Excessive heat warnings

Today was a hellish day. The USA National Weather Service had posted warnings about excessive heat on the west coast and storms and floods on the east coast. These extreme weather patterns are indicative of what it can be like touring in the USA. I make it a practice in the USA to always check the weather on-line when planning a ride. With the heat warning in mind, I decided to get on the road early to get a good couple of hours under our belt before the heat really kicked in. 

We left Long Beach after 7am and headed north. It took some time to get out of LA. There were a couple of parts of the freeway where traffic was 'crawling' but in the main we were going against the flow leaving LA, where most of the traffic jam problems were 'south bound'. If the weather had been more favourable, I would have taken the scenic route up the Coast, however, this would mean an extra hour of traveling time - a bit risky with the forecasted extreme weather conditions. I decided to head up Interstate 5 to cut off some time and hopefully escape the worst of the heat. This worked fine for the first hour or two of riding, but the temperature steadily climbed until we were riding in 110 to 115 degrees fahrenheit (43 - 46 celsius). Add to this a 'norwester' force wind and it was like riding in a furnace! It was so tempting to take our mesh riding jackets off, but it is better & safer to have perspiration against your skin to keep the body temperature down, rather than have your perspiration evaporate in the wind and dehydrate quicker. Needless to say we carried plenty of water!

After 'gutsing it out' up the I 5 we branched off near a place called Lost Hills on to route 46 and then joined up with route 101 near San Miguel and headed north. It was a relief to leave the hills and start picking up some cooler air as we neared Monterey. After 580 kms for the day we pulled into the resort town of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

After a nice dinner at Clint Eastwood's restaurant 'The Hog's Breath Inn' (he sometimes calls in - but not this night unfortunately) we had a walk around town and then called it a night. It had been a big day!

We will spend another day in Carmel-by-the-Sea. It was a favourite stop of ours during our 2010 tour when we called in for a coffee on our way south down the Big Sur road. We decided in 2010 that when we returned to the states we would stay a night or two next time. So here we are!