Heading West to the Pacific.
We left Panamint Springs, headed towards Ridgecrest...through Trona Ca. on Ca. highway 178. This was a great ride over some ridges and desert. Trona is a mining town with as many abandoned houses as there are occupied houses...
Leaving Ridgecrest CA. we continued on 178 over through Lake Isabella Ca.The country was pretty and mountainous. A lot of curves and my rear tire tread was disappearing quickly.
We stopped at a little town with a Post Office, Onyx, CA. so I could mail off the MT. Airheads Flag, back to MT. A fellow Airhead is going to Daytona Fl. for Bike Week so the flag is heading there next.
I attended an Airhead Rally years ago at Lake Isabella, I don't remember the place looking so bleak back then...
Heading towards Bakersfield the road winds along the Kern River and is narrow, steep and curvy. Many sections have no guard rails so caution for the sidecar was necessary. No room for error on this road. The scenery was fantastic.....unfortunately we didn't get many photos here.
There were what seemed miles and miles of this terrain. The bike was getting quite a workout.
Suddenly the canyon ended and we were outside Bakersfield Ca. Wandered through the town in search of a Denny's restaurant and luckily found one right where Highway 58 heads out of town.58 was recommended by a rider at Death Valley. It was quite a road with switchbacks and steep grades. No services or towns for 80 miles or so.
We climbed and climbed up to 5000 feet or so before dropping back down towards the Pacific Coast.
This area kind of reminded me of Wyoming.....a lot of open country and no people....
Eventually we ended up at Santa Margarita CA. From there we headed a bit north to Morro Bay. We found a very nice older motel with an ocean view and secure parking. Went out for a meal and were down early and pretty worn out...as was my rear tire....
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