Saturday September 29 Big Bear Lake to Los Angeles CA

Starting the day was a bit depressing especially for those Collingwood fans as we were unable to see the game at all. Col was a philosophical about it all. 
However, I think we made up for it with the out of Big Bear Lake towards Los Angeles. It has truly  beautiful scenery and  there was a lot of Go Pro footage taken to try to do it some justice.  It was a bit of a shock to come down out of the mountains , turn a corner for a fuel stop and be confronted by an 8 lane highway.
Talk about shattering the serenity!
Stopped for fuel but to also exchange a couple of the bikes as both Maurice and Paul were having issues. Maurice's bike had no clutch fluid so consequently no clutch and Paul's bike had no top end power so Eagle riders met us there and swapped over bikes.
Across the freeway and back up into the mountains to ride along the Angeles Crest Highway. 66 miles of some more spectacular scenery that is a favorite haunt of the local bike community. At this sate we also met up with 2 more friends of Skip - Herb and Curtis . Both are retired policemen who love to ride.
A stop at a place called Newcombe's Ranch for lunch - supposedly a favorite haunt of Jay Lenno but we didn't spot him.
Out of the mountains and into Los Angeles - it was the weekend , I would hate to see it at rush hour! 8 lane highways with multiple merging and exits make life very interesting especially when you have no idea where you are going. Stick close to the guide is all I can say.  Lots of traffic , all going very fast but they give each other more space than we do so it all flows pretty well most of the time.
Finally made our way to a place called Ocean Park . We were supposed to go to the Santa Monica Pier which is where Route 66 formally finishes but traffic just to heavy.
Parked and walked down to dip our feet/hands into the Pacific Ocean so we could say we had gone from Atlantic to Pacific - 4, 500 miles!!
Hugs all round.
The final run was to stop for fuel and then onto Eagle riders LA to drop off the bikes , collect our gear, buy the obligatory T-shirt and head off to our accommodation.
That night it was across the street to the Westin for our final dinner together.  Lovely grill with beautiful but we had a bit of a laugh about the bottle of Giesen Sav Blanc on the wine list for $62 ( no we didn't order it)
So now it was all over . We will all catch up at breakfast.

i

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