18 July 2014 – 22 July 2014
The trip from Flagstaff to San Diego was a challenge in motorcycling. Between slaloming the twisties around Jerome, AZ, to the challenges of I-8, it was certainly not a boring ride.
Jerome is a mountain town with the curviest roads I’ve hit up to this point. At the highest point of the town is the Jerome Grand Hotel, which was formerly a hospital, and is reportedly haunted. While I didn’t stop there, I’ve heard that the attached Asylum Restaurant is apparently very good.
The road back down to Jerome.
A scenic view from above Jerome.
My route through Jerome led me to Prescott and Embry-Riddle University. My father’s former co-pilot at the now-shuttered Griffiss AFB is a senior executive at the school. After lunch, he gave me a tour of the campus. The school boasts some impressive stats, including large placement rates for Air Force pilots, and significant numbers of scholar athlete designations and USAF ROTC candidates. I was also interested in learning that their security studies program boasts five hundred members – I hadn’t realized they had programs outside of flight or aviation engineering. I am currently looking for a change in career, and I wouldn’t mind finishing my pilot’s license, so Embry-Riddle is a school I will be researching.
From Prescott, I decided to ride directly to San Diego, and to make up for the extra day spent in Flagstaff, I decided to take a segment of I-8. I know, against my initial guidelines for this trip, but I made an exception in this case. The route took me through sand dunes, where I got hit by sand drifts, climbed over four thousand feet (and dropped outside temps a whole bunch) in about forty miles, and went though a segment with such high winds that I was blown across a lane at one point. It was certainly an exciting route. I don’t anticipate hitting any others from here on out – should be mostly SR 1 and US-50 until I get to the east coast.
I’ve already had some great food here in Ocean Beach. I had breakfast one day at Tower II Beach Cafe, including some nice and tender grilled calamari, and for dinner I had some sushi at a sushi and tapas place called The Joint….really good stuff.
Grilled Calamari at Tower II Beach Cafe in Ocean Beach, San Diego.
The OBeef Roll from The Joint in Ocean Beach.
I’ll probably be here in San Diego for another day or two. My hand has gotten to the point where it’s very difficult for me to perform fine motor functions, such as using chopsticks (embarassingly, I had to use a fork to eat my sushi), so I’m giving myself a short rest before continuing on.
Ocean Beach, from Tower II Restaurant.
I also hit Hodad’s, a highly rated burger joint with three locations in the city. If you want a solid burger that’s nearly too big to eat, good seasoned fries, and some great ice cream shakes, this is your place.
The view from the Ocean Beach Pier is impressive. I’m looking forward to taking some similar photos from the Atlantic side in the next couple of weeks.
I closed off this trip with a Comic-Con party hosted by comic industry insiders. Besides being a artistic haven, the venue had some fantastic salvaged artwork from Gaslamp Quarter days past. Great way to close out this stop.
The Road 