We started out by having breakfast with Kay O. Like Sadie, Kay O had been on the Odyssey bike trip around the world in 2000 with Ben Willetts, which is how I met both of them in the first place. Kay O, who has completed Paris-Brest-Paris, came to meet us on a cruiser with a chain that kept falling off. This made it extra unfortunate that her partner Jeff wasn’t able to join her for this trip, because he is known for being able to fix a deraillieur with a rock.

After a leisurely second breakfast, we figured we should get on with finishing this trip. We stopped to take pictures of surfers,

and soon found ourselves at the top of the north end of Torrey Pines Hill. As we waited at a light due to a lane closure, ten or so day cyclists, in full spandex, gathered at the light with us.

“You’re almost there!” they told us. Looking down the hill and back up the other side, I got a little nervous about which route to take. The main road climbed steadily off to the left, but there appeared to be a steeper road to the right. Which one was the right one? One of the cyclists at the light assured us that we could take the steeper one if we wanted to, but both went to the same place. He himself was going to take the longer and less steep one. So were the other bikers, so so did we.

I’d cycled up this hill before, but only on the back of the tandem. Still, I remembered it as a challenge. This time, it wasn’t. That felt good.

The UCSD campus is at the top of that hill. I had alerted my friend Windy, who works in the math department there, that we were about to pass through. He took a short walk on his lunch break and met us. After catching up with him, we decided to stop at a shopping center just on the other side of campus. Sadie was still looking for a dress to wear to the wedding. At this stop, she found a dress and cute shoes!

All these extended stops were making this short mileage day quite a bit longer. We needed lunch! After that, we rode about a mile to the cafe that makes my favorite ginger Boba tea. How could we pass that up?

We realized that Sadie was within just a few miles of hitting 1500 miles on her odometer. We had several more miles to ride downhill into Pacific Beach. We’d take the Rose Creek bike path, my old daily commute when I attended UCSD and lived in PB. The rest of the day’s route would be quite flat, until right at the end, when we had to go back up hill to Normal Heights. I used to live in that neighborhood, so I had been debating which way we should go all morning. Texas Street was more direct, but steeper. Washington Street was more gradual, but a bit out of the way, including going a few blocks the wrong way on a one way street. But it did go past fresh tortillas in Old Town.

We’d been updating Ben with our progress throughout the day. He was too busy getting ready for his wedding to ride in with us, but he thought he would try to meet us somewhere. Then he offered to pick us up in the van if we wanted. Sadie and I considered. We’d already made it to San Diego. We’d reached our goal. If he picked us up on the far side of the bike path, she’d have 1500 miles as well. We told him to come get us.

So that was the end of the road! We drove up Texas Street instead. I went to yoga class with Mara, then we met Kay O, Ben, Sadie, and Cammy, another Odyssey rider, later at the avocado curry place. (Thai Village, on Mission Blvd.) If you find yourself in San Diego, you must try it. I don’t know why anyone eats anything else there but the avocado curry.

The end of our trip was satisfying, delicious, and full of good friends. I vowed to eat nothing the next day.

Between 80 miles yesterday and such an interesting host, we finally left Sue’s treasure cave about two in the afternoon.

We rode past the San Onofre nuclear power station

(That’s it, behind the trees.)

and through Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Our map and a quick Internet search indicated that the base might only let cyclists through during certain hours, which we were quickly approaching the end of, having started so late. But there was conflicting information on the Internet regarding this, and if the base was closed to us, then we’d be allowed to ride on the freeway. We went through at least two unmanned gates with signs that said we were on base, so we were starting to think that they were relaxing security in this way.

It appeared that we had left the base, so we recoinnoitered, checking our map, and headed west under the 5 freeway. Then the road stopped. We re-recoinnoitered with both map and Internet, and we realized that we hadn’t passed through the main gate of the base at all yet! We headed a bit east, and found a gate with guards. It was past the time our map said we could go through, but they let us right in.

We were quite hungry for lunch by the time we rode another seven miles through the main area of Camp Pendleton. We had passed a caravan of large troop transport vehicles with “Student Driver” signs on them, as well as a kid’s day camp event. It’s very interesting to see what’s on a military base when you don’t usually get to. We stopped for a late lunch at a Cuban restaurant in Oceanside.

We were tired, and neither the energetic Latin music nor the yuca frites nor the passion fruit shake was really making much of a difference. We calculated it was another 17 miles, including a climb off our direct route, to get to the friend’s house we had arranged to stay at this night. We also realized we could be at a hotel in Encinitas, without leaving the street we were riding on, in eleven miles. We called and said we wouldn’t make it.

We stumbled in to the EconoLodge just in time. Both of us were so exhausted. We realized from a Facebook post that another cycling friend, also coming to the wedding we were heading to, was going to be staying in Leucadia at her sister’s, a mile from our hotel! We arranged to meet her for breakfast and went to sleep.

We spent two days off staying with Jess and Brent and their awesome Corgi puppy, Zelda, in Marina del Rey.

We stayed in my good friend Chris’ room while she was still up at Sara’s in Ventura. We had two massages in two days at a Thai place we stopped in on the way back from breakfast. I ended up with a therapist, Mark, who had been a bike racer when he lived in Thailand! He had also lived in Indiana and done the little 500. So he knew exactly where I would hurt. What a wonderful coincidence to have met him!

I also got a chance to go out to the Acrogreens near the Santa Monica pier on Sunday, where acrobats and acroyogis gather to play. I did a few hand to hands with Ernie, a stuntman who I have met there before. I also saw Jonathan, who owns TSNY, the trapeze school I work at, and met his wife, who is a champion acrobat. TSNY has a location right there on the Santa Monica pier, but I thought Jonathan was from New York, so I was surprised to see him.

Mostly at the Acrogreens, I chatted with Jon, a retired rocket scientist who is often there with his friend Larry. He is also a cyclist, so we had lots to talk about! Also, I taught him some basic acro. He he had been coming to the greens for so long, he thought he should get around to trying some eventually.

On Monday, I had lunch with my friend Nick. It was very fun because I met him in Chicago, and he mentioned he would be in LA visiting the neon benders he works with for his art pieces. He does the neon on the man at Burning Man, and it’s time to work on that for this year’s event. Originally, we thought we would just miss each other, but we ended up being there at the same time!

Later in the day, Sadie and moved over to our friend Charlie’s apartment. Charlie had been on Odyssey with Sadie and Ben, but it had been years since either of us had seen him. We were excited to hear that his girlfriend of a year or so had gotten him to eat vegetables, finally. He now thinks they are delicious, and says he feels much better now that he is eating so much more healthy food. He always used to wake up feeling like he got hit by a truck, but now, at 40, feels great in the mornings! (Ben Melnick, I hope you are listening!)

Sadie and Charlie

Also, Charlie works for Elektra bikes, and he outfitted us with new bells. We went out for a delicious Italian dinner, joined by his roommate Susie, who needed to be kept awake after a long weekend in Vegas with friends. She had great stories about a five week camping trip she took with a friend after they got out of college. I apparently horrified everyone by describing how a ten year relationship can quietly fall apart if you’re not paying attention.

Tuesday morning we were well rested, and actually left the house by 8:30, which was a record for us. We even left the overpriced but scrumptious smoothie place a few blocks away where we ate breakfast by about 10.

I don’t have too much to say about the long 80 miles that followed. About 40 of it was on bike paths.

I kept up with Sadie much more closely than any other day. I was making a concerted effort so I wouldn’t get left behind at stoplights, so I probably pushed harder than usual, but it still felt good. Much of the day was quite flat. It just took forever, between stopping at lights with the city riding, and winding around beach bike paths. Luckily, the paths weren’t too crowded for the most part. We still had to watch closely for small children wandering across and got stuck regularly behind groups of slow cyclists out cruising.

We rode for a while down the LA river, which is little more than a viaduct. It is definitely looking better and greener than the last time Ben and I rode down it for an organized ride. Much of the area around it still contributes to a view of LA as a dystopic wasteland, though. In one section, there was a tent city of homeless people clustered around an underpass, next to wall of graffiti. A lone man in black with scraggly hair strode away in the rubble, wearing thigh holsters that looked like they held long knives. I wish I had a picture of that!

Just past that strip along the river is a tidy suburban neighborhood. There are not many entrances to the riverside bike path, probably to reduce the transient traffic through the neighborhoods. We missed the first entrance, so we had to navigate past the homes for another mile or so before we could get on the path. We came upon this unsettling street:

We spent an hour or so in a cozy coffee shop in Torrance, which we found off our route because we’re getting good at recognizing the street patterns of downtown areas. The rest of the day saw only brief stops for water and power bars, and more riding. We were meeting Sadie’s friend Sue at Sue’s mother’s home in Capistrano Beach, which is right after Dana Point.

This meant we were retracing much of the route of the first day of the Odyssey ride, which ended in in Dana Point. Sadie hadn’t been able to finish that day of riding, so she was extra determined to have a strong finish today. Of course, this time, she’s been on the road for six weeks already, so it was no problem at all. Sue even met us in Dana Point and made a video of us arriving!

We left our bikes at Sue’s mom’s, took pictures on the beach,

and drove up several steep hills to Sue’s house. Sue is a photographer who travelled with the rodeo circuit and lived in the Marshall Islands, among other interesting things, so her house is like a treasure cave. You never know what you will find! She made us steak and baked potatoes for dinner, and I fell asleep before I even finished eating.

Another morning when we just could not get going. Until we hit the UPS store. We realized we wouldn’t need to camp anymore, since we had friends to stay with for the rest of the way to San Diego, so we mailed our camping gear home. Fourteen pounds, see you later!

This is my bike with its new, slimmed down profile.

Once again, we rode away about noon, even though we knew we had at least 55 miles ahead of us. We stopped for fruit early on, and at the Missile Park associated with Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

We learned many interesting facts about missiles over the years, but I just have a hard imagining anyone saying, “Honey, let’s take the kids to the missile park today!” But there were several families enjoying an afternoon with their children there.

After that, we got back on the 1, and stopped a lot less. We wound through the Malibu hills, passing Zuma Beach, among others. Traffic grew heavier, and though there was a wide shoulder, it was often full of cars parked on the road to avoid paying to park in the beach lots. We also had a tailwind, and, aided by the terrain, we zipped through.

We said later it felt like a video game. We had to pay attention to cars on both sides of us. There was more traffic today than probably all the other days of this trip put together. As we got even closer to Santa Monica, the cars were slowed, often to a stop, and it felt a little easier to just pass them as they sat in gridlock. It was exciting, but we were not sad at all when we reached the Santa Monica bike path.

Except that’s really a beach boardwalk that winds lazily past the pier and through Venice Beach. It was crowded with beach goers cruising along, or walking in the bikes only lane. It was just another kind of traffic to navigate. I guess I wouldn’t expect anything else from Los Angeles. After 60 miles, all we wanted to do was get off our bikes and eat dinner.

We were momentarily distracted by Zelda, the 13-week old Corgi of our hosts, Jess and Brent. Then Sadie’s high school friend Selena picked us up and whisked us off to dinner. It was a treat not to have to take the bikes! We are so looking forward to two days off in Santa Monica!

I was sure it was way easier to ride now that my gear is fourteen pounds lighter, but my legs are still ready for a rest.

We had a hard time leaving the house this morning. It was just too comfortable! We finally got three miles away, headed for second breakfast, when Sadie’s pedal fell off!

The way that pedals are not supposed to come off. Luckily, we were 2.5 miles from five bike shops. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.

It only took a few minutes for Sadie to get new pedals, and the bike mechanics sent us down the road to a breakfast recommendation. Backyard Bowl’s specialty was like a smoothie with granola and more fruit on it. Delicious, and it was next door to a chocolate shop and a crepe place. I did get a few chocolates,

but mostly we just spent a lot of time on line and sending texts, trying to organize places to stay for the next few nights. And wasting time on Facebook.

We finally got on the road, and never felt like we were quite getting up to speed. We rode for a while on the 1, where it was a full on freeway, with a large shoulder marked for a bike lane.

As we neared Ventura, two cyclists caught up to us and slowed down to chat a bit. Pete and Steven had spent the previous night at Steven’s apartment in Santa Barbara, where Pete had gotten rid of all the gear he felt he didn’t need for the rest of the ride, but Steven had had to pick up the things he had originally left at Steven’s because he didn’t want to carry them on the bike. They had encountered several of the other cyclists we had met along the way, so we compared notes.

This was their first bike tour, and they were so excited about it, they were already planning their next one. Their energy was infectious, and it seemed to help us wake up and finish the last few miles into town more strongly than when we began.

We arrived just in time to drop our stuff off at Chris and Sara’s, but then we had to kill some time before they were finished with a previous commitment around 9ish. We headed out to a movie with unloaded bikes. It makes a huge difference. That was the final six miles of the day. The movie theater was three miles away, exactly where we had just come from on the way in to town. We enjoyed watching Brave, and having milkshakes and popcorn for dinner, but backtracking still feels wrong.

The only way I knew for sure it was Thursday today is that I talked on the phone to my friend Charlie last night, just after he got home from bike polo, which I know he plays on Wednesdays. Ahhh, traveling.

We might have gone further today, but we had friends lined up to stay with. And after yesterday’s long day, that was extra fine.

Neither Sadie nor I slept in as late as we thought we would this morning. Since we were up, we got to see off Michael and Ian, two guys camped in the hike and bike. They were heading north up the coast, which is steeper and against the wind, as well as towing a trailer with their 45-pound dog. As they said, they were in their twenties and had time on their hands. Michael also had a broken spoke, so they were basically off to limp to the next bike shop, up the two mile, seven percent grade we had just come down.

Since we were leaving at a reasonable hour, Nick decided to accompany us on the way to Santa Barbara. He needed to be there by 2:00, and we weren’t moving that slowly. Though he did have to reduce his normal pace considerably to hang with us. After a bit, he decided to go ahead, find a place for us all to lunch together, and call us with the location. He didn’t make it past the first Jack in the Box. We picked him up there and continued on to the UCSB campus, which is actually in Goleta, where we found a fast Indian food place.

Since we had gone 12 miles on only a PB&J, and my body was still demanding to be fed from yesterday’s 75 mile trek, I was a bit light headed when we stopped and then proceeded to eat too much. But there was Boba tea! And rice pudding!

Nick left us after lunch.

Bye, Nick!

He’s from London, and is very personable. He got to stay in the Pismo Beach campground we were turned away from because he arrived after dark and just set up his tent. He’s riding from Canada to Mexico raising money for cancer research. You can donate to his project at www.justgiving.com/pacific-highway, or follow him on Facebook. We like his photos! Also, San Diego friends, he would like to learn to surf.

We continued across Santa Barbara to Ed and Mary’s house. They are the parents of Sadie’s friend Al, who she knows from when she worked on Kwajelin Island. Ed has worked there in the past as well, and they have many friends in common. Mary was unfortunately in bed recovering from an illness, but Ed was a gracious and energetic host who gave us the run of the house. We spent some time talking about bike traveling when we first arrived. His son is gearing up for a trip, which he has been nervous about, but I think we made him feel better about it.

I found a yoga class to attend in the afternoon, and Ed offered to let me take the car, which was just the thing! I knew it was going to be a core focused class, but it was serious. I may not have made it if I’d biked there and back. After 75 miles yesterday, you know.

The class, with Ryan at Yasa Yoga, was really phenomenal! The workout was balanced and intense. We worked on some stabilizer muscles I didn’t know I had. I have some new moves to take back to Chicago. It’s easy to let your core go in long distance cycling. I tend to get a little more sway-backed than I already am. This put me back into alignment. Also, for such a kick-ass workout, Ryan was really careful to be non-judgemental, to offer many levels of modification, and to remind everyone that we are only practicing. In fact, he described practice as the balance between pursuing your goals and letting go, something I will be chewing on for a while. I love learning from new yoga teachers, and I wish I had more time to practice with Ryan!

The only problem with class that, even though at least two hours had gone by since I’d eaten that huge meal, I felt like I was going to throw up through most of the class. Good thing I’ve been practicing yogic breathing for a long time. Oh, and we did a small amount of quad and hamstring work, from which I had to refrain. My legs simply said no. Maybe another day.

Also, the studio was gorgeous. Airy, stucco, exposed beams, high, rounded ceilings. May have been an old Spanish-style church, actually. Am I advertising for them now? I really loved it! If you’re in Santa Barbara, you should go.

When we got back, Ed made us dinner! I am so grateful for people who take such good care of travelers like us. We also had a great conversation. One of Ed’s favorite topics, like mine, is, in short, how the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Let’s talk about specifics here, he said, so we listed a few. Nuclear proliferation, water, and the like. How he remains so positive, motivated and energetic in the face of this very pessimistic world view is a lesson to me. At the same time, I feel like I’ve been seeing hopeful signs lately, while he thinks most things are too little, too late.

We all agreed that we’re not perfect either. There are things we do, too, that we know we shouldn’t. (Like go to CVS by myself while on a bike trip. I came back with a bag full of obnoxiously unhealthy and over packaged snacks. They were on sale!) Then we happily ate frozen yogurt and drank tea for dessert. The end.

We have left the gourmet, cozy part of the California coast and stayed last night in the economically depressed part, so there was no fancy bakery for breakfast.

Our campground neighbors were both sad and creepy. Their daughter was staked out in the bathroom overseeing the charging of her cell phone, which meant she stared as me as I brushed my teeth and rinsed out my nose with my neti pot.

But we did have a pretty good burritos.

Then we almost immediately took a bit of a shortcut that led us straight up a short but steep hill. We both walked it. I think it might have saved us three miles, though.

We did 25 miles before noon, but that was only a third of our planned day. This was the first day we carried extra water, and we needed it. It was sunny and somewhat warm, and we had the two biggest climbs of this section of the trip ahead of us. The first one, Harris Grade, was similar to climbs we’ve done so far. Maybe two miles, some parts steeper than others, but not too bad. It was a windy road with virtually no shoulder, but also almost no traffic. The downhill was terrific! I coasted for several miles.

Just before Harris Grade, Nick rode up– a cyclist that Sadie had met in Oregon, but hadn’t seen since! He was heading to Refugio State Park, like us, also on the recommendation of Carl. Though neither of us had seen Carl and Donna for a couple of days.

We also met a chatty rider named Bob, who was doing San Francisco to San Diego in seven days. Needless to say, he rode on ahead and out of sight soon after. Speaking of riding in a different way than us, I forgot to mention an 18-year old cyclist we met yesterday, who carried nothing on his bike but a walkie talkie. His dad was following him in a chase car, and he was going as fast as possible. He had hailed Sadie and I to see if we knew a faster way to LA. “Ladies! Ladies!” he yelled. We didn’t have any insight into LA, but since he already thought we were so old and matronly, I told him he looked like he needed more sunscreen.

Anyway, the second hill was a smaller grade, but over 12 miles. What made it worse was the bumpy road surface.

I guess I should be happy it wasn’t loose gravel.

We were on Highway 1 with a lovely wide shoulder, but it was not smooth at all. When we stopped for a late lunch, I felt like I was still vibrating even when sitting still. A road surface like that can make downhills feel like uphills, which it did.

When we finally got to the top and started our descent, the road smoothed out a bit, and then became quite nice.

This is exactly the spot where the heavens broke open and angels sang.

I was thankful for this, because we still had ten to fifteen miles left, and I didn’t feel like I could do it with the road working against me. Of course, I didn’t really have a choice either.

We stopped at the best rest area in the world, by which I mean it was there and gave us a good reason to rest. And we ate snacks. We have discovered the most delicious fruit snacks ever, a dried fruit bar. Though at this stop we ate real fruit. Then we rolled over much smaller hills, and finally saw the sign that our destination was only a mile away. Yay!!!

Our campsite is right on the ocean.

We watched three dolphins play when we arrived. And the shower rooms are heated and Sadie cooked ramen noodles. I even did yoga.

We rode fast today! There wasn’t much climbing, and we had a helpful wind for much of the day. We took several long breaks, though, so it was a long day as usual.

We had a terrific breakfast at Linn’s in Cambria. Polenta cakes! They also have olallieberry tea, syrup, jam, cakes, and so on.

In another 10 miles or so, we tried to pass this bakery, but couldn’t.

Strangely, though, we tried a sample of their famous cookies, and didn’t like them at all. Which was good, because they were obnoxiously expensive.

I’m getting better at taking pictures while I’m riding. Here we are approaching Morro Rock in Morro Bay.

We stopped overlooking Morro Bay and ate lunch and made phone calls.

We had dinner in San Luis Obispo. At the Bliss Cafe, Sadie had to show them how to use their juicer. I got a haircut, Sadie got new cycling gloves, and we ran into Brandon again! He asked if we had called the hostel to find out where he was. He may not have been kidding. Then we still had 13 more miles to go to Pismo Beach State Park.

On the North Beach Campground’s website, it says they have hiker/biker sites, which you don’t need reservations for. And if eight cyclists show up, you just share the space. But apparently they do not have them anymore. And it took two crotchety campground hosts and two rangers, who I’m certain are very competent in their rangerly duties, but looked like bumbling cartoon characters trying to figure out the new reservation system, about an hour to determine the campground was full and we could not stay there. Even though we rode 50 miles, they sent us away!

That is the first time in all of my bike traveling that I have been turned away from a campground! I have been given space at places that only take RV’s, and then only if you’re over 55 years old! Because who turns away people that just rode their bikes from 50 miles away? Perhaps Sadie can describe this situation better. I’m too busy being flabbergasted.

So I think a big part of the problem is the privatization of the reservation system. No one on site has any power to make decisions about it. In fact, those on site barely can tell how it works or interpret the information it gives them. It’s a computer system that isn’t particularly well implemented in the first place, and certainly can’t deal with anything out of the ordinary happening.

I think everyone involved wanted to let us stay. The rangers even looked in a blank book and said maybe they could let us stay at the Brown’s site, which was like code for secret administrative reserve. But then neither of them knew which sites those were supposed to be at this campground. And this was a huge campground, with lots of extra space. But for some mentioned but not described reasons, they could only put us in a marked spot, rather than finding us a small bit of open space. Which campgrounds have done for me, on more than one occasion.

The upside of this story, is that after an hour of no one knowing what to do, they realized that the county campground less than a mile down the road would have space. And it was cheaper and had free showers. We got there and got set up just as it got dark.

We had a quick first breakfast as we left our campsite, getting on the road at 8:58. That’s before 9:00! We stopped for second breakfast in Gorda, where you could pay over six dollars a gallon for gas. While we were eating, a couple from France touring on a tandem, half upright and half recumbent, pulled in. They had stayed at Big Sur the same night as us. Later, Donna and Carl, a couple on singles who had also stayed with us at Big Sur, showed up. It seems they are on about the same pace as us.

Donna and Carl are carrying the most amazing amount of stuff. They both have front and rear panniers, as well a lot of stuff strapped to their racks. I can’t even imagine what they’ve got in there, because I feel like we have a lot of stuff. Today it occurred to me, maybe they just aren’t as good at packing their bags densely.

After Gorda, we started climbing.

Once again, not too steep, but long. Then we coasted down about half the distance we climbed up, then started climbing again. There was so little traffic today, and what cars there were came in spurts from a one lane closure about 15 miles to the north. So much of the time it was just quiet. Foggy, cold and quiet. We could hear the water and sometimes the seals barking from the coast.

After another 10 miles or so, we stopped at Ragged Point and had coffee and pastries. We finally had a bit of sun. It didn’t seem like the fog cleared so much as we just got below it.

See the fog still up there?

A man named Brandon asked us to help him make a small video, as he has been trying to convince his friends to ride the coast with him, and there we were, doing it. We smiled and said how much fun we were having. Sadie finally had cell service, so she left a message for the hostel in Cambria. We were counting on them having space, because there isn’t any nearby camping. Donna and Carl pulled in as we were getting ready to leave.

The next 15 miles flew by. We passed an elephant seal refuge.

They seem to nap most of the time, but they can move really fast if they want to. It’s cool to watch. They fling sand everywhere.

We pulled over in San Simeon for lunch. There was a small deli, but it was closed, so we just sat at their tables. Another rider we hadn’t met yet arrived. He was traveling with a backpack on his back and a dry sack on his rack. He had done 137 miles yesterday and was aiming for 110 today. So what had taken us six days, he rode in one, minus a small bit. He started south of San Francisco, in Palo Alto. He flies out of San Diego on the 25th.

We left San Simeon before he did, but he passed us not long after. We won’t see him again.

There he goes!

We also got passed by three men, two with bike trailers and one with no gear. Do they switch off? They didn’t slow down long enough to say where they were heading, but we saw them ahead of us again at our evening stop in Cambria. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to talk to them tomorrow.

Out on the road, Sadie got a callback from the hostel.

When she explained that we were two women coming in by bicycle, the person on the phone said, “You’re the one I just took a video of!” Turns out, our new friend Brandon runs the hostel. When we arrived, I gave him our blog addresses, in case his friends still aren’t convinced.

As we rode into Cambria, Sadie spotted the French couple at the laundromat. Touring cyclists are pretty predictable. We did laundry there later ourselves. There seem to be more of us on the road than on other trips I’ve taken, but it’s still a pretty small world.

Uh, yeah. We realized pretty quickly that we were at the bottom of that hill on the elevation profile, not half way up it. We started climbing right out of the campground. It wasn’t the steepest, but we didn’t get a chance to warm up our legs at all. Then it would look like we’d reached the top, but we hadn’t. I stopped to rest for the third time. It really looked like the top, but I noticed the telephone lines continuing to go up to the right. I prepared myself for the worst, but put my arm warmers back on, just in case. It was getting foggier and chillier. I’d warm up quickly climbing, but get cold fast going down. We rode a few more feet and could see around the curve that the road turned downhill, and the uphill was a driveway! Hooray! We coasted downhill and found the restaurant we’d been looking for in, maybe, a quarter of a mile.

Nepenthe’s is supposed to have the best views around, except in the morning when it’s shrouded in fog.

See the fog behind us?

I happily ate brioche French toast and sipped chai, feeling it was the least I could do after a three mile uphill climb.

Today is the road I remember. In 1996 or 97, I dropped Nathan off at UNR and drove over the mountains and down the coast. It was the last hurrah of my little Bronco II. I remember the narrow, windy roads with the shoulders crumbling into the sea, and an endless stream of RVs. Gas prices, perhaps, are keeping the RVs at bay on this trip, but there are more today than yesterday. I found it surprising, by the way, that gas prices on the remote California coast are about the same as in Chicago. The drivers are also generally more aggressive today. I guess the kids are crabby and everyone is on their way home from their weekend trip. Also, it’s been foggy all day, so the views at the Vista Points are limited.

There are more pickups and SUV’s today, which I like to think is because we’ve crossed the ideological line that separates liberal Northern California from more conservative southern California. I’m already seeing fewer “Water is a precious resource” signs.

It’s also a Chicago day, wind wise. If you’re not familiar with the Windy City, that means the wind is coming from several directions at once. Mostly, it’s not a tailwind, but every once in a while I’ll get an extra push uphill while at the same time a polar breeze is blowing in my face.

Today and yesterday were both very hilly, but yesterday seemed more downhill than up, and today, vice versa. Some of the downhills today even had a slight uphill grade! It never really warmed up today, either, so there was a lot of temperature management.

Arm warmers down, arm warmers up. At one point, I tried one down and one up. Wind vest zipped, then unzipped, then zipped again. On and on and on. So it wasn’t as stellar as yesterday, but it certainly wasn’t bad. I still got to spend the whole day biking!

There were many stops to rest. Sadie found a great stretching rock at one.

We had my new favorite biking sandwich at another: dry salami and laughing cow cheese. Mmmm, salt. And another time I stopped, frantically taking pictures of what might have been four or five rare California Condors. Though probably it was just a bunch of vultures.

We rolled in to Plaskett Creek Campground around five o’clock. This is quite possibly the first campground I’ve been in where the hiker/biker sites are the very first thing you come to. So often they’re all the way to the back, or up an extra hill where you have to walk your bike up a sandy hill trail. These were in a wide, grassy meadow with an ocean view (you had to imagine it through the fog) out the front door. The grass was great for doing a bit of yoga when we arrived, especially for rolling.

All of the campgrounds down the coast have been full of people tenting, which is rather refreshing. I have been in so many campgrounds on the bike where everyone else is in an RV, watching satellite TV. It makes it great to hear bunches of kids screaming as they jump around their tent. The family next to us appears to have eight kids running around their site. They even built their own swing to hang from a tree.

Sadie and I cooked mac and cheese on the camp stove, tossing in the left over salami, as well as a can of chicken. Protein style! I am still marveling how well the camp stove works when you turn it on correctly.

Then we were both in our tents to journal and fall asleep before dark. We don’t have much to do, because this is our second full day without internet or cell phone access. Also, we’re going to attempt an early (before 9:00!) start tomorrow. (The last two days we’ve left camp at 9:30.) We’ve got big climbs at the beginning and at the end of the day, and we want to do ten miles more than we have been doing lately. We’ve been keeping our mileage a little lower than we’d like because of the hilly terrain, but we need to step it up a bit to actually make it to San Diego in time. We do have a wedding to be at on the 30th. Of course, there’s always the train if we need it!