On the morning of October 24 I left the house at 5 a.m. to start a San Luis Obispo ride, the first overnight ride for the West Coast Spyder Ryding Group. My first stop was 40 minutes to North County House of Motorcycle to meet with Spyder owner, Art and his wife to be, and to top off the gas tank for the two hour ride up Interstate 5. We would officially start the ride at Jet World in Castaic and meet up with the rest of the riders.

We left Jet World at around 10:15 a.m. and proceeded up Interstate 5 and then west on a two lane road that took us to New Cuyama. This turned out to be a very good road with all types of riding, for the group it was great.



When we reached New Cuyama we stopped to pick up another rider named Diggitt and had lunch at the only place to eat within 50 miles called the “Burger Barn.” The cook was outside on a huge BBQ pit cooking away and the meat smelled great. I was getting ready to order some nice diet food when TJ announced that he would pay for the lunch of anyone that could finish the “Big Buddha Burger.” Now I like a challenge and a free meal so I ordered one. Tony and I counted the patties and there were 6 burgers! Tony also ordered one and the eat fest was on. We both finished the Buddha and then split the left over fries from someone and washed it all down with a couple of cokes. TJ paid up and gave me cash for my free meal that I paid for before eating.

From there we traveled west on highway 166 where we arrived at the town of Santa Maria. From this point Kathy was the only one that had the motel in her GPS so she took the lead and only made one bad turn in the wrong direction. She just couldn’t take directions from that woman in the GPS – who was right all along!

We arrived at the motel and everyone got settled in and we were off to downtown San Luis Obispo where there isn’t free parking until after 6 p.m. We finally found a public parking lot with enough spots for the 8 Spyders and 10 riders that made the trip. I returned the bet money and told Tony that I would take credit for future help.

We finally located a bar and grill called “Mothers” and went inside to eat again. It had only been a few since the Big Buddha Burger and here we were eating again. We spent about three hours there before I headed out for ice cream just down the street. We decided to head back to the motel and I held an open room until about 11 p.m. and then shut it down because we planned to leave at 6 a.m. the next morning for breakfast in Morro Bay.

By now you must think that all we did was ride and eat – and you’re right we did!
We were up bright and early Sunday morning. I could not resist showing off the RT’s heated hand grips that were on the highest level. There was some jealously but it was short lived. Off we went in the darkness of the morning where we arrived at the rock in Morro Bay and TJ found a place called “Frankie and Lola’s Front Street Café.” I thought that this little hole in the wall would have only expensive food (see the video) but to my surprise this was a fine gourmet eatery. The food was awesome and we highly recommend this place to anyone in the Morro Bay area.

As the sunrise continued we could see that it was going to be a beautiful day. We headed out to the rock for about one hour and then headed north to Hearst Castle and only went through the information center.

We decided to head south and stop at a gas station just short of the Madonna Inn. We had a couple of minor repairs that needed to be done so I tried out the passenger seat and almost fell asleep except it was too hot for that. Off to the Madonna Inn for lunch which turned out to be sundae’s, banana splits etc. Yes we were eating again!

We rode south on the 101 freeway and we split into two groups as half of the group was headed inland the other half continued south. It was the end of a memorable weekend. I think we are all looking forward to the next trip.

I traveled 847 miles that weekend. I am closing in on 11,000 miles and loving every minute of it with the West Coast Spyder Group.

You can catch more RT adventures on westcoastspyder.com

Remember– it’s about the ryde - not your destination