[In November our Endras Motorrad Sales Advisor, Adam Hancock, took off on a 12,000 kilometer journey through the United States. Adam has decided to chronicle his journey exclusively for Powershift.]

Day 10

Awoken by the sound of a lone coyote howling in the distance, I unzipped the door to my tent and stepped outside.  It was 4:00am and the temperature had dropped from 24 degrees celsius to 4 degrees.  The howling echoed through the rolling Malibu Hills and sounded as though the coyote was right beside me.  In a matter of minutes, this coyote was joined by many more. Yipping and howling in the full moonlight, they must have found breakfast.  After enjoying this impromptu performance for a few minutes, I stepped back into my tent, got huddled back into the sleeping bag and listened to the carnivorous orchestra for a while longer before drifting back to sleep.

Once showered and packed up, I headed back down the Malibu Creek Canyon Road. Curve after curve, twisting and turning all the way down to the Pacific Coast Highway #1 for some scenic morning… gridlock?  In most cases this would be a problem, but here in California lane splitting is permitted.

The white line separating traffic lanes on the Pacific Coast Highway #1 had now become my unobstructed path, immune to the congested traffic conditions of Malibu and Los Angeles.  Most California motorists are courteous by leaving enough space for motorcyclists to use these lines as a lane in traffic.  On the other side of the scale, there are motorists who become frustrated with how motorcyclists are able to navigate freely past those unable to free themselves from the brutal grip of morning traffic.  These motorists will often try and make it impossible for you to pass.  One particular frustrated Mercedes CL550 motorist learned two things about BMW Motorrad this morning.  First he learned that BMW hand guards are much stronger than driver side mirrors on luxury coupes. Second he learned BMW Motorrad’s slogan… UNSTOPPABLE!

Unaffected by my morning commute, I continued to ride along the Pacific Highway #1 taking in the views of Santa Monica, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

Departing the Pacific coast today was an unexpected emotional experience.  As I headed east towards Phoenix, I watched the coastline become distant in my mirror and couldn’t help but think about how much I would miss California.

Arriving in Apache Junction, just outside the Phoenix city limits, I setup camp at the Lost Dutchman State Park where I would end my day the same way I started it. Huddled up in my sleeping bag with coyotes howling and yipping in the distance.