Loma Linda, California

Loma Linda California to visit Marianne and EK and made it just in time for Redlands market. Had to white line it again and this time not as much HOV lane to take – you know High Occupancy Vehicle…well, so mine’s full with the pack on. This time reached speeds of 80mph weaving in and out of traffic…like I said, gettin’ the hang of it. The market was ok and had to buy a basket of strawberries to eat since it is berry season and they’re suppose to be really good here…hey, has anyone picked berries back home for me yet? Anyway, had to get a beer and something to eat so stopped at the local Irish pub for a little grub – no, I’m not a poet, but hey if it rhymes, might as well us it. Sure needed the beer more than the food to calm the nerves after another rush hour ride.

Thanks again to Tom and Melissa for putting me up for the night, this time I made sure I didn’t pull the door shut behind me until I was outta there for good…no need to lock myself out of their place too. Didn’t have to hit any freeways to the Queen Mary so was easy enough to get to and saw some army bunkers along the way…wonder what they use to have housed in there? Also some man-made islands along the way that were interesting to see…wonder what they have housed in those? Once to the ship followed the signs for the self guided tour until got to the ship and found out needed a $22 ticket to get on the ship, well, I can get around that. Asked how to get to the restaurant cuz could use a little breakfast and sure enough, get off on the wrong floor on the way there and you end up back on the self guided tour. Was interesting to checkout and learned from a video that the thing was in WWII. Yep, they took all the furnishings out and built bunks and such for the troops that they hauled enough of them that they had to sleep in shifts of 3 for the 5 day trip across seas – probably crammed like sardines. After the war the ship was once again upgraded and became the Queen of the sea, thus the name. Took many of the stars and Royalty on voyages until the bigger better ships came along at which point it was donated to Long Beach and renovated into a hotel, conference, other events and museum…has be thinking about my next cruise. Ok, maybe didn’t enjoy the only one I’ve been on too much, but things can always get better the second time around.

From there time to hit Venice Beach and of course Muscle Beach…yep, pretty much one in the same, but my muscle head buddies told me, ‘gotta go there, dude’. Took more of the PCH, you know Pacific Coast Highway and of course had to stop into the Harley shop along the way. Ok, maybe I should have done a workout before posing for some of the pictures, but remember I’m getting my workouts riding along at 80+mph…also didn’t want to get all sweaty just yet. Thanks to the one armed guy who took my picture by the water, was interesting seeing how well he handled that camera even though the camera is built for a righty. Asked a couple of bikini clad chicks walking the beach if it’d be ok skinny dipping, but wouldn’t you know it, they had no idea what I was talking about – from Canada no less, but French Canadian so didn’t understand the word, just my luck. More interesting beach to see and would have taken more pictures, but most of the vendors, not the stands, but the homeless with shops and arts setup across the way, ask for money if you take any pictures of their stands, that’s why you only got a picture looking each way of the stands…some pretty interesting ones though, especially the biking and t-shirt shops. Time to get to Loma Linda to visit Marianne and EK and checkout how well Marianne fits the bike…I’m sure she could ride it down the road; the only problem would be getting it off its kickstand. Tomorrow more PCH heading north. Muscle pictures.