Tuesday May 12, 2015

The wind was blowing again this morning, but the sun was out. We quickly ate breakfast and left the KOA by 8:30 am. We had decided on a shorter ride to Half Moon Bay as we didn’t think we would make it all the way to Leslie’s place today and she is expecting us tomorrow.

The wind was not as bad as yesterday, we probably could have made it to Leslie’s house, but it is nice to take it easy once in a while.

We stopped in at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

This is a Hostel, we were hoping to stay here but when I checked on line at Barton’s house it was fully booked. It would have been a lot cheaper than the “garden shed” and warmer.

They are doing some major renovations to the lighthouse. Which will eventually include restoring the lens.

The sun was out for most of the ride, although the wind was cool. We had a few roller coaster hills to climb, and on two hills we had to peddle downhill.

Sometimes you have to look inland, the views are lovely.  We had stopped at this point to catch our breath.

We arrived at Half Moon Bay and stopped in at Safeway to get some sandwiches and some provisions for dinner. They had quiche, we decided on quiche and salads for dinner tonight. There were a couple of homeless people wandering around outside of Safeway. Ralf usually does the shopping for dinner but he asked me to do it instead. He wanted to keep an eye on the bikes and equipment. Ralf got talking to one of the homeless and was told that the people in Half Moon Bay were very kind and generous to the homeless. Ralf said “treat them like people, and most problems go away”.

We headed out to the State Park and stopped in at the bike shop (Bike Works) on the way. Our tires needed some air, fortunately touring tires do not need to be pumped up everyday, like the skinny tires do on a road bike. We had only lost about 20lbs of pressure since we last pumped them up which had to be about three weeks ago.

This State Park is on the beach, and costs $7.00 per person. It is nice and clean and the showers were hot. We will be listening to the roar of the surf again tonight.

The State Parks are trying to conserve water. They charge for the showers. The cost ranges from one token ($1.00) for 3.5 mins to .50 cents for 3 mins. I struggle to shower in 3.5 minutes, I can shower in 4 minutes, but prefer 4.5 minutes. This State Park uses quarters in their machines, so I used .75 cents and had a nice 4.5 minute shower. Big Sur used tokens and I actually wasted water, because I needed two tokens ($2.00) for my 4 minute shower and then stood underneath running water for another 3 minutes. I thought Big Sur should rethink their timing, but Ralf said they are making more money by reducing the time. I thought the whole point was to conserve water.

The ACA maps has us following the bike path through the State Park tomorrow morning. Fortunately I was chatting to a lady (Kath) who told me the bridge is out on the bike path and we need to use Highway 1.

We will be in San Francisco tomorrow and hopefully take a couple of days off visiting S.F.

When we leave San Francisco we will be on Map 3, we have already gone through two maps already and there are only five in this series. Does that mean we are half-way to Vancouver?

Monday May 11, 2015

A wonderful breakfast provided by our host Barton – stacks of pancakes and I mean stacks. He made sure we were not going to leave his house hungry! What a lovely, caring man. We headed out in slightly sunny skies at just after 9:00.

We headed into Santa Cruz and followed the bike path all the way through Santa Cruz.

By the time we rejoined Highway 1 it was getting a little chilly and we had turned the corner on the sunshine and the wind. The wind was now heading straight at us!

Ralf took the lead and stayed there for the rest of the ride.  Although we were on the coast again, the wind was so bad we put our heads down and cycled.

At Davenport, only 33 kms into the ride, and 3 hours later we stopped for lunch. Ralf had a second breakfast, Barton told him to eat the two remaining pancakes but he said he was full. However, he managed to eat a veggie omelet with home fries and toast, he had been working hard against the wind. I think he deserved the second breakfast.

A young French Canadian cyclist joined us. He, of course, was cycling north to south. He had started in San Francisco and was heading to LA. He had been planning the trip for a couple of years, and had been training. His itinerary was very good – taking a couple of days off in the main places – Monterey, Big Sur (to do some hiking) and Santa Barbara, we warned him how expensive Santa Barbara was.  Fortunately, he has someone to stay with in Santa Barbara.

After lunch we headed out to the campsite, only another 20 kms to go, but that wind, what hard work. We arrived at the KOA and noticed the “tent bungalows”. A tent pitch was going to be $37.00, the “tent bungalows”, which had a queen size bed and linen and towels was going to be $109 incl tax. Too expensive for us, but it was so windy and cold and looked like rain. Could we convince ourselves to pay $109 for a plastic garden shed. I asked if there were any discounts for being carbon neutral. Surprisingly she said there was an Eco-Discount! That reduced the rate to $93 including tax, somehow that convinced us to shell out the extra money!

The “garden shed” had a queen sized bed and two chairs. It also had electric blankets. I personally don’t like electric blankets, but Ralf turned on the electric blanket on his side and I must admit I may migrate over to his side of the bed if I need to.

The showers and toilets are in a heated shower block, luxury. There is also a sauna and outside showers.

We had a wander around the property, looking in the store, the restaurant (way too expensive) and the lodge. It is very nice.

We got the computer and accessed the internet in the lobby. Then we went back to the “garden shed” and ate our pasta we decided not to buy any beer, it was too expensive, we had hot lemon tea instead.

We were in bed by 9:00, snuggled under the blankets, listening to the roar of the surf and the wind flapping the plastic against the wooden structure.

As a point of interest it was warmer in Barrie today than it was in California – 17 degrees C in Barrie, 14 degrees C in California.

Sunday May 10, 2015

An interesting breakfast at the HI this morning. We watched all the young people trying to work out how to make pancakes on the griddle. There was one young Australian who really had them made to perfection. The young German girls however, thought you had to fill the complete griddle with batter about half an inch thick. I am not sure their pancakes were not cooked all the way through, but they were big about 12 inches long by 8 inches wide.

We were on the road by 9:15 am. Only another 1407 kms to  Vancouver!

It was another cool, overcast morning.

We followed the bike path out of Monterey this morning. It was very quiet on Cannery Row. There were a few joggers and cyclists out on the bike path, but Monterey was still sleeping. We stopped to take photos of the old store and cars and as usual we were asked where we were going by a very nice couple.

We passed Fisherman’s Wharf again and spotted this Harbour Seal with his big sad eyes, lying on the rock.

We carried on along the bike path it took us out towards Sand Castle and Marina – 24 kms of off-road bike path, how good is that. We were going to stop at REI, but decided we didn’t really need anything and we did have a long day ahead of us so we carried on.

As we cycled along we noticed a Mom with her two daughters on their own bikes behind her. If they came to a road crossing she was giving them instructions on proper road procedures. It was great to see her training her girls how to ride a bike and how to ride a bike when encountering traffic situations.

The route today changed from coastal (dunes) to farming.

We passed acres of artichokes and even more strawberry farms. How many strawberries can California produce. Apparently California produces about 75% to 80% of the strawberries for the US market. At one point seeing those red berries hanging from those plants I wanted to just nip into the field and eat a few. However, I was a little concerned about the chemicals so decided not to eat straight from the bush.  However, we did spot a field of lillies, very pretty in the sun.

At about 12:00 the sun started to come out, we switched jackets from heavy wind breakers to our lighter jackets. We stopped at a little café just outside of Aptos for lunch, a nice veggie sandwich for me and a veggie burger for Ralf.

By the time we got to our warmshowers hosts house the sun was out and it was quite warm.

We have mentioned throughout this blog how nice people are, around the world. As we were heading up one hill towards the end of our ride, three roadies came alongside and started chatting to us. They asked us where we were going, etc and as usual were stunned at our answers of cycling around the world, or at least part of it. We could hear them commenting to each other as they rode away. Then two of them turned around and came back to us. \”Where are you staying tonight\”? We told them we had a warmshowers host in Aptos. “So you have everything covered because we both have spare rooms you could stay with us if you need to”. Random acts of kindness make our day and have made our trip.

Barton, our warmshowers host, had everything ready for us when we arrived. Snacks, beer and a good shower. We did our laundry and chatted for a while. Barton was very happy to let us plan our route, update the blog and generally have a relaxing afternoon. As we were looking at our route and the weather for tomorrow Barton commented on the wind in this area. With a smile he told me to check the wind direction further up the coast as there may be head winds.

We talked about the Californian Redwoods that we had seen, and he showed us how they start their life.  The cone is small, from tiny seeds, might redwoods grow.

We had a wonderful dinner, roast beef, jacket (baked) potatoes and veges mmmm lovely. A couple of glasses of red wine for Ralf and a beer for me. People are so kind.  Sometimes you meet people and immediately feel comfortable with them – Barton is one of those people.

Saturday May 9, 2015

Another hilly ride today we had two, three kilometre climbs. Over the last three days we have climbed, 866 metres, 922 metres and today was 766 metres.  The Big Sur section of this coastal route is bumpy!

The weather has been cool, and today we had a slight headwind.

However, the scenery along this coast line is beautiful.

We crossed the historic Bixby Bridge, where people were lined up to get the \”best shot\”.  Which apparently is behind the sign that states \”Danger Steep Cliff\”.  Ralf got his shot at a different spot.

The roads were pretty good and for a long section of the route the road had a shoulder. California drivers do not give us much room, they are in a hurry and will overtake in the craziest of places.

As we were cycling through the Carmel Highlands area we spotted this lovely cafe, with lovely flowers.

We found the bike path and followed it into the Fisherman\’s Wharf area.

We arrived in Monterey at about 2:30 and decided to stay in the hostel, it had been a cold ride. I had checked online a couple of days ago and the rate was $29 per person. When we got to the hostel it was $35 pp. The price changes depending on availability!! Work that one out. The hotels in this area the prices go up on the week-end!! Same service, same bed, increased price by $50 +.

After we had showered and settled in to the hostel, we went for a walk downtown Monterey. Cannery Row made famous by Steinbeck, is now a modern shopping, bar and restaurant area.

There are a few of the old buildings still around, where the various \’communities\’ lived.

The information signs were very interesting.

We headed about three streets north of Cannery Row and found a pub selling fish and chips for about $3.00 cheaper than on Cannery Row. For some reason we both fancied fish and chips and Guinness!

Tomorrow we will investigate the rest of Monterey as we cycle out of the City on the bike path.

Friday May 8, 2015

What a great days riding. We started the day with sunshine, but the clouds rolled in and it was a little cool. I wore my merino wool jersey and my light windbreaker, Ralf had his leggings on.

The road didn’t have much of a shoulder however, the traffic wasn’t too bad.

The scenery was stunning.

Along the route, there were warnings of rock slides. Then we came across this structure, a rock shed. A serious structure to prevent rock slides.

We certainly worked the gears on the bike today. It was a hilly ride, 922 metres of elevation gain. Although the last 3 kilometres were downhill to the State Park. As we went up and down the hills the zip on the jacket was working hard as well. As we peddled up the hills the zip came down as we got warmer working hard up the hills, as we came down the other side the zip went back up, as it was cool going down the hills.

Before Pfeiffer State Park there was a very nice looking restaurant and studio.  We were going to warm up with a coffee, but decided to carry on.  There are not many places to stop for a wild wee.

We arrived at Pfeiffer State Park at about 1:30 pm. We were directed to the hiker/biker site by a very cheerful young forest ranger.

That is me in the photo above, working on Hank.

Pfeiffer State Park has some stunning redwoods, not the gigantic redwoods as in the north but they are still very big and beautiful, they grow to about 250 feet. Whereas the northern redwoods grow to about 350 feet.

Our hiker/biker camp site was surrounded by beautiful redwoods. It was so peaceful we spotted this Stellar Jay.

We set the tent up and went back to the lodge for some lunch. It is very expensive in this area, we had considered having dinner at the lodge but decided against it. We had sandwiches and coffee for lunch instead, it was the most expensive lunch to date – $23.00.

After lunch we headed out on a walk. There were two short walks that we followed. One was to a small waterfall, and the other was to a view of the valley.

It made a nice change to walk and see some lovely scenery.

After dinner of pasta (again) we chatted to another touring cyclist who is from Fresno and cycling down to San Diego. We had a good chat with Neil about touring and bikes. He rides a recumbent and used to work in a bike shop.

Two other touring cyclists showed up, they were from Germany. We had a brief chat to them as well. They started in San Francisco and are heading down to San Diego, then renting a car to drive up to Seattle and finishing of the Pacific Coast Route by cycling back to San Francisco.

Thursday May 7, 2015

We decided that we would take Murdoch up on his offer and stay an extra night. The forecast was going to be rainy and the night time temperature was going to drop and be rather chilly. Rainy and cool is not much fun when you have to camp. Tomorrow’s forecast is supposed to be better and with a bit of luck a tail-wind!

Murdoch is a Forestry Fire Fighter, he lives in a beautiful valley and really enjoys travelling. I saw a red-tailed hawk this morning.

Today I cleaned the bikes, Ralf tried to fix the shower for Murdoch that a previous warmshowers guest had broken. We planned our route for the next week and generally had a relaxing day. It rained this morning, the sun came out briefly and the afternoon was very cloudy and overcast.  I am glad we opted to have a rest day.

It is nice to have a relaxing day. Tomorrow, we will be heading to the Big Sur State Park and we will be camping. An early night and an early start tomorrow.  Looking forward to Big Sur and the climbs.

Wednesday May 6, 2015

What a ride today, we are now experiencing the headwinds that everyone has warned us about. It was brutal. Although it was a relatively short ride, it was exhausting. We knew we had some hills today, they would have been manageable, if it wasn\’t for the wind. The scenery was stunning, although with the wind and hanging onto my bike to keep it in a straight line, I couldn’t really enjoy it. We saw about eight other touring cyclists, all going in the opposite direction. We didn’t stop to talk to anyone, we were either pedaling down a hill or struggling up a hill. Please note I said pedaling down a hill. If you remember my posts in New Zealand where I complained bitterly of having to pedal downhill, well we had to do the same today. At one point the wind stopped me completely. I had to get off the bike as it had stopped me in my tracks and pushed me into the middle of the road, a little scary. The road was quite narrow and no shoulders. At times it was a little scary as the Californian drivers didn’t like to share the road. For the very first time on this trip, I gave someone the finger, he was overtaking a car and heading towards us, I had nowhere to go.

Enough complaining, we cycled into the Hearst Castle grounds. We decided we would see how close we could get to it. The castle is on top of the hill and you get a bus from the parking area up to the buildings and gardens. We decided not to bother with the tours.

We carried on along Hwy 1, and saw elephant seals. They are in their molting period at the moment.

The younger males also practice their fighting skills. Swinging their heads around and trying to bite another young male.

The route was very scenic.

We had to remember to look away from the sea and look at the hills and valleys opposite the coast.

We arrived at our warmshowers host at 2:30, he was not due home until 6:30, we had a long, cold wait. Although the door was unlocked he had said he would come home and let us in, then leave again for a meeting. I took this to mean that he didn’t want us making ourselves at home, while he wasn’t here. Some people will let us in to their homes without them being there, others are more comfortable in being around.  When Murdoch got home, he was very friendly and welcoming.  He let us in to his house, he showed us where we would be sleeping and told us to make ourselves at home.  My house is your house.

When he came home from his meeting,  he made us a wonderful dinner of pasta, spicy sausage and garlic bread, lovely.  He also gave us the choice to stay an extra day if we needed to.

Tuesday May 5, 2015

We had a late start this morning, we didn’t leave Mary’s place until 9:30 am. She gave us directions to get down to the Rock and the bay where we could see sea otters.

We headed downhill I had initially put on my light windbreaker, but by the time I got down to the Rock, I put on my leggings and socks and my heavier jacket. Average temp 13 degrees, a cold day today.

We saw ten sea otters, even the locals were surprised that there were so many in one group.

They are so cute, lying on their backs, floating along. One otter, was spinning circles and flipping around, I couldn’t help but laugh. It reminded me of the movie Ring of Bright Water.

We spent about 45 minutes at the Rock, watching the otters and the surfers.

We eventually hit the road at 10:45. It was a relatively short ride today and no strenuous hills.

We stopped in Cambia for lunch and decided to motel it tonight. It was very cool with the wind and it is supposed to drop down to 8 degrees tonight. We called the motels on the ACA maps and then a lady told us that there was a motel 6 in San Simeon. Off we went down the final stretch to San Simeon. There is a strip of hotels from Motel 6 to Best Western. We found the Surf Motel at $60.00, it is clean and has a fridge and microwave.

Tomorrow we have another warmshowers, then Thursday there is no alternative but to camp. I hope it warms up by then.

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!

Sunday May 3, 2015

A bit of a late start this morning, 8:45. It was a little overcast and we had our jackets on for the first few kilometers until the first big hill. We had a choice to make early on, follow the ACA route up Harris Grande Road or stay on Highway 1 through the air base. We had been warned that Harris Grande Road didn’t have much of a shoulder, the road was narrow and the traffic was very busy and didn’t give you much room. We decided that as it was Sunday and early we would stick to the ACA route and go up and over Harris Grande Road.

Another 1,000 feet climb out of Lompoc. When we got to the top, we stopped for a break and another touring cyclist was coming up the other side. We chatted to him for a while, he has done this route a few times but doesn’t like Highway 1 from Lompoc to Guadalupe, he preferred going towards Sante Maria and Arroya Grande paralleling Highway 101. Again we decided to stick to the map. Although the road was narrow, and very little shoulders in areas, most of the car drivers gave us enough room.

The route today was very rural. The sweet smell of strawberries and the rotten smell of cabbage, what a mix! It was a lovely route.

Although as we came down one hill, we noticed that the hillside was bare – if we had been in Portugal or Spain those hills would have been covered with olive trees.

We followed Hwy 1 for a while and saw our first live snake.  When I see a dead snake on the road, it reminds me to be very careful when I need to take a wild wee.

We chatted to another set of touring cyclists on recumbents. They had started a couple of days ago and were heading to Mexico. The recumbents can get broken down so that they can go on Amtrack, which is how they will go home from Mexico. They asked about the hill and we told them it was steeper going the way they were going but the alternative would be to go through the base. Although we have no idea what the steepness of the hill would be like going that way. He said he had an option of 87 gears on his recumbent, he can get up most hills, but slowly.

We stopped in Guadelupe for lunch. A young guy asked what we were doing. We told him that we were cycling to Seattle. He then offered to sell us a bike frame, I have no idea where he thought we would carry it but we declined the offer.

We carried on to our ‘campsite’ for tonight. We were climbing a little hill, when I noticed the High School, Laura had told me to turn left after the High School. I wasn’t sure we were that close to the place, but then I noticed the name of the street. I shouted to Ralf that we were already here and stopped two-thirds of the way up the hill. It is a good job it was the right place as we would never have been able to start again.

We could have stayed at the campsite in Oceano or Pismo Beach, but there were no hiker/biker sites. This place was on the ACA maps as a cyclists only camp site, it is actually an Airbnb. There are several sleeping options, a teepee, a regular colman tent, a camper, a really cool building that used to be an old water tower or we could put up our own tent. We opted for the latter we need to try out our new air mattresses. I have decided to name my mattress Hank. Now before you think I have lost it completely, to inflate the mattress you have to put your hands on the pillow area and push down, it feels as if you are doing CPR on the mattress. Consequently, I think the mattress should have a name. I think the ‘dummies’ you use when you do a CPR course have names – so why not an air mattress. O.k. after reading this again, I have lost it completely.

We went for a walk to the market about a kilometer away to pick up our dinner.

The views from this place are beautiful, we can see the dunes and the ocean. Hopefully we get a nice sunset.

After dinner we lit a fire in the fire pit and sat around the fire chatting to Ben the owner of the AirBnb for a while.