Best Western's Travel Blog - You Must Be Trippin' - Desert Adventure, Day Six: San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, CA

Desert Adventure, Day Six: San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, CA

February 7 2012 by Jason Fogelson

Today's our last day on the road. We linger over breakfast at the Acapulco Restaurant, adjacent to the BEST WESTERN PLUS Hacienda Hotel Old Town. The hot breakfast buffet is included with our stay, and it's a really great start to the day. The views from the dining room across Old Town and to modern San Diego beyond are quite spectacular, and it's a perfect Southern California day today. San Diego may have the best weather in the United States. It's never too hot, never too cold, with less than 12 inches of rain per year. It has only snowed in San Diego five times in the past 125 years, so it's pretty safe to bet that you'll get good weather here if you hang around for a few days. We've hit a sweet spot in January, an absolutely clear, beautiful morning.

After breakfast, I go back to Old Town to look around before the crowds arrive. I get a chance to read the plaques, explore the buildings and soak up the vibe without bumping into people. Because it's San Diego, runners and dog walkers power through while I stroll with my camera. Fitness is like a religion here.

Robin and I load our gear onto the Electra Glide, and hit the road. There's a direct route from San Diego to Los Angeles, a straight shot up Interstate 5 that could easily have us home in three hours, traffic permitting. We're not taking the direct route today, however. Did you really expect us to? We're going to detour into the Inland Empire, and make a pilgrimage to Corona, California. San Diego's religion may be fitness. My religion is Fender Guitars, and Corona is home to the Fender, U.S.A. factory.

On the way to Corona, we ride through a few towns that we've only heard about on our local news: Escondido, Temecula, Murieta and Lake Elsinore, all on the Interstate 15 corridor. It's amazing how varied the towns and landscape are in Southern California. Lake Elsinore looks like a place we'll have to return to. Maybe a night at the BEST WESTERN PLUS Lake Elsinore Inn & Suites is in order?

We chug up I-15 to California 91, and exit in the industrial town of Corona. A few turns, and we're in the parking lot of the new Fender Visitor Center, which just opened in late 2011.

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is "the world's leading guitar manufacturer." Founded by inventor Leo Fender in 1946, the company is famous for making some of the most influential solid body guitars and basses, along with highly prized amplifiers. The Telecaster, Stratocaster and Precision Bass are all into their second half-century of construction, and are still built with many of the same techniques as they were when they were first designed. It is nearly impossible to name a famous rock guitarist who never played a Fender guitar on stage or recording. Some guitarists are inexorably linked with Fender guitars: Jimi Hendrix and his Stratocaster; Keith Richards and his Telecaster; Sting with his P-Bass; and many, many others.

Fender has several factories around the world, including one in Ensenada, Mexico, about 65 miles south of the U.S. border. The factory in Corona is the company's flagship, where the most desired U.S.A. models are made. It is also home to the Fender Custom Shop, a small in-house operation that puts out special editions and custom, made-to-order creations. Fender conducts two factory tours each weekday, one at 10:00 am and one at 11:30 am. Tours cost $10 per person. Groups are limited to 10 people, first-come-first-serve. Larger groups can call ahead in advance for appointments. We manage to arrive in time to be included on the 11:30 am tour, which gives us an hour to wander through the Visitor Center. I could spend all day exploring the 8,000 square foot store and museum.

David Brown, the Manager of the Visitor Center, is our Tour Guide. A guitar builder himself, Brown has worked in many different areas of the factory, and seems to know a lot of the workers along the way. We each don safety glasses and radio headsets -- this is a working factory, and safety comes first. What follows is a fascinating journey through a sophisticated manufacturing facility. Incredibly, there is much more hand work involved in making a guitar and its parts than I ever expected. Beyond some big operations that take place on CNC (computer numeric control) machines, much of the work in the factory is done by skilled craftspeople. It's fun to watch and discover, especially for anyone who has ever played a guitar. I will definitely return and take this tour again, bringing along some of my guitar-playing buddies.

We leave the Fender Visitor Center (loaded down with a few choice souvenirs from the gift shop, of course) just in time for our last meal on the road. Robin used Yelp.com to find a fun spot to eat in Corona, so we motor over to the Silver Dollar Pancake House. The round building has been in use as a restaurant since it was built in 1922, operating as the Silver Dollar Pancake House since the 1950s. A virtual time capsule, the restaurant is decorated with vintage photos and advertisements from Corona history. The food is delicious, especially the pancakes. Good job, Robin!

We gas up for the final stretch home, just another hour or so on the road. The last segment of a trip is critical. I take special care to keep my mind in the present, and not to get sloppy with my riding as the surroundings become more familiar. Traffic gets heavier the closer we get to home, and the drivers around me are distracted and discourteous. I flash back to a few days ago, when we were the only vehicle on the road in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Finally, we're pulling up in front of our house, and our dogs bark to welcome us back. It has been a great trip. The Electra Glide performed flawlessly -- man, do I love that bike. Robin was a great pillion, as always, and we saw some amazing landscapes and stayed in some very comfortable, welcoming BEST WESTERN Hotels. I know this was a great trip, because I would take the exact same ride again, with pleasure.

Now, it's back to reality. Luckily, I'm about to start planning my next ride. I'm ready to go already.

Distance traveled: 175 miles

Total Distance: 1,527 miles

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