SoCal Motography Adventures...

~ 12 July 2017

Prolouge...

I was an east coast transplant when my company moved me out west to Southern California in 1994. My job assignments bounced me in-and-out of San Diego over the past 21 years. During that time I started riding motorcycles out of necessity to navigate the brutal rush hour traffic on the I-5 and I-15 corridor. Being able to legally split lanes was my saving grace from the hours upon hours of gridlock traffic. I treated my morning commute as a preamble to get me in the right frame of mind for work; while the evening commute was my self prescribed therapy sessions allowing me to decompress from the work day.

I've since retired and decided to put down roots in San Diego. I've traveled extensively during my career but never felt as comfortable anywhere as Southern California. The mild weather, extensive highway system, and it's a great location for branching out to nearby states lends itself to boundless riding opportunities. Motorcycles and photography are my two pastimes these days. Both of them keeps me busy riding around, wrenching, and taking photos for memories sake. I've decide to combine these two hobbies and came up with the term "motography." I ride around and take photos of places I visit so I might as well jot down a few words and turn them into ride reports. On the plus side, these ride reports will serve as a chronicle of my adventures in SoCal and the surrounding states when they become distant memories. Then I can pull them up and recount my adventures when the ole' gray matter starts to fade...

~ One of the perks living in Southern California is riding along US Historic Route 101 from Oceanside to Del Mar. I left around 9am to take advantage of the overcast skies and cooler weather before the sun burns off that cloud cover...



Trinity will be out for this coastal ride...


Back in the day from the 1920s, 30s and 40s; US Historic Route 101 was one of the main coastal routes running north-south and was also known as Hill Street in Oceanside.Businesses lined these coastal communities to support the car phenomenon with cafe's, restaurants, and other services before the I-5 was built.


Oceanside Pier is one of the longest wooden piers on the west coast and has a Ruby's Restaurant at the end.

A typical California road lined with Palm trees...


Although Oceanside has worked hard to change the name from Hill Street to US Historic Route 101 as part of the Coast Highway Master Plan, some evidence of Hill Street still remains.

Carlsbad is known as the "Village by the Sea" by the locals and a tourist destination for visitors. Some good places to dine out here...


Carlsbad has a 7 mile stretch of coastline.




I never get tired of riding along this gorgeous coastline...

Encinitas and Solana Beach are great beach cities to visit, it’s lined with popular shops and eateries...


Another of my favorite spots along the 101 is just after you pass through Del Mar and go down to Torrey Pines State Park. There are great hiking trails in Torrey Pines that lead down to the beach...


A very well known Golf Course...

La Jolla and Mount Soledad in the distance...


Trail down to La Jolla Pier.


Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla Cove.


La Jolla children's pool in the distance... the seals took it over at one point.

Shots of La Jolla cliffs looking back at Torrey Pines...




La Jolla is a popular place for visitors with multiple posh restaurants and store fronts.

The park is a great place to see the sunset in the evenings...


Just a short 2.5 hour ride along the coast.

Until next time inmates...

Nice that is something I would want to do as soon as I recover from my shoulder replacement surgery, on my Dr. the stretch from Del mar to the La Joya Cove brings back memorys of my running days (La Joya half marathon)

That is one of my all time favorite rides and do it at least once - if not twice a month. Sometimes I will take it all the way down to San Diego's Mission Beach...

Nice posts'!

You folks in the SD area have so much to offer, especially east, my favorite area! 58 years in SoCal, and I recently made my first trip to Sunrise Hwy & Mt. Laguna.

I sure look forward to some more of your post's.

Thanks for sharing.

+1 on riding opportunities in SD with the coastlines, mountain twisties, Ocotillo Wells, and mild city riding in downtown SD and Coronado...

I remember staying in the pink hotel in the pic above and hanging out in that park. Basically So Cal from the beach to the mountains and deserts is a riding paradise! Dirt to street is has everything, just to many people but if your retired that changes everything because you can go riding when everybody else is going to work.

Yup - I usually start my rides at 8am or so in the morning when it's cool before it gets too hot out...

black 8 , beautiful little ride around , thanks for posting ,lots of little shops and eateries all along there great pics

Keep 'em coming

One of the reasons I stayed in San Diego..

Will do...

Used to live off Santa Fe Drive, right up from Swami's...........

Miss the north county ocean, we had some great times there. My 2 stroke Yamaha street bike mostly stayed in the garage in those years. What was I thinkin'

Starting a family didn't leave much time for 2 wheeled pursuits, but no regrets! Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

I was a Border Patrol Agent many moons ago at the checkpoint at San Clemente. Beautiful area!

That's prime motorcycle riding therapy specially at 7am on the weekends...