A great day and I'm still high!

Today was a microcosm of life. Have you ever noticed how your life is a series of events, linked to and influence by the decisions you make? I have thought and discussed this for years, and today unfolded in such a way that I could easily connect the dots. Let me start at the beginning.

I spent the night in San Simeon, a nondescript town near the Hearst Castle which thinks it is high class and therefore is not governed by the laws of good business practices or compassion. After staying in my over-priced motel room, and struggling with a WI-FI connection that was poor at best, I finally nodded off to sleep in disgust and resignation. For the second night in a row I was unable to download pictures, and this time my "route" outline would not upload either. I believe the route is lost for good and the pictures may need to wait until Tuesday, when the San Diego branch office of my IT Department opens.

I woke up this morning to find a light mist falling on my little corner of the world. Instead of eating at the motel restaurant I chose to ride into town further, to see if there was a local business that would appreciate a paying customer. I found just such an establishment about 6 miles down the road. In that 6 mile stretch the low lying mist that was blowing in off the ocean managed to dampen the leading edge of the vertical face of my pant legs. This is the wettest I have been since slicing through the weather window to get out of Boise. As soon as I stopped and went inside, my jeans dried, and by the time I came back out the mist was gone, and I rode in clear weather the rest of the day. The little bakery, by the way, charged less than $5.00 for my cup of coffee and a pastry (yes, I know Lisa, the diet may have to wait until I make it to Dallas).

So, with a freshly downloaded breakfast and my little angel bringing blue skies my way, I headed south again, along the coast. 

I had been unable to get a word out of my GPS since I insisted on staying on highway 1 instead of following her recommendations to take US 101. So I decided to stop and take some pictures at Morrow Bay, primarily of Morrow Rock, a huge rock jutting out of the ocean a short distance from shore. 

My best shot seemed to be from the beach, so I made a stop in a residential neighborhood where a small sign between two very closely spaced houses said the public was welcome. I figured that, being a warming, sunshiningish Saturday in California that there would be some people on the beach, and there were - hundreds and hundreds of people!

After hiking between sections of the roped off habitat of the Western Snowy Pavoy (have you got that one yet Scott and Bev?) and spotting a half dozen 6" long lizards that apparently like to sit up on the boards of the fence and sun themselves, I got my shots and returned to the bike. 

Even with this minor delay I was a little surprised when I rolled through the Five Cities area (as they call it) at barely 11 o'clock.

There are a number of things that Betty and I held in joint enjoyment, and live theater was one of them. Prior to my trip I had culled the AAA Tour books looking for, and noting, possible points of interest to spruce up my trip. One such point of interest was the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville Theater in Oceano (one of the five cities). I knew it was in Oceano, but because my GPS was not working, I could not find the address. So as I rolled  through town on Highway 1,  I stopped at a roadside fruit stand.

Thus began a series of fortunate incidences.

I went inside to see if I could buy a banana but saw none, only flats of very large, delicious strawberries. I asked if it was possible to buy one strawberry, because I had no way to carry more.  The nice man gave me a free sample!

As I stood outside I stopped to try my GPS once again but to no avail. Had I not been eating that strawberry I would have hopped on the bike and continued south. But when my GPS was still not working, I turned around to sit and finish my strawberry.

Directly across the street sat the Great American Melodrama Theater. Because it was so early there was no one there. I went to the ticket booth to see what time their show was and, instead of a schedule, I found a sign saying tickets were available across the parking lot, at the next building. 

When I went there I found out that there was a 3 p.m. matinee on Saturdays. As long as I was there, and remembering all of the other points of interest I had blown by because I was anxious about moving along, I decided to buy a ticket and go to lunch to kill some time. 

When I inquired as to where a good "local color" restaurant was they mentioned several, but then one of the ladies said "He asked for local color, it has to be the Rock and Roll Diner." So they directed me back a short distance to the north to an interesting "building" I had noticed as I blew by, but had not figured out what it was.

It was was a retro diner made up of two old railroad dining cars coupled to each other. As I parked my bike in front, I noticed the sign on the front of one of the cars that listed the evening dinner specials. What was the Saturday Daily Special you ask? 

The Betty Boop night, ladies half price. (One of Betty's nick names was Betty Boop). 

So I went inside and there was a large cardboard cutout of Betty Boop! When I went over to take a picture of it, I explained myself to the lady that was sitting next to the cutout. When she found out it was special to me she asked if she could take the picture while I posed with Betty.

So I sat to eat my meal and, across the aisle was a group of three veterans. I could tell from their conversation that they were not only bikers but pilots (two more of my passions). When they got up to leave I noticed that the one had a name tag on identifying himself as a pilot of a bi-plane sight-seeing ride company. I asked where the planes were and he directed me next door to the little local airport.

After finishing my lunch I had time to kill so I went to the airport to see the plane. 

It was a 1943 Stearman bi-plane, and inquiring, I determined that the schedule was open for a rider. A quick safety meeting to learn what to do if we landed in the ocean, then a fitting to trade my leather jacket and helmet for an aviation version, complete with goggles! 

The take-off was fun, watching the pedals move back and forth while trying to taxi in a straight line, then the run-up. We were up smoothly and, despite a slight cross wind, we sat back down smoothly after a few passes up and down the coast.

Pretty cool stuff. So I got to go for a flight in a vintage WWII plane and scratch that off my bucket list. 

So right now Jim is saying "better you than me, no way would I go up in a small plane again". 

Mark is saying "wow, I know a few dozen people that would love that". 

Tom is saying "I told you that you'd find the guy from Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".

Colls is saying "Go Frog, way cool".

After the plane ride, I stopped at a small Railroad Museum that was not open on Saturdays, but got some pictures anyway, then it was time to take in a great play: "Across the River", the adventures of Huck Finn in a musical, followed by a Vaudeville Revue that took pot shots at the medical field in a slap-stick vaudevillian style that was very entertaining!

So I rode 149 miles today, marked another mode of transportation off the list while at the same time put a tick mark on the bucket list, saw a play, laughed a lot, almost ran out of gas, then paid $4.99/gal and loved it, found a hotel with a good WI-FI and was able, finally, to download 115 pictures!

All in all, it doesn't get a lot better than that, unless you count the fact that I'm within striking distance of L.A. So I should be on schedule to meet up with my Grandkids, Jason and Vic at Legoland!