This next portion of highway 166 follows the dividing line between San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County, and was a wonderfully fast, flowing road. The turns were high speed sweepers that could be taken at cruise speed, and we chose a speed of about 90 mph since there was really nothing around to warrant a slower speed. A few tractor trailers occasionally got in our way but we easily blew by them. Their drivers pulled over a bit to let us pass. It was about time we got some polite drivers. Somewhere out here in the countryside, drivers were more polite than they would have been in crowded city. It wasn�t like we were being reckless. We were moving fast on a road that we could go fast on with little or no danger to ourselves or others. We didn�t see the harm in that. The 166 was like water out here. It just flowed smoothly along hills and valleys as it followed the Cuyama River. The terrain around us was plain low lying brown grass at first. Occasionally, I would see a lone Oak tree on top of a hill or down a corner where a dirt road lead away from our paved road. Then, we crossed a couple of bridges that went over the Twitchell Reservoir, which didn�t look like a reservoir at all. Just a pretty body of water surrounded by rural hills.
The 166 ended somewhere in the outskirts of Santa Maria where we got back on the 101 heading northbound. We stopped at the very next exit in the town of Nipomo to gas up, use the restroom, and rest a bit before our final leg of our trip today. After Nipomo, we passed the city of Pismo Beach. This was a very quaint little coastal town with lots of tourist shopping and dining. It was also a busy city of many thousand residents. We didn�t stop. We just kept on going until we reached the city of San Luis Obispo. This was where Highway 1 split from the 101, which has been running together since Santa Barbara. Highway 1, or Pacific Coast Highway heads for the coast, while the 101 cuts through the inland valley.
San Luis Obispo is another quaint little college town with lots of shopping and restaurants. I would definitely consider this a �big city� out in these parts. The population was at least 30k and there were gas stations and fast food places everywhere. Lots of young college co-eds too! Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo was just up the mountain behind us. We didn�t bother to stop here. We just kept on going towards San Simeon.
After about 7 miles, Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) makes a right to follow the coast somewhere in Morro Bay. Here we passed by Morro Bay�s Nuclear power plant, as well as their landmark: Morro Rock. PCH then turned into a freeway as it followed the coastline. Now it felt like we�ve arrived. The temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees and we could smell the ocean breeze. To our left was the blue Pacific. To our right was nothing but brown hillsides. There was some traffic along this portion of the road as it turned into a single lane(one lane each direction). But the long straights and wide visibility afforded us plenty of opportunities to pass multiple cars at a time. We had to acceleration and top speeds so we used it!
We passed the �town� of Harmony with a population of 120 people I believe. Then, we arrived in Cambria. Another quaint little coastal town, except this one was much smaller and even cozier than San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. Cambria was full of shops, restaurants, hotels, and well to do folks either living here on �old money� or visiting from places far away like we were.
5 miles from Cambria was San Simeon, our final destination for the day. San Simeon was nothing but a small strand of hotels and restaurant that cater to visitors of Hearst Castle. The world famous castle built by William Randolph Hearst in the 1920�s still amazes and inspires people after all these years. It is the one thing that keeps San Simeon a booming little tourist destination. For us, San Simeon was a quiet �home away from home�. It was our jumping off point to motorcycling roads around the area.
We pulled into S.S. and ate at the restaurant directly next to our Hotel. We ordered Fish and Chips and boy, did it taste good. It was now 2PM. Perfect. We ate for an hour. We were ravished! Riding motorcycles was a very physically demanding activity. But all the fun made us forget how fatigued we really were. After eating, we checked in (check in was after 3PM that�s why our arrival time was perfect). We showered, had a change of clothes and met again so we could hit the town! |
