Today we left the mountains to resume our journey down Highway 1 along the coast. But not before taking a Steam Train ride on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. Since we passed by the entrance to the Sugar Pine Railroad each time we went into or out of the south entrance to Yosemite, we had to find the time to take a ride before we left the area. Our ride over to Seaside was only about 170 miles, so we had time to take the earliest 1 hour train at 11:00 and still make it to the hotel by 4:00. Besides, since the train didn't leave until 11:00, and it was only 10 miles from the hotel, we could sleep in late. We had a plan!
    We had been on a few train rides so far on this trip, but they were always diesel engines . The Sugar Pine Railroad used a 1928 Shay Steam Engine, originally wood fired, but converted to oil fired. It's an old logging engine, and had a very unusual configuration. It was a 3-piston engine, with all the pistons located vertically on the right side. The pistons were connected to a crankshaft that became a driveshaft from the front to the rear on the engine and tender. This drive shaft was connected to all the wheels of the engine and tender with open bevel gears so that all the wheels of the engine were driven. The engine pulled 3 open seating cars with traditional seats and a roof, and to wide open cars, where the seats were logs that ran the length of the car on each side, and had a cutout into a bench to sit. Of course, we chose the wide open cars, to be able to take better pictures.
     The ride took us about 25 minutes down the mountain, where we got out while they added water to the tender. Then we got back on for the 25 minute push back up the mountain. The conductor explained the history of the train, the logging company, and a little forestry lesson on the trees themselves . It was a fun ride, and was a great way to start the day. We left the Sugar Pine Railroad a little after noon, and headed back down CA-41S through Oakhurst for the last time. Mapquest was having us turn on CA-145W, but the Garmin lady had us turn 6 miles sooner on Road 415.
     Road 415 was a great motorcycle road at least for its 37 miles. The rest of the trip was freeway. CA-99N to CA-152W, to CA-156W were nothing but flat and straight. In the meantime, it had been a pleasant 91 degrees when we left Oakhurst, but once we got out of the mountains, the temperature quickly shot up to 104 degrees and stayed there for most of the afternoon. There wasn't much to do but turn on the cruise control, open all the air vents and deflectors on the bike and stop every once in a while to stay hydrated.
     Once we got to within 20 miles of the coast, the temperature began to drop rapidly to about 72 degrees. Time to stop and put the jackets back on. Also the wind which had been non-existent as 104 degrees was now gusting furiously to 30 or 40 knots as I tried to keep the bike straight . In the last couple of miles, as we reached the coast, the wind died back down to a gentle breeze.
     Seaside is a quiet little town just north of Monterrey, and there just happened to be a motorcycle dealer across the street and an Italian restaurant next door. I dropped over to the motorcycle dealer to see if he could put tires on the Goldwing in the morning, and he was sorta rude and obnoxious and muttered something about being busy for the next couple of weeks. So I left and we went back to the original plan of getting tires in San Diego. With over 12,000 miles, the front tire doesn't look too bad, but the rear will need to be replaced soon.
     The Italian restaurant was great!, Jody had some seafood pasta dish and I had the lasagna, both were delicious!. We are close enough to the ocean, that we were able to take a little walk on the beach after dinner. We always enjoy that.
     Tomorrow we continue our journey down Hwy 1.We will be stopping at the Hearst Castle on the way to tomorrow nights stop in Pismo Beach. The Hearst Castle website recommends making tour reservations online up to 30 days ahead of time. Since they offer tours every 10 minutes all day, and since it is 100 miles from here, I have no idea when we will get there, so we will just have to risk it.

196.1 miles today
12360.1 miles total

4.832 gallons today
294.186 gallons total