Day 1: Saturday, September 14th. San Diego, California -> Carmel Valley, California
I would like to start off by saying how important that this journey was for me. I have lived in San Diego for the past 7 years, stationed there with the Navy, and it has been everything I had hoped for and a little bit more and a little less at times. Leaving was not easy at all. I had sprouted roots after living there for so long. I left San Diego on the morning of the 14th, a Saturday. This was the morning that I had to say two final goodbyes. One goodbye was to my girlfriend. That morning, we parted ways and decided to live our own lives. We both decided that a long distance relationship was not going to work between us but it was still not easy for us, we cared about each other very much. The second goodbye I had to do was with San Diego itself. I hit the 5 at about 7am with very little traffic on the highway. I still had friends texting me if I was going to go to Cars and Coffee Irvine that morning, but I could reply to them with was a sadface text emoticon. My first stop was BMW of Santa Barbara to see my Client Advisor and good friend Jon Shafer. Unfortunately he could not make it in that morning, so I did what any BMW enthusiast would do, I raided the dealership refrigerator and grabbed all the bottled water that I could carry. Lol!
After I left the dealership my next stop was Carmel Valley, California. I would be staying the night at BarryB's house out in the country. I went through San Luis Obispo and took Highway 1 all the way up to Carmel Valley. BarryB and his wife were very welcoming and accomdating. I almost felt like I was staying at a Bed & Breakfast. Lol! Many Bimmerpost members have stayed there in the past, so it was nice to feel the ///M heritage while I was there. It was my first time driving up Highway 1, up the entire coast of California to Monterey. I have always wanted to do it, but I never had the opportunity. The drive up was so epic and scenic. I stopped several times to take pictures and take in the view. The highway was just amazing also when there was no traffic in front of you.
Here's a picture of BarryB and his wife. These guys are the BEST!
