Day 3: Slabbing it Home Baby! Distance: 440 miles
The next day I woke up to the pitter-patter of rain. It was light rain but it went on all through the night. Dr. Gil and Jeff met us at Phil�s house from their motel, and the rest of the group sauntered out of there for an early morning breakfast at Denny�s around 7am. I watched Phil slide a couple of times in the wet on his Trophy 1200 as we rode around looking for a restaurant that was open so early on Sundays. I had lots of coffee again, along with buttermilk pancakes and syrup, sausage, & bacon. Hmmmm....good! There�s nothing like a sugar rush in the morning. Hee-hee!
I found out why Gil called himself "Dr", and learned about Laysik vision correction procedures.
After breafast, we said our thanks and goodbye�s, and Phil lead us to the 101 Freeway southbound for our final ride home. There was just a light drizzle, but which at speed turned into a lot of water. Later, as we neared Salinas, the light drizzle turned into light rain. The road was wet and following vehicles too closely meant getting sprayed with water kicked up by its tires. It didn�t help that I vowed to go with the flow of traffic, which meant 80 mph most of the way. It actually wasn�t as bad thanks to all our appropriate riding gear that kept us dry. The VFR had excellent wind and weather protection as long as I maintained a steady speed. Water never got a chance to build up anywhere. However, Ken�s naked Guzzi V11 was probably not as comfy. Although, even with its engine and its electronics sitting out in the wind and rain blast, the bike ran perfectly in the wet.
Suddenly, Carl signaled for me to pull over. So I exited on the very next exit but Carl stopped BEFORE the exit, choosing instead to sit by the side of the freeway to clean his visor, in the rain, with cars and trucks rushing by. Ken stopped with me at the exit and we both agreed stopping by the side of the freeway is dangerous enough. In the rain it was worse. We figured Carl would eventually catch up with us. Well, he didn�t, and after he finished fixing his visor he kept riding right by us on the 101 Freeway! Ken and I sat there wondering where Carl was before deciding to ride on and just catch Carl up ahead. We did after a few miles, when Carl realized he had lost us and pulled over on the side of the freeway....again. Ken and I passed by Carl and signaled for him to get back on the freeway and catch up. Took him a while. And by the time he caught up, the rain had stopped and the roads dried up.
Even without the rain, there was a persistent cloud cover and cold temperatures. It never got beyond 60 degrees. Luckily for me, my Joe Rocket Alter Ego Jacket, Ballistic pants, and Tourmaster Winter Elite gloves, along with the VFR�s fairings kept me nice and toasty. Ken had no such luck. He was too cold and he finally pulled over to put on some more layers. Ken decided to breakaway from us and take Highway 46 east to Interstate 5. The slabbing in the cold was too much for him. |
