Monday May 4, 2015

A slow start this morning, it was a little chilly so we stayed snuggled under our blankets for a while. The advantage with the new mattresses is that we can connect them together. Hank was very comfortable. I think he needed a few more pumps to get him firmer but he was still very comfortable.

We left at 9:15 climbed the little hill then instead of following the ACA route we took a left turn (as recommended by Ben) down a steep hill and through the valley.

It was lovely, we picked up the ACA route again and probably cut of about 5 ks.

Today we followed the coast through the beach towns of Oceano, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach and Shell Beach, all very pretty little towns.

Ralf still enjoys taking photos of old and interesting cars.

At Ontario Road we cut inland away from the coast, to San Luis Obispo. SLO is a lovely town, if we hadn’t arranged a warmshowers in Morro Bay, it would have been nice to stay there for the night. Nice shops, restaurants and a really nice feel to the town. We had lunch then carried on to Morro Bay.  We arrived in SLO just as the Mission Bells were ringing for noon.  It was lovely to hear them as it was very different from just 12 strikes of the bell.

Of course by the time we were on the road again, the wind had picked up and it was a head wind. My wonderful hubby took the lead and stayed in front all the way into Morro Bay (about 27ks).

The road had a wide shoulder, and was relatively flat which was handy as I was being blown around with the wind gusts. At the 12 k mark we made a right turn and the hills started, there was no shoulder and the wind was now coming from the side. As I geared down, I felt like a kids balloon being blown all over the place, I put my head down and pedaled up the hills. Then I saw my “favorite” sign windy roads for the next 2 miles, great that means 3.5 ks of hills. I was about to say a few choice words against the wind, the hills and route when I looked up. The scenery was beautiful, not stunning but beautiful. Rolling hills, with rocky outcroppings which surrounded us on either side. The road was winding, instead of being all uphill it was up and down and the ups were not too steep, my lovely hubby was still pulling for me and protecting me from the wind and I couldn’t help but smile. What a great ride.

As we got to the bottom of the hill, Ralf pulled up so that we could find out where our warmshowers was going to be tonight, left turn up a hill, then up another hill, then up another hill!!

Mary wasn’t home yet, but she had told us that she was going to leave the front door open and we could make ourselves comfortable in the little studio in the back of the house. We were just investigating the place, when she arrived home.

Mary bought the house a year ago and had to gut it throughout. The house had been “interestingly” decorated with a maritime “theme” including seaweed and portals. A variety of colours and textures. The only thing that she could not change was a ‘pocket’ door, she decided that she would not have this door open – ever,  so it could stay in its original condition. This gives you an idea on what the rest of the ‘theme’ was like.

How on earth she could see past this to what she created is beyond me. It is lovely, very calming and relaxing – definitely a home. She jokingly asked us if we would like to house sit for a month. Don’t tempt me. This is a lovely house not far from the beach and lots of things to do in the area. Of course it would mean cycling up hill every day to get home.

However, we are really enjoying the Pacific Coast route it has the variety of coastal route, inland and small towns. There seems to be plenty of places to stay both camping, warmshowers and motels (although they are not cheap) and I personally couldn’t stop for a month. We should be in Canada by the end of the month and then heading across the country on our way home.

AARG got to meet his American cousin.

We had a great evening with Mary, lots of laughs and good food, so good we didn’t go to bed until 12:30!