CALIFORNIA BASEBALL TOUR

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac

Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, “Bridge on the River Kwai”

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball We Didn’t Start the Fire – Billy Joel

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Backroads, what is with the stick & ball stories? Is this Backroads or Sports Illustrated? C’mon, will ya?! Not to worry dear reader. Yes, there has been baseball, and in fact, with the plan working as planned (right, when has that ever happened with us) we’d cover a good portion of The Great Bear State and hit all ve Major League ball elds and teams – and a concert by the great, yet elusive, Tikiyaki Orchestra.

It was ambitious, even for us, but the truth was we had plans for the middle of summer scuttled by the Russian Army and Tikiyaki was playing.

Okay, they were playing…in San Diego; but this is how great riding adventures get born.

Let me tell you, Shira is a dangerous woman when it comes to planning what I’m gonna do.

Long-time readers and friends know where our allegiance lies when it comes to New York baseball. But, let’s all admit that our Metropolitans would not even be here if not for Tuesday, May 28, 1957.

Every self-respecting baseball fan from New York will never forget this date; for the face of New York baseball was forever changed when the

Giants and Dodgers—two teams that had been playing in the Big Apple since the late 1800s—abandoned the city for California. When club owners Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham yanked the Dodgers and the Giants out of New York to move to the west coast all HE-Double Hockey

Sticks broke loose. To this day, their relocation remains a touchy subject to longtime fans throughout the ve boroughs. But, from this abandonment, we got the Mets and fellow Mets-fan Billy Joel thought this important enough to slide into his hit ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’.

For many years now Shira and I have been whittling down the long list of Major League Ball Parks – and have gotten to a few truly historic ballparks – like Rickwood Field, the oldest park on the planet. So, nailing the California parks was on top of our Bucket List.

The planning began. The rst thing needed were some wheels, and wheels that would t the job and both of us. Kawasaki has three versions of their Versys series, a standardish light ADV sport-touring machine, and we reached out to our friends at Team Green and they graciously provided two of these machines, a 1000 and a 650 for the journey.

New Jersey to Laguna Beach, California

We grabbed a morning ight out of Newark that got us to Orange County and Kawasaki’s U.S. headquarters in Foothill Ranch by late morning. After a quick set-up of both machines we took off, heading down the Paci c Coast Highway for an early (California) or late (East Coast) lunch, depending on your thinking.

Just south of Dana Point we made a stop at a roadside Mexican joint called Olamendi’s. With the Paci c Ocean across the PCH, we ordered up some tacos and took the same table

that President Nixon had taken many times, as Olamendi’s was a favorite of his. There certainly was enough of the Red Hunter and White House swag throughout the place, all mixed in with that lovely Mexican Día de Muertos avor.

Hunger sated, we spent a bit of time around the coast, cruising through Laguna Beach and then up into the hill for an overnight and a bit of poolside relaxing before the real riding, more a charge, would begin. South to the Border

We had an entire day to cover the 90 miles or so, south from Orange County to “America’s Finest City” San Diego, and we covered most of that along the PCH heading south; until we got near Camp Pendleton and we were forced back onto the I-5.

In typical Californian-style, traf c would ow briskly for a bit then suddenly would slow to a crawl.

Shira reminded me that lanesplitting is a reality here and it took a bit to get used to meandering in a vibrant way between slow-moving beat-up junkers, Teslas, and Porsche Carreras (the Toyota Camry of California). We tucked in behind a good-size motorcycle club heading south and let them part the cars for us.

Lane-splitting… simply brilliant - but, with our narrower roads it’s never gonna happen back east.

Up ahead and to the right, running alongside barren land between the highway and the Paci c, we spotted a few large dust clouds kicked up by U.S. Marines doing maneuvers in their new ACV (Amphibious Combat Vehicles). With a rest stop just a mile or so to the south, we turned on the speed to catch them up close as they rolled by. Between them and the ambiguous choppers above you had to be impressed with our military and these warriors.

The evening before I was scanning the many tourist information cards in the hotel’s lobby and came across a museum I had not heard of before… The Museum of Making Music. Nice!

On our last trek to the Ozark, we had stopped in Cleveland to take in a Guardians game and spent a full day at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

If the HOF is about those who have become the superstars of music, the Museum of Making Music is almost the opposite, but easily as amazing, informative, and fun. Here it is about everyone making music… Everyone, as we all can do this if we wish. I have always wished, so I was so excited to nd the MOMM!

Walking in, a docent was strumming a beautiful Martin 12-string and stopped his playing to welcome us.

The place was truly an amazing nd and here the story of music, all music, is told and they have dozens of instruments you can try. Shira went for the drums (Ya’el she is not), but she made up for that with a keyboard. For me, I spent some time with the various guitars. The docent that had greeted us when we arrived, another guitar player named Brian, came into the room and asked if I had ever played a Collings guitar?

Collings guitars hail from Austin, Texas and are considered by many as one of the nest acoustic guitars on the planet.

I certainly had not.

Brian brought out a D2H; a square-shouldered 14-fret dreadnought – a wonderful mix of Sitka Spruce, East Indian Rosewood, and Honduran Mahogany – with a price tag about the same as all my guitars put together. Evidentially my humble playing was heard and I was deemed worthy to play one of “The Good Stuff” that they keep locked away for special occasions.

I was more than a tad stunned and had a mix of “Oh Boy Excitement” and “OH BOY” alarm as he handed the dreadnaught to me and simply said, “Have fun;” and, walked away. When do you get to play a guitar that is worth a half year of mortgage payments?

Right! Never! Thank you, Brian!

The Museum of Making Music was simply extraordinary and we were so tickled to have ridden over to take it in.

We found a late lunch along the coast, before riding to San Diego’s Old Town section where we were staying for the night. We locked up the smaller Versys for the night and doubled up on the 1000 and rode over to Shelter Island and the Tikibash 2022.

This event is held each year to bene t San Diego’s Food Bank and this year it was Tikiyaki Orchestra that would be headlining the show. We had waited many years to see them and they did not disappoint.

If you have never heard them, make some sort of boat drink, in fact make two, drink one, and then Google the band and the song Bachelor #1, turn up the volume and sit back and enjoy your #2 while you listen to Bachelor #1 – it will explain it all.

When the show was over we took a quick tour of the San Diego waterside and rode into their Little Italy section where we met our son, yet an-

other Brian, and his gal Ashley for a nice dinner and family time. From soup to nuts this was just a magni cent day of riding, music, and family!

On August 4, 2007, Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run to tie Hank Aaron’s record. On April 17, 2008, the Padres and Rockies played in a 22-inning game, the longest game in Petco Park history. The Rockies won the game, 2–1. It was the longest MLB game in nearly 15 years On June 14, 2010, during a game with the Toronto Blue Jays, there was a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, which was centered about 85 miles east of San Diego. Play stopped momentarily in the eighth inning. The Blue Jays went on to win 6–3.

Petco Park’s Mascot: The Swinging Friar (What is under his frock?)

We said hello to the park and Tony Gwynn’s statue before heading north.

We had tickets for the Angels game against the Minnesota Twins and were to meet our friend Jon and his stepdaughter Meagan for the game. We have known Jon for so many years, as he was the press-maven for Honda and, even after a well-deserved retirement, has stayed close.

It was a great game, the Angels romped the Twins, and the stadium, with its re-belching waterfall in deep center eld, was very cool too. Angels Stadium Fun Facts:

Then Angels Stadium has had many names, but most simply call it The Big A.

San Diego - Anaheim - Santa Paula

First thing in the morning we rode over to Petco Park, home of the Padres. The team was on the road this day, back east where they would take a win from the Nationals 6-0 (sorry, Steve), but the park is fairly open and well worth seeing.

According to their website… “Petco Park is spectacular in every way, combining the best sight lines in baseball with breathtaking views of San Diego. Architecturally magni cent, it celebrates the sea, the sky, the natural beauty, cultural diversity and unique spirit of the region.”

Opened in 2004 it replaced the old Qualcomm Stadium as the home of the Padres and can hold 42,000 fans.

The NFL Los Angeles Rams played there from 1980 to 1994.

The stadium was host to the 1967 MLB All-Star Game, the rst AllStar Game to be played on prime-time television. This was the rst time an All-Star Game was held at night since World War II.

Famous individual baseball milestones attained here include Mickey Mantle’s last game-winning home run, Nolan Ryan striking out of nine straight Boston Red Sox and two of Nolan Ryan’s seven no-hitters, Reggie Jackson’s 500th career home run, Rod Carew’s 3,000th career base hit, Don Sutton’s 300th career win, Vladimir Guerro’s 400th career home run, George Brett’s 3,000th career base hit, and Albert Pujol’s 600th career home run. Their Mascot is The Rally Monkey With the Angels’ win we said our goodbyes to Jon and Meagan and continued north, and eventually headed towards the Paci c Coast, stopping just short of it and in the high mountainlined town of Santa Paula. We have a lot of friends that live in California and two special ones are Gigi and Reg Pridmore. Many of you know of Reg - the rst AMA Superbike Champion and the man behind CLASS Riding School which we attend every chance we get. Knowing we’d be riding through the region they invited us to dinner and to stay at their place – which we happily accepted.

Dinner was great and it was a lot of fun to simply hang with the Pridmores when they were not busy running one of the most exciting and successful motorcycle riding schools on the planet. Santa Paula to Morro Bay

The next morning Reg and Gigi, along with Duke the Australian Shepherd, brought us over to see his hangar where he keeps his plane, and where they lived for many years.

Reg’s hangar is just around the corner from where a guy named McQueen kept his planes. While there, we visited some of his neighbor’s hangars as well.

There is cool and then there is this sort of thing. What an amazing guy and amazing life. Boy Reg, all this and Gigi too. Damn!

After breakfast we packed up and got going, making a quick stop to see “The Warning,” the monumental forged steel sculpture by Eric J. Richards that honors the spirit of heroism and depicts two police of cers riding Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles to warn the sleeping citizens to get to high ground as devastating oodwaters swept through parts of Santa Paula on March 12, 1928, when the St. Francis dam collapsed. We have told this story before, but it is worth reading again.

Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on March 13, 1928, an urgent message of imminent disaster reached the night operator Louise Gipe in Santa Paula and was quickly relayed to police of cers Thornton Edwards and Stanley Baker, city of cials, and then homes in the lower portions of town. Among the many heroic acts that evening were the actions of these two motorcycle of cers who rode through the night to warn the sleeping citizens in the low-lying areas of Santa Paula that

a torrent of water was about to destroy the town. Their heroic efforts saved hundreds of lives. Their wild ride that night was stopped at 3:05 a.m. when the 30 ft. high wall of water swept through Santa Paula on its way to the ocean.

The monument depicts that speci c moment in time. Truly an amazing tale of heroism made possible by the motorcycles.

We then followed Shira’s GPS route down to the ocean and then east on California Route 33 – which creeps back

up and over the mountains, like a vicious and angry snake.

We sped through the tiny town of Casitas Springs, once home to the legendary Man in Black – Johnny Cash. His once home is for sale and you can Walk that Line for 1.8 million. Route 33 cuts through Ojai and then up into the Los Padres National Forest. The difference in temperatures was remarkable, and not in a good way, as the mercury (remember mercury?) broke the triple-digits.

The terrain went through some serious changes as well, with the trees giving way to scrub, and then, as we rode across and into the Taft region, we were reminded of how much oil California had and still has. Hundreds of oil derricks are all busy pumping away.

In 1910 an oil well exploded and spit out 100,000 barrels a day for 544 days. It was called the Lakeview Gusher – and it was the World’s Largest Oil Spill up until that time.

We had heard there were some historical markers to ag the site, but later learned that very day they had melted into a bronze slag along Route 119…. which might have been the actual temperature at this point.

As we passed this area, we also passed a fuel station. I glanced at the Kawasaki’s gauge reading the bike’s fuel range – about 80 miles left. Okay, I thought – no problem. Then, some miles down the road, Shira’s route vectored onto California Route 58 west. There was a sign. A big sign…. No Services for 75 miles. I glanced at the gauge once again – it now read 60 miles left. Okay, I did not go to college, but even I knew that 75 was more than 60, and the thought of running out of fuel seemed especially ironic with hundreds of oil pumping machines all around us. We doubled back, lled

up the bikes, and headed west along 58 that was an absolutely fantastic 3rd gear romp from one end to the other.

That night found us in Morro Bay, a place we have been many times. A semi-cheap hotel was an easy nd, as was a great seafood dinner while we enjoyed the enveloping combination of heavy fog, barking seals, and the encroaching night.

Morro Bay to Monterey

Some of the best road trip days are the ones when you have no place you have to be come day’s end – this was one of those rare days for us.

A leisurely morning walk and breakfast overlooking the big rock in the middle of Morro Bay started us off. First we made a quick stop on the north end to check out the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle they have on display. After the USS Thresher submarine sank in 1963 some 200 miles off of Boston, while doing deep sea testing, the Navy knew it needed a better rescue plan – this sub was the answer a full decade later.

Just as interesting was the tug Alma right behind it. We think Almas are all beautiful.

It was an odd day weatherwise along the coast. California’s interior was hotter than hell and the cold Paci c was just that – cold.

That caused a deep fog and mist that we would run through all day, but better here in the ethereal light and temps in the 60s, than a few miles into the hills where it was summer on steroids.

We have ridden this way a dozen times and always had a nal destination. But, not today and with no particular place to go, we decided we should nally stop at one of the grandest homes that has ever been built in this nation - La Cuesta Encantada, more popularly known as Hearst Castle.

William Randolph Hearst started to build a fabulous estate on his ranchland overlooking the village of San Simeon in 1919. He called the estate “La Cuesta Encantada” - Spanish for The Enchanted Hill. By 1947, the hilltop complex included a twin-towered main building, three sumptuous

guesthouses, and 127 acres of terraced gardens, fountains, and pools.

Everybody who was anybody probably took the invitation from the publishing king and the list of guests is amazing.

Although it was conceived and paid for by Hearst, it was architect Julia Morgan that made his dream a reality.

The visit lasted a good part of the day and the castle is, by far, the most impressive home we have ever visited, including The Biltmore, which is amazing in itself.

Just north of the castle, we stopped to see the Elephant Seals. There have always been dozens, some time hundreds here; but today just two that were probably paid by Gavin Newsom to hang out for the tourists.

Our run north through Big Sur and along this stunning piece of America was the best ever. There was little traf c and the backmarkers that we came upon were quickly dispatched.

By evening we rolled into Monterey, found a Motel 6 and some pizza, and called it a day, with no particular place to go, well spent.

Free Day around Monterey

We had tickets for the San Francisco Giants, who’d be playing against the Arizona Diamondbacks… but that was a Thursday game and this was Wednesday; another free day for us.

Mid-morning found us riding down to Cannery Row, and it turned out that this was the big Monterey Car Week, with shows, auctions, and racing happening throughout the next few days. We were not surprised when we ran into a serious high-end Sotheby auto auction being held right next to the pier and harbor, which was full of at least a hundred Harbor Seal – barking, frolicking and generally doing a whole bunch of seal stuff.

We were not sure which was more fun - the cars or the seals.

We had planned to take a ride out to the famous Laguna Seca track, just east of the town, but had not planned that this day they would be celebrating a race that is held each year 5,600 miles to the east – the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They called it Le Mans Meets Monterey, and this day there would be an incredible amount of vintage, antique race cars from Le Mans’ distant past to the cutting-edge racing machines of today.

There was plenty of track action as well. Four race groups were dedicated to celebrating Le Mans with race cars from 1923 and progressing through 2005.

On a trip full of great destinations and (we thought) well-laid plans, we kept seeming to one-up ourselves.

This day spent at Laguna Seca, one of the most famous tracks in the United States and the world, was one of the best track experiences we have ever had – and we have had a lot. For me, it really came down to the tented area with so many cars that had raced Le Mans, and out of all of them – one in particular. Done up in that wonderful and famous Gulf Racing livery of baby blue and orange was a Porsche 917K.

Be still, my beating heart! Right across from that an Aston Martin that took Shira’s affection. To see these up close and then watch them circle the track and charge down the famous section they call the “Corkscrew” made for one of the best racing experiences ever. As the sun began to head further west we knew we’d have to get going. With all sorts of Laguna Seca swag stowed away we continued northward towards the City by the Bay – San Fransico.

Back on the coast road we, once again, ran into that cool fog that seemed to reach in like an icy nger on the hot California soil, only to pull back a few miles later.

We’ll continue our tale next month, with incredible riding, historic rock & roll sites and, of course, baseball. ,