Wednesday 24 October 2012



Spelt it short cos I can’t remember how to spell it. 

So, we arrived safe and well, bloke hugs and chick hugs were had, very welcoming. 

Bikes were rolled into the dark corner of the shed so as not to bring the neighbourhood down with Two Dodgy Kiwis yello terras.

Showers were in order, washing done, wine consumed and big catchups about life.

Warren and Chris had two new additions to their family since we were last there, Ziv their daughter is 4 and Nadav who was about to turn 2 years old the day after we left.

Ziv, the boss!!



Chris and Nadav,



The last time we caught up with Warren and Chris was 2007 after World Ducati Week so big changes since then for them, well done guys, we look forward to seeing you again.

Warren had some time off work which was mint so we went out and did the blokes thing of hovering around motorcycle shops looking at everything we couldn’t afford ... it was fun, we were treated to a cafe racer that started its life as a but ugly Suzuki 650 Intruder, this thing put a capital G on Groovy!!!





Also spotted ... NEVER leave home without your camera 



My Phone

Earlier in the piece (coupla weeks back) my Sonim phone had a wee woops, I contacted Sonim asking to get it fixed, they sent back the form saying no problem, just need proof of purchase and the usual stuff ..... ouwh no, my proof of purchase is 10000 miles away in NZ !!!

I wrote back saying any chance we can bend the rules being we are RTW bikers and don’t have my proof of purchase with me, I also added I would welcome their inspection to verify it had not been badly treated/abused etc.

Sonim customer service rang back and gave me three names, a phone number and an address to go to just out of San Fran, we contacted them and headed to the address as it was only 20 minutes away.

Large glass fronted building looking down on us is what we arrived at, we had been sent to Sonims Corporate Office .... ok.....lets go in.

Warren and I were introduced to Christoph who said sorry about the trouble with your phone, he looked at it and said hang on I will be back in a minute, he returned with a new 3300 phone and gave it to me ...... hmmmm.

My morning started out as how to get my phone repaired to here is a new one and sorry for the inconvenience, also the 3300 was a slight upgrade on my XP3.2 Quest Pro, these guys took customer service to a new level, thank you Sonim.

Given the above this is a shameless plug for guys who steeped out of the daily system to help a stranger in need. If you guys are looking for an adventure biker style phone take a good look at Sonim, up to 24 hours talk time and 800 hours standby time (over a month on standby!!).



It has LED torch and waterproof as well as many other features that make this a damn good phone for adventure biking communication.

Thank you Sonim!!!, find them here.

http://www.sonimtech.com/products/xp3300force.php

Or their home page with plenty of other goodies to choose from

http://www.sonimtech.com/products/

Warren and I headed to In and Out as my treat for him running me down to Sonims office then back home to make sure Ellen hadn’t bought too much on the net, the afternoon was simply stunning so we made the most of it going up to twin peaks tower lookout point over San Fran.

Some views from the top, famous San Fran Golden Gate Bridge



Alcatraz (Spanish for Pelican)



San Fran central, looking down Market Street



Mumblings of a coffee echoed amongst the crew so we found ourselves sitting outside Martha & Bros which Warren recommended ... and he was right.



After that we headed home for a B B Q and wine, talk about living it up and a good evening was had by all.





View from their kitchen



The following morning we hit the exit button and back to reality, destination Cambria to the Horizons Unlimited Travelers meeting ... Yay!!!

We headed down 101 along the seaside then turned inland to pick up 9 and down through twisties and trees, outstanding bit of road I must say.

When 9 finished we carried on down on 1 again, would have to add at this point we believe (some) Californian drivers take the cake for being the most arrogant, selfish and disrespectful drivers we have ever encountered doing 28 mph in a 55 mph zone passing pullout after pullout and sign after sign saying slower drivers use pullouts and holding up lines of traffic at least 30 cars plus that we could see ..... WTF ... CHP need to deal with these people.

Back to the usual program now, Cambria was in our sights and we were happy to get off the road.

Arriving at Cambria we took a wrong turn, Ellen tried doing a U turn and failed laying Chiwi down for a rest.

We registered and got setup, we were in heaven, surrounded by motorcycle travelers from around the world.

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