Days 141 - 143 Los Angeles - Paso Robles - Ridgecrest
Los Angeles - Paradise City. Where everything seems to be artificial and fake. At least on the more touristic places. I you have the money it would be a place to spend weeks. There's everything: wax museums, tours, shows, concerts whatever you desire. For a low budget traveler... a bit too expensive city. But most of the big cities are.
My goal was to see the sea from this side. So I took a bus to Santa Monica beach and pier. I was there quite early, around 11am so there was not too much people. Such a tourist attraction. But worth seeing.
Another place to see was the Walk of Fame. Especially a couple of stars there. That was definitely the most touristic place I've been in a while. But it was nice walk. I have noticed that if you want to avoid the masses you should go in the morning. Or because nothing is open before 10am go around that time.
Those places took me two days. Los Angeles is a huge city so going anywhere takes a lot of time. In less than an hour you usually get nowhere. So Saturday was my day of buying new gear to replace the ones I broke in the crash. A helmet, trousers and gloves. So I took a bus to the nearest Cycle Gear shop which was recommended to me. The trip there took nearly 2 hours. I found the gear I needed and got to the cash register only to realize I have a limit in my credit card. Daily payments were set to maximum of 200€. What to do? I needed my bank's accecc key card to change the limits and that card was at the hostel.
Well, I took a bus - again. But it seems the GoMetro app isn't working properly as the bus never arrived. I waited more than an hour to get halfway. There I was supposed to have a new bus in five minutes. Nope... So I installed Lyft app to my phone. Lyft is quite similar as Uber, the revolutionary taxi company. In few minutes I got a ride to hostel. After changing my limits I took a new Lyft ride back to the shop. This time my rider was Jose, originally from El Salvador. We had a good chat about his business idea and I think he'll find a way to success.
After paying gear Jose took me back downtown to LA Marriot Live hotel where I met my brother Antti who was there for business. It was great to have a good dinner with him.
The big day of getting my new bike was on Sunday. Immediately after 8am I returned my room key and headed to Union station to catch a train 9am. I don't know what was wrong because eventually the train departed at 9:37. After about an hour's trip I arrived in Claremont where "Famous James" Tucker was already waiting for me. We got to his place and there my new baby was ready to go. Making the rest of the paperwork took some time so I it was nearly 2pm when I finally got going.
Traffic in LA is terrible. Even on Sunday the freeway was stuck in some places. Of course it wasn't that big of a problem when riding a motorcycle as splitting lanes is not prohibited in California. I rode to the coast to see the old Highway 1. Too bad the views on that road are better closer to San Francisco.
It was already dark when I ended up to Roger's home. He was my generous and great host for the night. We had good laughs and even some more serious conversations during the evening and morning. And he had a spare set of side bags that suited perfectly to my new bike.
In the morning Roger gave me instructions for a route to get to Las Vegas without riding too much on the highways. And the route he advised me to take was great. Such a great sceneries on the way.
In the evening I ended up in a town called Ridgecrest. Staying in a hostel for a night before heading to Las Vegas.
By the way. The new bike is called Rosie. In memory of Malcolm Young of AC/DC and the song "Whole lotta Rosie".
My goal was to see the sea from this side. So I took a bus to Santa Monica beach and pier. I was there quite early, around 11am so there was not too much people. Such a tourist attraction. But worth seeing.
Another place to see was the Walk of Fame. Especially a couple of stars there. That was definitely the most touristic place I've been in a while. But it was nice walk. I have noticed that if you want to avoid the masses you should go in the morning. Or because nothing is open before 10am go around that time.
Those places took me two days. Los Angeles is a huge city so going anywhere takes a lot of time. In less than an hour you usually get nowhere. So Saturday was my day of buying new gear to replace the ones I broke in the crash. A helmet, trousers and gloves. So I took a bus to the nearest Cycle Gear shop which was recommended to me. The trip there took nearly 2 hours. I found the gear I needed and got to the cash register only to realize I have a limit in my credit card. Daily payments were set to maximum of 200€. What to do? I needed my bank's accecc key card to change the limits and that card was at the hostel.
Well, I took a bus - again. But it seems the GoMetro app isn't working properly as the bus never arrived. I waited more than an hour to get halfway. There I was supposed to have a new bus in five minutes. Nope... So I installed Lyft app to my phone. Lyft is quite similar as Uber, the revolutionary taxi company. In few minutes I got a ride to hostel. After changing my limits I took a new Lyft ride back to the shop. This time my rider was Jose, originally from El Salvador. We had a good chat about his business idea and I think he'll find a way to success.
After paying gear Jose took me back downtown to LA Marriot Live hotel where I met my brother Antti who was there for business. It was great to have a good dinner with him.
The big day of getting my new bike was on Sunday. Immediately after 8am I returned my room key and headed to Union station to catch a train 9am. I don't know what was wrong because eventually the train departed at 9:37. After about an hour's trip I arrived in Claremont where "Famous James" Tucker was already waiting for me. We got to his place and there my new baby was ready to go. Making the rest of the paperwork took some time so I it was nearly 2pm when I finally got going.
Traffic in LA is terrible. Even on Sunday the freeway was stuck in some places. Of course it wasn't that big of a problem when riding a motorcycle as splitting lanes is not prohibited in California. I rode to the coast to see the old Highway 1. Too bad the views on that road are better closer to San Francisco.
It was already dark when I ended up to Roger's home. He was my generous and great host for the night. We had good laughs and even some more serious conversations during the evening and morning. And he had a spare set of side bags that suited perfectly to my new bike.
In the morning Roger gave me instructions for a route to get to Las Vegas without riding too much on the highways. And the route he advised me to take was great. Such a great sceneries on the way.
In the evening I ended up in a town called Ridgecrest. Staying in a hostel for a night before heading to Las Vegas.
By the way. The new bike is called Rosie. In memory of Malcolm Young of AC/DC and the song "Whole lotta Rosie".
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