San Francisco
Friday 3rd April
The second part of highway one was a bit of a disappointment after yesterday and the wind was icy too. We arrived at San Francisco reasonably early and checked in to a motel on the outskirts about 25 miles out, the security gates on the carpark and the dishevelled look of the place did not give us that warm friendly feel nor did the guy behind the glass counter who checked us in. The room is actually ok, well it's clean and that's half the battle won. Still we did not feel, like leaving anything of value in the room so off loaded the luggage except the valuables and headed off for the Golden Gate Bridge and the town of San Francisco. On our way across Bay Bridge which I personally think is far more impressive than the GGB we were stopped by the police. It was quite a surprise to us as we had not seen any police and whenever we do we expect to get stopped. All of a sudden he let rip with his sirens, I pulled over thinking he wanted to pass but he then pulled over, I thought surely you don't want us to stop in the middle of this 5 lane carriage way then he starts wailing at us through a loud speaker to continue to the slip road, still with the sirens blaring away he followed us off the bridge then turned the sirens off but kept the lights on, he shouted more instructions as to where to pull over.
Before Marcia was off the bike he was asking her what was the number plate?
After I had got my helmet off and started talking to him he seemed to calm down, he asked how we had got the bike in to the country. I explained to him that I had brought it in on a temporary import for a year, he then asked for all my paperwork and driving licence but not insurance or for my international driving permit. I handed him everything he asked for but he seemed to just stare blankly at it all. He seemed satisfied with everything and then became quite chatty and almost apologetic.
He then showed us some different routes to get back to where we were heading.
I asked him if he had enough fire power with him or was he getting ready for world war 3 and he was very surprised that our police do not carry fire arms. Once we had decided which route to take it meant turning right and we were 5 lanes on the wrong side of the road so he said he would block the traffic for us so we could get across safely.
The traffic was mental but thankfully we were in California where bikers ride like bikers and filter through the traffic so I felt quite at home even though the bike is as wide as a bus with the panniers. We tried to stop at pier 39 to get a look at the bridge before we went over it but it was so busy and there was nowhere to stop let alone park. We eventually got to the GGB I thought it should be called the red oxide bridge as it looked like it had just had a coat of red oxide primer. It was impressive for its time but by modern standards it's a museum piece now. On the way back the traffic was still mental so stopped off for a bite to eat. We found another micro brewery so I tried a pint of one of their local brews with a meal. The food was great but sadly I could not say the same for the beer. We have stumbled across a few micro brewery's during our travels but have not found a decent beer yet but at least it's better than their Budweiser or Miller. It's still to cold to visit Yosemite and some of the roads are closed due to snow and ice so we will be back this way later also we have not been able to get to visit Alcatraz as you have to book weeks in advance.