San Luis Obispo to San Diego

Contributer: Steven Peltier (07-02-2007)
Distance: 307 mi.

The last leg of our trip, from SLO to SD, had us changing our plans as we quickly realized that a few hours trudging down the 101 to the 5 would just not do. Instead we decided to take our first detour onto the 154 to cut the corner into Santa Barbara. The 154 is a nice diversion from the 101 that takes you through some interesting farm land and along the Cachuma Recreation area and lake. As we passed the lake we could see a helicopter scooping up water to help with a nearby forest fire - pretty interesting. Overall this road has some nice sweepers, elevation changes through the hills, and some unique vistas of old bridges. It ultimately drops you right into Santa Barbara. From SB, we jumped back onto the 101, but we only took it as far as Oxnard. From there we cut over to the 101 to do the run down the coast around Point Mugu and down through Malibu. With light traffic on Monday morning, we got to blast along the coastal sweepers, soaking in the gorgeous homes, the bikini clad girls, and the beaches. Crusizing past Zuma beach brought back some great memories of college volleyball tournaments and lazy drunken weekends. As we pushed on, we were all of course a bit tempted to run Mullholland, Las Flores, or any number of canyons in the area, but hunger prevailed and we scooted onto Santa Monica for a quick bite at a little bistro on Montana. From there, we gassed up and took our positions amongst the crowds on the 405S. While it is always a bit of a drag to finish such a great tour with an hour of superslab, we all made it home safe, incredibly excited about the roads traversed, and hungry for our next trip. There you have it...San Diego to Monterey and back. Sorry about the lack of pics from Day 4. Short on batteries and so close to home, I figured you'd all be content with using your imagination.

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