West Coast Road Trip 1

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org

A Road Trip.

(West Coast 1)

At the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club meeting in April the guest speaker was Zoe Cano who is an adventure girl travelling across America, New Zealand and Wales this time on her scooter. Zoe was very honest about her travels expressing her fears and triumphs quite clearly. An enjoyable evening. I have known Zoe a little while and at this meeting introduced her to my wife Gita. Timely as we were about to embark on our own road trip flying into San Francisco going down the west coast to LA then on to Flagstaff via Phoenix, some of the National Parks, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite and back to San Francisco to come home. All in three weeks and every day planned except one where we had to change the itinerary due to it snowing! The painted desert would not be painted!

San Francisco is a great place to visit with those hills that everyone remembers from the Steve McQueen Film “Bullet”. Touristy stuff was on the agenda along with paying a visit to the San Francisco Fire Department Toy Program being a Facebook Friend for a long time I felt that being in the city it was an opportunity not to be missed. Will all my best efforts I did not manage to meet up with the Toy Program organiser Sally or see the Museum however I did get to visit 3 Fire Stations one being the fireboat station. 

This happened to be the oldest fire station in San Francisco that survived the quake and following fires in 1906. It is being preserved for posterity. What I did learn was that San Francisco has the only Fire Department that still uses wooden ladders. Some with parts a hundred years old. They have craftsmen that look after these ladders, service and repair them from new seasoned wood. They all look like new! Varnished and beautifully cared for, works of art. Having visited stations 9, 10 and 35 leaving London Motorcycle Museum fliers at each station meeting the most friendly guys ever a few of whom have promised to visit the Museum when they come to the UK.

A visit to San Francisco would not be complete without going across the Golden Gate Bridge, Cable Car rides and a visit to as many shops as we could manage while they were open we left the city on Route One south to explore the coast, enjoy the scenery and arrive at Monterey to visit a couple of Motorcycle Museums and the famous race track, Laguna Seca.