California Dreaming

We must be in Califiornia then!

We had previously arranged to stay at Cameron and Jessica's place in San Diego so we made a beeline for Mission Valley. Amazingly, and with very few detours, we made it with no problems. Cameron has a very shiny BMW 1200GS and is a member of the Horizons Unlimited and ADVRider sites so is pretty used to folk like us, ie threadbare clothes and in dire need of a hot shower! We stayed with Cameron and Jessica for about 5 days, during which time, we were driven to and from our respective BMW and Kawasaki garages to get the bikes sorted out properly. Michelles bike for the slipping clutch and mine for some very expensive steering and shaft drive bearings. Ouch at $750 but I guess my poor bike was suffering by this point, and lets face it,it really hasn't cost me too much over the length of this trip. I had ordered some other parts like fork seals, a replacement rear shock bolt and a new cable for my GPS which had stopped working some time ago.

Our hosts for San Diego

I did the fork seals to avoid paying BMW labour rates ($78/hour) which went fairly smoothly. When it came to removing the bent rear shock bolt (the shock had fairly severely bottomed out), it decided to sheer off inside my swing arm. Fortunately, Cameron has a very well kitted out garage and even had the right tool for removing pesky sheared bolts. Despite spending several days working on the bikes, we did managed to actually see some of San Diego and I even managed to get a pair of jeans that actually fit me. We also used the time here to have a clear out, sending equipment and stuff home we don't really need in an effort to cut down some weight. On our last night, Michelle and I made a barbeque to thank our marvelous hosts for their wonderful hospitality and Jessica's excellent cooking, and my potato salad seemed to go down well too. Next stop, Los Angeles!