Ode to cruising

...here I am on the road again…
"Turn the Page" by Bob Seger

It's a crispy cold Thursday March morning in Chicago. You're on your way to work as usual for a weekday, but it's no ordinary day for you. You're dressed lightly and in your left hand you're desperately clutching, as if it's going to help stay warm, a suitcase handle. You're going to California after work! It's almost impossible to imagine warmth, although only several months ago it was summer here in Chicago. Your day goes by in a moment, you're in O'Hare, airplane, sleeping, landing… You're in Sunny California!


You wander a bit around the empty city, guessing why San Franciscans go to sleep so early, but eventually you go to sleep too, anxiously awaiting the next morning and the beginning of something very different. Tomorrow you are picking up a rental motorcycle - the good old Honda Shadow 750. Hurrying through the paperwork, you try finish as fast as possible and off you go southward on magnificent Pacific Coast Highway (a.k.a. Highway #1) with no plans and no itineraries. You've heard so many great things about it that you can barely control your excitement.

Almost right away road turns twisty and magnificently beautiful and soon enough you find yourself stopped for the first time to enjoy the view. You keep stopping here and there until you finally reach a cute little town of Santa Cruz where you decide to stay for lunch. And this is where it really hits you - you are traveling alone in one of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes of the world. There are no obligations, no stuff to do, no work and no plans. You stop wherever and whenever you want. There are no hotel reservations and no schedules - you stop in random places when the time is right.

All of that on a cruiser? Well... there is definitely something to be said about cruising! Sport bikes are great fun but they make you go faster and faster and make turns tighter and tighter. In a way they're selfish and draw all your attention to themselves. Not so with cruisers. Their essence is in their name - you cruise and enjoy the scenery. You still lean low and go through turns at fun speeds, but cruisers let you stay comfortable, relax and enjoy the surroundings besides the ride itself. But of course you must be prepared for the unnerving screeching sound of pegs scraping. There is no escape from that and you just have to keep your head turned, throttle steady and head cool when you hear that awful sound in a tight turn. And yet turns are still fun and fulfilling!

Three days fly by in a heartbeat, it's time to go back to schedules, plans and chores. The experience is exhilarating and liberating and you wish the ride was not through.

P.S. Also see the map & description of my trip and pictures from the trip.