards Carmel. Carmel is another beautiful town by the sea and Clint Eastwood is its Mayor. We had plans to visit him for tea but due to the team breaking up and Tinu being the organizer, this was shelved and never mentioned again! (Sigh).



We headed out of Solvang towards Santa Maria via Lompoc and onwards via Vadenberg Air Force Base through Guadalupe, Oceano to Pismo Beach.






A short ride after crossing the Pismo beach, we realized that it was about 2 PM and we had been riding for almost 4 hours. We were hungry and we decided to go to a beachside area at Cayucos for a quick bite. We had a Pizza slice each once we found out that there had been a rock slide in Big Sur area and that the route will be closed by 6 PM. We were aware that hereafter we were going to be too tight for time. We still managed to steal some time during the entire journey to stop to get some pictures. All through the PCH, there are numerous VISTA POINTS and we stopped at a few of those as parking was easy.. Most Highways, one is only allowed to stop on the shoulder of the road if there is an emergency and so the VISTA POINTS serve a dual purpose with convenient no hassle parking and a beautiful view of the attraction.







The VISTA point in this picture is of a beach where there are hundreds of sea lions.

After lunch we headed towards San Simeon where Hearst Castle is located. By the time we reached San Simeon, there were threatening clouds all over and it had started to drizzle. We were very concerned as we had to cross Big Sur, a 65 mile mountain through which the Highway 1 runs along the Pacific Coast. We gave the bikes some gas and despite getting wet, we continued. About halfway through, we decided to have a small coffee break and have some rest. The other two riders were tiring of riding in the hills.





From hereon, it was a mad rush towards Carmel in pouring rain. We did another 60 miles in this weather and managed to reach our hotel by approx. 7:30 PM.

Beautiful write-up and mouth watering photographs, these, Anurag sir. The weather seems so good. And kudos to you guys, for riding in heavy downpour for 60 miles!

I am lovin' it!

Thanks Aryan, you made my day. The weather here is superb.. I dont understand one thing, why the sky is more blue, more shades of blue than I have ever seen in the sky, water etc.. and the grass is more green here than in our areas! It is true, I am not kidding.. but u have to see it to believe it... sometimes, one feels that one is in a picture post card!

I try my best with pictures as in this trip I have the time, but I struggle with composition, camera settings etc.. all the time. I keep forgetting one setting or the other and then curse myself when I see the pictures on the comp! - when will i ever learn instinctively to take good pictures is something that beats me