Day ???

We haven't been very good about posting to the blog. I looked back this morning and saw San Simeon as the last entry. A few thoughts and memories from the past few days:

From San Simeon we rode to Pismo Beach. We stopped for some awesome scones in Cayucos. When we stopped at the bakery, a local man (town crier?) came running in to say they had just found a body floating in the surf. We never found out anymore about it, but after he announced it to several people it was as if life just kept going - everyone went back to reading their papers or serving customers.

Rob & Doug in Cayucos.
The first newspaper we
had seen since June 30.

On a short little climb out of Cayucos, I felt a sharp pain in the muscle above my knee that only got worse the more I pedaled. By the time we stopped at the top the tears were flowing. Not much to do but pop a couple of Advil & keep going.

We met Jan at a sketchy laundromat in the outskirts of Morro Bay. She had gone ahead to do our laundry. Jan has been great to have along! She buys the groceries, cooks, AND does laundry. No, really, it was fun having someone to talk with at the end of each day who had done something other than ride a bike.

Morrow Bay

Ice cream on the pier in Pismo Beach.

We had lunch on the waterfront in Morrow Bay & then pedaled on through San Luis Obispo to Pismo Beach. Jan caught up with us again in Pismo. We had some fabulous ice cream & watched all the people down near the pier. It was a short ride to Oceano State Beach to set up camp. Our friends, Teresa & Leigh came to visit and have dinner. It was so much fun to catch up with them.

View from the top.

The next morning my leg seemed a little better. The Pacific Coast Bike Route had an alternate route - looking ahead at the main route was a long slow climb. The alternate route looked relatively flat. Boy did we make a mistake! Just around the bend was a short, intense hill. It was the first (and only) hill we all walked.







We rode through Guadalupe before a parade. Thankfully the officers didn't make us detour around the parade route. Lots of farming in this area. We came upon a crew picking celery. I was so fascinated by the process I forgot to pull my camera out. We had no idea the field was celery until we saw them handling their machetes.

Encouragement painted on the
road at the top of the hill.

Around the 30 mile mark my leg started really hurting again. Unfortunately this was also the start up Harris Grade Road. We were inland so it was hot too. We rode by some raspberry farms where workers were picking. I think we take our food supply for granted & don't always consider the work that goes into getting it from farm to table.

The ride downhill was fun and long! We stopped at the Lompoc Wine Ghetto for lunch. Rob & I had spent our anniversary this year in the Lompoc area tasting wine & riding. It was fun to be back. He and I split a glass of Syrah - knowing we still had some long climbs ahead of us.

Lunch at Lompoc's Wine Ghetto.

We finally made it to Buellton late in the afternoon. Jan had already set up camp at a private RV park. There were some massive RVs there! Rob & I went to sit in the hot tub for a bit and started talking to some people about our trip. One of the guys looked so familiar to both of us. Turned out we had homeschooled our kids together! It had been 15 years since we saw them last. Small world!

Lunch in Solvang

The next day was a scheduled rest day. We walked to breakfast, did laundry, and went into Solvang with Doug & Jan. Teresa & Leigh also joined us for the day. Rob actually found someone to give me a massage on a Sunday afternoon which was absolutely wonderful! The other highlight of our Solvang day was a little museum about the Danish immigrants to Solvang. We ended the day at a fabulous tapas wine bar back in Buellton. At Avanti we were given a card to insert into wine dispensers. You could choose a 1-oz taste, a half glass, or full glass of more than 20 local wines. The food was great too!

We parted ways with Doug & Jan the next morning. My leg was feeling much better but we weren't sure if we could do the planned 72-mile ride to Ventura. We stopped at a bike shop for a minor derailleur adjustment and ended up with new brake pads and a brake cable barrel adjuster. It took a while so we went across the street for lunch and a bag of ice on my leg. We decided to go for the long day and made reservations at a hotel in Ventura.

We rode the route from Santa Barbara to Oceanside in Oct, 2008, so we already had an idea of the ride ahead. We stopped at an amazing garden center just before Carpenteria - Seaside Gardens. Good thing we were on a bike or we probably would have come home with plants, or my favorite fountain! They had acres of gardens designed by different landscapers. This is definitely a place we want to visit again.

Today's ride was much easier than four years ago. Then we were new to touring, and it was a weekend. Riding through Malibu is tough because all the cars parked along the road. The hill near Pepperdine wasn't as bad as we remembered it.  There's not any tent camping in LA proper so we opted for another night in a hotel. Kendal made the reservations and Taylor & Justin met us for dinner. It's after 9:00 pm now. Time for bed. The plan is to ride another 60+ mile day tomorrow and camp in a hiker-biker site.