2 Lefts

We awoke at Doheny Beach to a somewhat chilly but clear morning. Mike did a great job of navigating us through San Clemente, which had many, many, many turns through residential streets. The route then took us through dry scrubland along the coast. There was almost no traffic with us since those in cars prefer to zip along at 70 mph on the adjacent freeway. When we reached the military base of Camp Pendleton we had to join the traffic on the I-5 freeway since they no longer allow cyclists to just show up and ride through the base. Happily, the shoulder on the freeway was wide, well-maintained and mostly free of debris. We all enjoyed the extra boost that comes from the tail wind generated by large trucks passing you at high speed. Our mileage for the trip crossed 9000 miles somewhere on the I-5. Eight miles later we exited the freeway safely and began a tedious slog through the built-up and congested cities of Oceanside and Carlsbad. I think somehow I was expecting a magical final da...

It was intensely windy as we woke up at the Leo Carrillo campground in Malibu. My Dad's tent nearly blew away as he was taking it down. As we pushed our first few pedal strokes back on Pacific Coast Highway the breeze blew up clouds of dust and grit that made it hard to see. Thankfully it was worst at the start and eased off as the miles rolled by. Then, on to familiar sights: Topanga Canyon, the Getty Villa, the Santa Monica Pier and the beach bike path. After a lunch time break of a few pizza slices we rode over to the marina to check on the boat. All is well. A little dirty but it looks largely the same as we left it and ready to be restored to its former glory, or even better. We had a few more miles to go so we waved goodbye to the boat and hopped back on the bike path toward Hermosa Beach. My Aunt Kellie, Uncle Randy, and cousin Will live there and were very gracious to host us for Halloween. We ate an incredible home-cooked dinner of chili and corn bread and Caesar salad. ...

We concluded our rest day in Lompoc by watching part of the movie "The Goonies". It's set in the town of Astoria, Oregon, which we cycled through. Unfortunately, the movie was scheduled to finish at 11 pm - way past our usual bedtime - so we turned it off like the responsible people we are. We have resolved to watch the rest of it once we are no longer riding for 6 hours a day and have considerably more free time. Yesterday we rode 69 miles, the longest distance so far on the Pacific Coast leg of the tour. There was a lack of affordable lodging options around Santa Barbara so we blew on through to the town of Carpinteria, which offered a state beach park with hiker/biker discounts. We took only a few breaks and rode strongly, arriving around 6 pm. Not too bad, though the light was fading as we set up our tents. Shortly after we arrived another cyclist pulled up. Natalie is visiting the old missions along the California coast. Then one more cyclist named Ocean joined. We...

So where's the finish? Our current plan is to ride to Poway and my parent's house for a healthy dose of sitting around, seeing my Mom, cleaning up all our veteran camping gear, and enjoying the abundant sunshine. This ride is drawing to a close and I expect we'll only have about six days of pedaling left. This morning we're having a rest in a Motel 6 in Lompoc. Today will be a day off. Let's recap some of the happenings of the last two days. This is my third trip down this section of the California coast but it's been nearly a decade since the last so lots of places seem new while I'll occasionally glimpse landmarks that spark a memory. In Cayucos we stopped at a gas station and deli where an older gentleman gave us extra tickets he had to a fundraiser luncheon across the street at the Veterans Hall. There was also a drawing for cash prizes. I felt I may have had a hot hand but it wasn't really in the plans to stick around any longer so we continued ...

We shared the hiker/biker site in Monterey with a cyclist named Greg who is heading from Oregon to San Diego. We commiserated over the upcoming climbs over breakfast before he pedaled away while we were still packing up. Yesterday we went through Big Sur, a wild stretch of coast with some big hills and great views. Strong tail winds blew us towards the base of the biggest climb where we ran into Greg again. We stopped at the bottom of the hill for some burritos and snacks to fuel our ascent. The food worked and we all made it to the top without much trouble. I don't really remember much else from the day's riding. The past few days have blended together in a mash-up of coastline, hills, beaches, good weather, and tail winds. We stopped at a small cliff-side general store for a couple of beers to enjoy at the campground that evening. We did a longer day of 57 miles to the Lime Kiln State Park and, once again, ran into Greg who had mysteriously not been charged for camping there....

The last few days have been all about friendly faces. We began riding down a sunny stretch of coastal highway when a dark grey fog bank loomed ahead. It felt like we would enter the mist and ride 100 years back in time. More realistically, we rode to a town called Davenport and got pastries and a coffee for my Dad. Next major milestone was riding through Santa Cruz, Aptos, and finally through rolling apple orchards to Watsonville. My childhood friend Mike Haney and his girlfriend Amanda were kind enough to drive down from Mountain View to join us for a Mexican food dinner. They had just taken a weekend away on the northern California coast. They stayed near Gualala in a lodge with Russian architecture - we took photos of it for the blog only a few days prior. We told tales about the trip, and then moved on to Yogurtland to swap more stories over dessert. It was great to see them and especially nice of them to drive to meet our route. With all the socializing we didn't even turn...

Thankfully the rascally raccoons of Olema didn't get quite every bit of food and we still managed to put together a decent breakfast on Friday before our ride into San Francisco. As we approached the city the roads became busier, the neighborhoods more dense, and the turns more frequent. The turns initially made a welcome change from spending 50 miles a day on highway 1 but then grew tiresome. There was much checking of directions as we wound through Marin County and it slowed us down considerably. Thankfully one of our hosts for the weekend, Joven, rode out to meet us as a grocery store and he took the lead towards the Golden Gate bridge. We stopped for some obligatory photos along with 1000 other people. The ride over the bridge was windy but fun. Joven, his wife Katelyn, son Tino, and dog Artie generously put us up for a couple of nights as we had a rest day to give us time to catch up with each other. As a bonus, Blake (whom we stayed with in New York) was also in town. The r...