Day 75. Phelan, California.
It was tempting to stay another day in Morro Bay, but having just fitted new tyres to both bikes we thought we'd better make use of them. So, we headed inland to explore Southern California.
The first part of our route followed Route 58 (supposedly one of the top 15 motorbike routes in the US), and passed through vineyards, giant solar panel ranches, and huge areas of 'nodding donkeys' extracting oil. Never knew California was an oil state!
Stopped for a quick lunch at Taft and got talking to a man who was convinced that the recent drought is due to a local company releasing aluminium chemicals into the atmosphere to encourage the farmers to buy their aluminium resistant corn. Not sure what proof he had but he certainly had strong views on the subject.
We were keen to avoid the interstates in the afternoon so sought out the smallest, most hilly roads on the map. This involved a few detours, but we were rewarded with some great motorcycling routes - probably better than Route 58. At one point however, we did end up on an unmaintained road, which got bumpier and bumpier. We could probably have made it through but didn't want to risk another big tow truck bill, so reluctantly turned around after a couple of miles.
All in all, we've had 285 miles of great motorcycling today! Currently staying at Cajon Junction - in the middle of nowhere - listening to the freight trains and the traffic on the interstate.