[Oh My Sack!]

My wife and I took advantage of the nice weather and did a 5 hour tour of our backyard here on the Central Coast.

We intended on an early start to beat the wind forecast while headed north up Hwy 1 and take advantage of the blow home but our fancy alarm clocks that are supposed to change themselves didn't know it was time to change. That put us in Morro Bay at the lunch hour.

Chapala Market: It's a frikkin' GAS STATION and today, as before, we had one of the best Mexican Food meals EVER! Don't miss this dive if you ever go by.

Next stop; Nit-Wit Ridge, Cambria, CA.
The old Kook that built this place is older than history itself. It's constructed with recycled bottles, boards, rocks, and whatever and it's all stuck together with dog doo, I think. We had a destination so we didn't hang around for the 3 o'clock tour...next time.

Best seat in the house!!

We arrived at our Plan B destination, Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. Gorda was our Plan A 'cuz I REALLY wanted to buy some of that infamous $6 a gallon gas but again, danged alarm clocks...time was passing.

The wife doing "Vanna" again!

 

[Oh My Sack!]

Now, a run back downhill and DOWN WIND!!! Winds were NW @ 25-30 nmh.

We hit a nice vista for a south facing shot and a look at some of the Slob Elephant Seals which are present this time of the year. They're actually "skinny" now.

A pic of Oh My Sack! next to his sled.

A shot of the infamous Hearst Castle.

And lastly, before our direct run home, a stop in Cambria for a cup of Joe.

A shot of the main drag in town. Full of travelers and the snootiest locals on the planet.

Next run; out Highway 58 to the California Valley and Soda Lake to catch the greatest wildflower show in the state if not the world. Pics to follow.

 

[JPL_SV]

Nice pics. Last pics look like Solvang,CA. I did a similar ride to that. I hit up Malibu hills, Solvang, and some cool vineyards.

 

[Oh My Sack!]

Yeah, it does but Cambria's got nothing on Solvang. That photo is the entire downtown! :lmao: It hardly compares to a side street in Solvang.

 

[SuperSmitty]

sweet pictures. that house is badass looking

 

[kjkrow]

Nice shots, and looks like a nice ride. And now I see how the signals mount up on the SW Motech racks. Thanks.

 

[yenhan705eh77]

Beautiful place. I'm going there on my next trip.

 

[Oh My Sack!]

Nice shots, and looks like a nice ride. And now I see how the signals mount up on the SW Motech racks. Thanks.

Here's the close up of what we were discussing yesterday. I've decided that I'll leave the signals in the original location. I'll be using the tangs on either side of the lic plate as a place to lock our helmets with a padlock just like the $60 dollar gizmo they sell at Twisted.

 

[Oh My Sack!]

Beautiful place. I'm going there on my next trip.

Lots of great places to explore up here. When you decide when you're coming, drop me a PM and I can give you some suggestions and directions if you like. I've been up here for about 25 years now. I'm a La Habra transplant!

 

[SVChris1744]

Nice pics! A bit depressing though as I look outside and see freezing rain coming down. Sigh...

 

[mg66]

Great pics.

I would have loved to go for a ride but cloudy and 30mph winds all morning and then thunderstorms with gusts of 50mph by noon. By the time it was clear it was too late. Maybe next weekend

My SO like the pants your better half is wearing. Any chance you remember the brand/model of them?

 

[Oh My Sack!]

My SO like the pants your better half is wearing. Any chance you remember the brand/model of them?

Cycle Gear, Frank Thomas "Zoe" leathers. She loves them! We're getting her the Jasmine leather jacket next when it gows on sale. It fits better than the Zoe jacket.

The pants are on sale now!! Your SO should check them out!

http://www.cyclegear.com/spgm.cfm?L1=5000&L2=3&L3=122&L4=124&item=FTL_FTL267-BZ-10_G

 

[nevenelestate]

Next run; out Highway 58 to the California Valley and Soda Lake to catch the greatest wildflower show in the state if not the world. Pics to follow.

When is that?

 

[Oh My Sack!]

When is that?

Likely this coming weekend if the weather holds up. I want to catch it while the wildflowers are in bloom because that whole valley out there turns to color. I've flown the Cessna out there many times when it's going off and it's a sight to behold from the air but I have never caught it while driving through. Seems like a good excuse for a Motorcycle ride!

Ya coming up? I see you're from Oxnard. Looks like a Hwy 33 to 166 and over through Taft for you. The Cuyama Valley and 166 should be pretty nice out there as well though it doesn't tend to be as showy as the Carrizo Plain.

 

[nevenelestate]

its a possibility, I'm not from Cali so any time i get a chance to see a new part of the state i try to jump on it. what is a city in that area so i can google map search it?

 

[Oh My Sack!]

It's in the middle of no where! :lmao: But it's due north of you.

Googlemap "Cuyama, CA" (pronounced Quee-ah-mah)

Pan out to the 2 mile scale and you'll see Cuyama in the center of the Cuyama Valley. You'll see Hwy 33 from your neck of the woods intersects with Hwy 166 just east of Cuyama. It's desolate and Cuyama is a 2 horse town but there is a store, food, and I believe gas. There's life and fuel in Mariposa to the east on 33/166 though it is definitely a lower lifeform!

The mountain range just north of Cuyama is the Caliente Range, a pretty diverse eco system for something that looks like a moonscape. Tule Elk, Pronghorn Antelope, Blacktail Deer, etc reside in those hills. The valley on the north side of that range is the California Valley and if you scroll up, you'll see a town called Simmler (nothing there, really) but just below that is the Soda Lake which is a salt or alkaline environment and another interesting ecosystem. The really gnarly mountain range that runs the NE side of the Cal Valley is the Temblor Range. What you see there is actually the infamous San Andreas Fault that runs from the Bay Area southeast through the entire state. This is the actual place where the west tektonic plate is moving north and the eastern plate is moving south. It's incredible to stand there and actually get a visual interpretation of how it's moving. There's a road on the north side of Soda Lake (Elkhorn Rd) where you can see valleys coming down from the Temblor Range that have been completely block off by the movement. I'm not sure if that road is suitable for the SV though. It was a graded dirt road last time I drove it. Not nasty but maybe more suited for a Dual Purpose bike, I'm not sure.

At any rate, that more northern section of the Cal Valley surrounding the Soda Lake area is amass with wildflowers starting about now through March and sometimes into April depending on climatic conditions. I just got some info from the BLM office that says the flowers are just getting started. It's possible that this weekend might be too soon, perhaps the weekend after may be better but with the weather forecasts we have up here, things might really pop this week as the temps are coming up a bit.

 

[twinprime]

Beautiful place. I'm going there on my next trip.

I recommend completely black/whiteout your license plate. What you did above could very easily reconstructed to your original plate.

The program you used to edit the image will likely sign the image (as metadata in the file, not visible to viewers, but readable by programs). THe signature most likely consists of the program's name, version and the algorithm used to created the swirl effect. One can easily use these information to revert the edit process and arrive at the original image (your license plate).

You can ensure your "whiteout" is completely irreversible by making sure you black it out completely.

If you want it to look nice (like your image now):
Take a picture of a police license plate, slap it on your image. Rasterise it (flatten in photoshop). Apply the tool to have the swirl effect... Save it as a different file format, different resolution a few times. You can even then open it up in MS Paint, and use MS Paint to save the image once or twice. Your image will look nice, and is hard to reproduce. And even if they do, they get a license plate they don't want to mess with ;D

 

[Oh My Sack!]

Thanks for the technical headsup.

I never distort my plate in photos and for some stupid reason, I did on this thread.

I drive thousands of miles on the public highways and am seen by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of motorists.

What's the deal?

 

[nevenelestate]

I never distort my plate in photos and for some stupid reason, I did on this thread.

some one might hunt you down for taking nice pictures

 

[super32]

Thanks for the technical headsup.

I never distort my plate in photos and for some stupid reason, I did on this thread.

I drive thousands of miles on the public highways and am seen by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of motorists.

What's the deal?

I live in California and I need a new plate ;D. just joking, heh heh.
I have no idea why people blank out their plates. I mean, if someone really wanted info on another person... couldn't they just stroll the streets and just start jotting down plate numbers? Not trying to argue, but trying to understand :nana:

Nice pics "OMS".
I've seen that "recycle" house on an edition of "California's Gold" with Huell Howser... great public television and a great way to see places I would otherwise would not.

I may try to see those wildflowers too this weekend (of course in car, since I'm not a long range rider).