San Diego, April 18

The last of three flats, this one was 2.2 miles from the end of our ride.

Rudy, Bill our driver and Larry

We left our motel in Del Mar by walking our bikes up the extremely short, steep driveway and putting our bike shoes on at the roadway. A mile or so down the road we encountered a little up hill, a little over two miles. Our map for this section does not have a topo profile on it, so we were not expecting the hill. Just as well as it was pleasant morning at the motel. Had the breakfast that came with the room and watched a little news on the tube. Looking forward to a short day, along the coast through La Jolla and Mission Bay, our morning might have been different if we knew the hill was there. Besides, we got to go down the other side. The ride through La Jolla was nice but the roads are absolutely terrible. An extremely affluent city and lousy roads. We joined the Sunday breakfast crowd for a light breakfast and then headed down the bike path along the beach. Had to move a block east as the crowds on the beach made riding dangerous. Strollers, other bikers, skateboarders, inline skaters, and the normal amount of people that go through life completely unaware of what is around them. We had told Bill we would be at the Star of India historic sailing ship on Harbor Drive around noon. We were rolling along and then, 2.2 miles from the meeting place, a staple found its way into Rudy's back tire. 2.2 miles! So we made it a little after noon. Took some photos and then headed down the street to the Seaport Village shopping area, with plan to have lunch. Parking was impossible as everyone in San Diego was there. So we headed to our motel, showered and went across the street for a late lunch, early dinner at an Italian place . Rudy asked Marie, our waitress, how she was and she answered, "Fine". Rudy asked how she was yesterday, and she answered, "Don't ask"; so, we didn't.

After lunch, we drove back up to La Jolla along the coast, did a little sight seeing and then back to the motel. We walked across the street to check out the El Cortez Hotel, circa 1927, only to find it has been converted into condos with accompanying sign "Private Property, No Trespassing, Not a Hotel."

We walked down the street to the Sheraton. Lobby is on the 12th floor which is also the top floor. We had a beer in the bar on the 12th floor. No windows looking out over the city. Who designs these things?

Anyway, a good day. No rain although it appears a front is moving in tonight. We put in a couple of longer days after Ventura thinking that if it was raining today as originally predicted, it would be a short day. Worked out fine in any case.

Our ride was great, no major problems. A great time, met some nice people, ate some good food. I will post additional photos etc in a few days.

Del Mar 4/17

Rudy waiting for our room to be ready at Del Mar.

A couple of tacos and a chicken salad A small mud pie. No, we did not finish it.

An interesting night in the notell motel in Dana Point. Rudy slept like a baby, no babies don't snore like that. Stopping in the first motel in town, even if you are tired and the French shopkeeper back up the road said she had heard good things about it, is not always the best decision. The guest next door had her TV on quite loud and the south bound traffic was right outside the door, and Rudy never heard the TV. But he saw the cockroaches this morning in the bathroom. Last night we walked down to Henneseys's Tavern for dinner. It is huge, actually three separate bars under one roof. One had hockey on the TV, the middle bar was actually a patio bar with live music and the third room had baseball on the TV. We opted for the baseball and had a nice dinner at the bar. Sonny, our server was from Santa Clara and has been on the job 12 days. Andrea, "Coach K" was just going off work but chatted a bit. She is running her 20th marathon either this weekend or next in Big Sur. She is co-founder/Chairman of the Board of We Rock Orange County's Kids (www.WeRunOCKids.org). Inspiring. She is hoping to qualify for next year's Boston Marathon. She needs to knock 15 minutes off her best time. Nice lady, we told her we would look for her finishing time in next years race results.

We were up early and out of the notell motel across the street to Starbucks for coffee and then on the road. We stopped at Antoines in San Clemente for breakfast and then on south with a tail wind and landed in the middle of a marathon being run on Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Had to show id to enter the base. Route was good and next we found ourselves in the middle of this years Orange County Tour de Cure. Lots of riders, friendly and up beat. We stopped at Angelo's Hamburgers for lunch. I ordered two chicken tacos and Rudy ordered a chicken salad. We were both thinking along the line of Taco Bell. Wrong. See the photo. Back on the road through neat towns of Carlsbad and Encinitis, passing lots of surfers and seeing lots of bike riders, skate boarders.

We called Choice Hotels and turned down the room in two beds in Encinitas as it was a smoking room and stayed at the Clarion in Del Mar. Our room wasn't ready so they gave us a couple of towels and we had to wait in the hot tub. Got in our room, so much better than last night. We walked up town for dinner at Bully's. Their early bird special, two entres (8 0z prime rib), a bottle of Sonoma Cab $15 and one dessert, $5. We had only a short ride tomorrow so went for it. The meal was very good and the mud pie was enormous. Another dinner guest was walking by and stopped in her tracks when she saw it. We invited her to help us eat it but she declined. Carrie and her friend are from Alberta and are in town to visit her brother who lives in the area. However, he is in Austria and can't get home because of the volcano eruption in Iceland. Back to the room, an early night as usual. Much quieter in the room tonight. 49 miles, 12 mph average.

Dana Point April 16

A good day today. Our good weather has continued. Our route took us on bike paths and some streets through down the coast to Redondo Beach and then in land through Carson and then along the Los Angeles River to Long Beach. Our route was to take us along the beach through Long Beach. However, this is the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend and the bike path was closed, so a short back track, a brief discussion with Lada , a Long Beach Parking Control Officer and we were on our way out of town. We stopped at La Strada on East 2nd Street before entering Sea Beach and had a nice cup of soup and half sandwich. We chatted with Charles, another Harley guy. He was friendly and gave us a few tips. He and 5000 other bikers are making the Laughlin Nevada run next week. On down the road a guy on a bike came up behind us and asked if he could draft behind us for a bit as he was 72 miles into his ride. He said the ride on south was the best part of the ride. I don't think he has ridden south of Seal Beach. Newport Beach and Laguna Beach both had lots of traffic and hills. But we had a good tail wind and finished at 69.5 miles for the day. Have eaten, am tired and think I will watch a bit of the Giants/Dodgers game and get some sleep. We are only about 75 miles from our end destination in San Diego.

Marina Del Rey, April 15

Down the drive from the Gunn residence and a left up the 30 yards of 20% grade to start the day. Along Foothill to Seaward Street that took us, yes toward the sea and our route along the water. A beautiful day. Short ride down the road and we took our leg warmers off for the first time on the trip, just shorts, jerseys and sun block. We stopped in a coffee shop near the Navy base at Port Hueneme and then headed toward Hwy 1 past fields of flowers, cabbage, strawberries and huge fields of sod. Past the Navy Air Station where an AWACS plane was doing touch and goes and around Point Magu with our tail wind. We stopped at Neptune's Net near the Ventura/Los Angeles County line for a salad. Chatted with a young German from Munich in the states going to various music shows. There were lots of surfers just across from Neptune's Nest and a couple of guys on Harley's told us it was one of the few beaches where the bikers and surfers coexist. Through Malibu and 9 miles of E ticket riding with the traffic before off of Hwy 1 onto bike paths that will take us beyond Long Beach. To make things more interesting, today was trash day and we shared the nice shoulder with a few hundred empty garbage cans. We saw a couple of film crews today and lots of pelicans. Also as proof we are in southern California, we passed the Eco Car Spa, which in the rest of the country might be called a car wash. On the bike path through Santa Monica (and under the Santa Monica Pier) and Venice to our motel in Marina Del Rey. A shower, a call home, a brief chat with my grandson, a quick dinner, write a couple of blog posts. Rudy makes his business calls and once back to the room after dinner, right to sleep. 65.3 miles, a delightful day.

Ventura, April 14

Larry and Mrs. Gunn

Rudy and Lily at Dargan's in Ventura

We stayed in Motel 6 in Goleta. The check in clerk offered us two different rooms, so we asked for the quietest. No difference he said, so we took the closest, big mistake. Showered and headed across the parking lot to the sports bar, bowling alley etc. Sat and chatted with Bob at the bar. He had worked for the University in Santa Barbara for 20 years. He and his spouse were military brats and lived around the world. He graduated from high school in Alaska and worked at a fishing lodge north of Fairbanks. After he graduated from high school he spent the winter as the caretaker at the lodge. Just him, a bunch of books and the cold and snow. For supplies, he would call by radio to the air force and they would air drop him what he had requested. He said on occasion, the air force guys would land, call the base and say the weather had them grounded and spend the night at the lodge, a little poker a little pool etc. We asked the bar maid about a good pasta place and she said "We serve pasta" and produced the menu,: one pasta dish. Other bar maid said "PastaVino". Close? A couple of miles. Pasta sounded real good, we splurged on cab, $22 round trip, not as close as lead to believe. Pasta is getting expensive. Turned out Pasta Vino was very good and much quieter than eating in the bowling alley/sports bar. Anyway, back to the room. Woke up grouchy as the people above us were moving furniture, bodies, shopping carts or something most of the night. I slept pretty good and missed the guy pounding on the door next to us yelling at the the person in the room. The attendant came down and asked him to be quiet and he paused for 30 seconds and continued to pound on the door. They were all up at 5:30 and not using their indoor voices. We were up and out the door into Santa Barbara. Wonderful bike route through town and we stopped for breakfast at a place recommended by a local rider stopped at a red light with us. Great breakfast and back on the road. Good riding, good bike lanes on the road. Stopped in Carpinteria at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a bagel. Nice place, young mothers with children in strollers, people on lap tops and a young trust fund girl(in pajama bottoms, a halter top) in conversation with a young skate boarder scam artist and his friend with a nice nose ring and bright pink hair. Snippets of conversation lead us to believe she was donating some money to the young man and it reeked of con job. We held our concerned fatherly tongues and headed on down the road hoping all was well. On down the coast, we saw over a dozen dolphins just off the coast. The trouble with digital cameras is the delay after you push the button, makes it hard to get a photo of a fast moving dolphin. We also saw a seal having what appeared to be an enjoyable swim. We stopped and were counting our blessings, when Bob, a cyclist and attorney from Santa Barbara stopped to see if we were lost etc. He was riding a loop from Santa Barbara that took him inland past Lake Casitas and then down to Hwy 101 (our route) back north, into the wind, to Santa Barabara. He rides with a club and they were getting ready to leave to ride the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. He has biked all over the world including the 104 mile down hill ride along the Kootenay River in Canada, the Blue Ridge Mountain Trail and the Road To the Sun in Montana. He gave us his card and offered us a place to stay should we bike through Santa Barbara again. We arrived in Ventura after 47 quick miles and stopped in Dargan's Irish pub for a light lunch before heading up the hill to Mrs. Gunn's, our hostess for the night. A delightful evening with the mother of my good friend John Gunn. She took us out to dinner at Casa de Soria for some excellent Mexican food and good company. A wonderful nights sleep, so nice and quiet. Up early and Mrs Gunn fixed us a good breakfast and sent us off into the sunshine.

Goleta, April 13

Larry between Lompoc and 101

Looking back up 101 toward the northbound tunnel from a rest stop

A longhorn and his harem. Rudy had to shout and whistle to get the longhorns attention

Woke to bright sunshine and visions of the scary topo map for today's ride to Goleta/Santa Barbara. Checked out of our motel and rode a few blocks to Carrows for breakfast. Chatted with one of the ROMEOS who were eating in the room in the back. ROMEOS, Retired Old Men Eating Out; Rudy and I could have joined them, but then we would have to retire. We headed out of Lompoc with leg warmers, jerseys, no jackets and headed up the hill. A delightful ride, wonderful weather, a bit of a tail wind, good shoulder to ride on, long steady climb to the top, wonderful views, green hills and then two miles of 7 % down hill to the junction of Hwy 1 and Hwy 101. I put my vest on before the downhill as it is cool and I had worked up a sweat on the way to the top. On one of the long up hill pulls, Rudy had a hitchhiker. A Lady Bug landed on his leg at the bottom of the hill and when he got to the top, she flew off without so much as a thank you. ("She" flew off. Are all Lady Bugs referred to as she?) Rudy was feeling good today, even stopped to help a snail over the water running down the side of the road. To much sun. We stopped at a rest stop soon after getting on 101. The north bound route takes you through a tunnel. Glad we missed that,as it gets very noisy sharing a tunnel with a couple of 18 wheelers. Chatted with a couple from Savannah, GA who have cycled the west coast, Italy (a few times) and have taken a wonderful bike and barge trip ending in Amsterdam. He was 73 and his wife about the same. Said his knees bother him now, to many marathons. (His wife looked at me and said, "one".) There is no place to eat between Lompoc and Goleta, so en route we ate a couple of apples, some nuts and fruit and I ate Helen's hard boiled egg. Still, we were hungry when we hit Goleta and stopped at Baja Fresh for a couple of great salads. 48.24 miles for the day. Rudy's maximum speed for the day: 37.2 mph; Larry's: 35.6. You have to love good roads, little traffic, down hills with tail wind. Our average for the day was 12.5 mph which we feel is pretty good with the long climbs we had.

Lompoc, April 12

Workers harvesting lettuce near Guadalupe

Guadalupe, CA main street

We woke to cloudy skies and light wind. Got ourselves together, had a cup of coffee, some orange juice and a muffin, which is what was furnished by the motel. As we headed out the door, we discovered Rudy's front tire was soft, very soft. Changed the tire, put in a new tube as well and hit the road. Today we had our rain pants on for the first time. It was fairly warm, so just a jersey, rain jacket, leg warmers, shorts and rain pants. The wind was not bad at all and it was a good decision to delay a day as the wind was howling yesterday. We headed south on Hwy 1 out of Pismo and stopped at Tanner Jacks in Oceano for breakfast right after scaling a 3/4 mile long hill of at least 7 degrees and I could easy be convinced it was steeper. Oatmeal with brown sugar and dried cherries refueled us. Helen, the waitress at Tanner Jacks fixed me a couple of hard boiled eggs to go. We have discovered most restaurants get their hard boiled eggs delivered without the shell, who knew. We talked of yesterday's storm and Helen said her Meyer Lemon tree was knocked over and she thought the winds exceeded 30 mph. Back on the road toward Guadalupe. We passed workers in a field harvesting lettuce. Stopped and took a photo and got a wave from the workers. On down the road and rain came down pretty good but the winds were fine. Guadalupe is an old town, but a lot of construction is going on in the old buildings on the main drag. Took a photo of an old Gold Medal Flour advertisement on the wall of a building. We headed out of town past the Amtrak station. It was a little early for lunch at "Chicago Chop Suey" in Guadalupe so we stopped in Orcutt for lunch at Kays. Great place and we split a big salad with tri tip, chicken, bacon, avocado on a bed of spinach. As we were finishing up, the second storm of the day blew through and we watched it go by from the warmth of the restaurant. After about 5 minutes it was mostly gone and we were back on Hwy 1. Orcutt is in the center of an oil producing area. We saw several pumping wells and went by a small ConocoPhillips refinery. We had a couple of good climbs, one more rain storm, photo op at the gate to Vandenberg Air Force Base and rolled into Lompoc after 46.23 miles. Great shoulders, good road all day long. Showered, threw the clothes in the laundry and are thinking of dinner. Tomorrow, we head to Santa Barbara. According to our map, we are looking at our highest elevation tomorrow, around 1200 feet and then we fall off the other side mostly down hill to the coast and then some rollers into Santa Barbara

Flowers along the way

Rudy at Cambria

A field of California Poppys

Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park south of Big Sur, there is a flower in there somewhere

Pacific Valley

Larry at Pigeon Point

Artichoke field near Castroville

California Poppys north of Santa Cruz

At the Pigeon Point Light House

Blooming succulent and whale bone at Pigeon Point

Driveway south of Carmel

Flowers

Road Kill up date.

We have moved out of the California Condor area so our road kill count is up! A cat, three snakes, a mouse, a rabbit, some furry unidentifiable.

Live animals include lots of deer on the 17 mile drive, some beautiful cattle north of San Simeon, a caterpillar headed to an untimely death on the road, elephant seals accompanied by lots and lots of tourists with cameras looking at them, birds including Cormorant, Pelicans, Sea gulls, Terns, Hawks, vultures, Red Wing black birds, Ravens, Blue Jays, but no California Condor.

A variation of the beautiful black deer on the big yellow sign, one had a big red nose.

Pismo Beach, Sunday

One of the first things we do after arriving at a stop for the day is to turn on the Weather Channel. You do not like to see rain in the forecast but rain alone will not keep us from riding. What you do not want to see at the head of the weather page for your location is "Caution wind Advisory." Starting a bit later this morning they are forecasting 18 mph winds gusting to 38 mph out of the SSE. Yep, our route takes us SSE. Therefore, we are avoiding the wind and rain and are planning for a late morning start tomorrow en route to Lompoc.

Speaking of signs we like and dislike: "Passing lane ends" usually means you are coming to the top of a climb. "High cross winds" is never good. "Construction ahead, prepare to stop" is good and bad, cars slow down, we can often move past a lot of cars in the closed lane but some times the surface can be rough and loose. The CALTRANS or road construction people are usually very good. We rode through some one lane construction area and they gave us plenty of time to clear the area. "Caution 7% Grade" is wonderful down hill but not so pleasant if up hill.

Weather up date: The wind advisory was lifted at 8:00 pm, the radar on the weather channel looks promising for tomorrow.

Pismo Beach Saturday April 10th

We had a hard ride from Ripplewood to San Simeon but had some great views along the coast. We had a two mile hill within a couple of miles after we left Ripplewood. Stopped at the top and chatted with DI, a gas station operator; gas prices were $4.50 per gallon! Di, noted it is a remote area, they charge a lot to truck it in and it was the only station for miles. On down the road in Pacific Valley, we were stopped taking photos in Pacific Valley when a man on a Harley pulled up. He took a couple of photos and then asked if I would take his photo with the bike and flowers. He was Brett Crawford, a crew member on the Hull and Humber, one of the yachts currently in the Clipper Around the World 09/10 race. He is from Manchester England and one of 18 crew members on the 60 foot racing yacht. They just completed the China to San Francisco leg, in 35 days. and he rented to Harley for the day. Brett said they were slowed as they slowed to help a fellow racer, The California, which had lost a mast and were running on their engine. Several of the other yachts provided fuel to the stricken California. Back on the road , we made it to San Simeon and did laundry and ate and called it a day.

We woke up to cloudy skies on Saturday and some shifting winds. We headed down Hwy 1 and stopped in Calyucos for breakfast. On down the road through Morro Bay, we stopped and took a photo of my son Michael's college residence. We stayed on Hwy 1 to San Luis Obispo with a bit of a tail wind and made good time. There were a lot of bikers on the road between Morro Bay and SLO and I noted the divider between the lanes they were building when Mike was in school is finally finished. We stopped in SLO for a light lunch at a pasta place. Owner was a biker and chatted a bit. Our waiter, Scott, is from San Diego has just graduated from Cal Poly. He asked us to say hello to his friends. We headed out of SLO on Broad Street and then took a right on Price Canyon Road, a 5 mile mostly down hill ride. But today it was a 5 mile down hill into the wind which is not good but better than a 5 mile uphill into the wind. We stopped at the Beachwalker Inn & Suites in beautiful down town Pismo Beach. Had dinner and a drink at a nice quite restaurant, not Harry's, the happen place in Pismo. This is the end of spring break and there is still a crowd in town. Speaking of spring, our weather forecast does not look good, they keep talking about a wind advisory on the tube, so we will catch the news in the morning and go from there.

Sunday in Pismo Beach. We walked up town and stopped in a police sub station to inquire about breakfast places. There were two parking control officers, Mark and the one whose name I can't remember. Got the lowdown on breakfast and a ten minute talk about parking enforcement. Mark keeps a list of excuses parking violators have offered to him. All the normal ones like I was just going to be a minute, etc to "my father built this town", "I am new in town", "The high was to high/low/ blocked by a sign ". The only excuse Mark said that came close to working was "I thought I could get away with it"

After breakfast, back to the room and watched the Masters. Planning route for tomorrow. We are headed to Lompoc, about 45 miles. WE had some rain this morning, lots of wind and steady rain this afternoon and evening.

Bixby Bridge, Rudy has just crossed it and is headed up the hill.

A load of Leeks near Pigeon Point

Pismo Beach, Saturday April 10

We left Cabin 12 B and our Danish neighbors

Enlarge the above photo and see what you think might be to the surfer's right. A seal? A shark? or kelp. I am going with a seal.

We had an interesting day today. Stopped and spoke with Rachel, an intern with the Ventana Wildlife Society. She is tracking the California Condors. We saw very little road kill today except for a very fresh possum. Condors feed on carrion and when I mentioned to Rachel the recently departed possum, she commented she had to go move it. It seems condors who feed on road kill have a high mortality rate and since their numbers have been painstakingly increased from a low of 27 to about 187 now is the wild, Rachel and her fellow workers try to keep them safe. Removing road kill off the road is one aspect of her duties. Some of the condors are equipped with radio transmitters powered by solar cells and Rachel said she would love to have some of them outfitted with gps tracking units. We never saw any condors but spoke with a fellow biker who has ridden this route lots of times said he had seen one a couple of years ago.

Gear, bikes and stuff

What do you take on a bike tour?

Bikes of course. In 2000 Rudy and I went to Jonathan's Bike Shop in Santa Rosa (long gone sadly) and Jonathan recommended a Bianchi Volpe, a touring bike. Touring bikes have longer chain stays so your feet won't hit what ever bags you load on back. The wheels have extra spokes to carry the weight and our bikes are steel for strength, comfort and durability. We bought the bikes after determining Volpe means Fox. How could we refuse. The bikes have three chain rings in the front 7 gears in the back, so we can climb hills at a very slow pace and fly along with tail winds. We have two panniers (bags) on the back and little trunk like bags that sit on the top of the back rack. There is also a little tool kit in a small bag attached to the back of the seat. I have two water bottles. A computer that has an odometer, a trip odometer (which we reset daily), a speedometer, a listing for maximum speed (which also resets) and Rudy's has average speed. I have a map case that fits to my handle bar in which I place our maps obtained from Adventure Cycling in Missoula, Montana. The maps are very good, giving all the information you need to travel across the country. They publish lots of maps and have a great web site.

I have a Leatherman multi tool, a Murphy Goode cork screw, extra zip ties and a tire pump, some extra tubes, an extra tire, a small security cable with lock.

Clothing, also of course. I have four pairs of riding shorts, three jerseys, arm warmers, leg warmers, ear warmers , a vest, and a brightly colored jacket designed for cycling from Performance. It is rain proof and I also have a pair of rain pants. Several pairs of socks, a nice Bell cycling helmet and Diadora cycling shoes. Bungee cords to help secure some of this stuff to the bike. We pack our clothes in zip lock bags, it helps keep them in order and as we squeeze the air out of the bags it cuts down on volume of stuff you are fitting in the panniers. Oh, I also have a pair of nylon pants with zip off legs and one polo shirt and a pair of non cycling shoes for when we are off the bike for the day.

The normal toiletries as well as sun block and the most important item, Bag Balm.

Communication: We both have cell phones, mine is Verizon and Rudy's is AT&T. There have been a few places where I have service and Rudy does not. If Rudy has service, so do I.
I have a HP Mini note book model 110 purchased through Verizon. A neat little machine and I and get online via WiFi or cable or through the Verizon network. So far, WiFi has been the way to go.

We both wear heart monitors and watch the old tickers hum along as we ride.

Big Sur, Ripplewood Resort

Our day started off by diverting from our map and taking the bike path along the bay, past Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and through Pacific Grove to 17 Mile Drive. Wonderful weather, lots of stops. We stopped in Carmel Corners when we got back to Hwy 1 for lunch at BG Burgers which was recommended by Delanie, the proprietor of Exotica. It is not what you think, she sells imports from Indonesia and a really cool kite that looks like a Monarch Butterfly. We had a photo op with Mona out in front of Exotica, Interesting but not my type.

Picked up some Gatorade, a couple of apples and oranges at Safeway and headed South on 1.

Some good hills but generally very good time as we had a tail wind. However, the wind does not always blow from the same direction. On the hill just south of the lovely Bixby Bridge circa 1932, as seen on live TV during the Tour of California bike race a couple of years running, it got exciting. We headed up the hill and the wind was blowing very hard from our left front. It stopped us. We have never in all our riding pushed our bikes up a hill. We pushed them about a 100 yards up the hill, not because of the hill, but because of the wind. While pushing the bike, the wind would push my front wheel sideways a couple of feet making a nice furrow in the gravel. The down hill was great but we had to slow down as the wind was blowing us 4 or 5 feet to the side which is not to cool if you are sharing the lane with a car etc.

All in all, it was apparent today that my dear sister Carol's bible study group has been back in action again. When we rode from San Diego to Miami in 2001 they kept us safe and also provided shade in west Texas when we had flats. Remarkable.

We met Sandy from Scotland today. She saw us yesterday north of Monterey. She started biking down south and made is as far north as Ventura before she decided the wind was to much. This time of the year I think it is only possible to go south and nothing in the last three days has changed my mind. Anyway, Sandy is no fool. She shipped her bike and her self to Arcata, north of Eureka and is biking south. A delightful young lady. She took out blog address so, Sandy if you read this, leave a comment about your progress.

Well my feet are tired and I am standing as I write this as they don't provide a stool by the counter by the micro wave. Oh, a guy nuked his breakfast burrito and my computer is still working. But it did remind me that I am hungry.

Well, we went across the highway to a restaurant. We had a good dinner and delightful conversation with a young couple from Redondo Beach. They were celebrating their 2nd anniversary. Dave was originally from Ohio and Ali was from Colorado. He manages a restaurant in Redondo Beach and they were bright, friendly and interested in our travels. Of course, we have stories. Dave invited us to stop in for a dinner on him at his restaurant, Hennesseys in Redondo Beach. They will still be on vacation when we go through Redondo Beach but might have to stop in anyway.

Monterey

Another great day. We never got on the road until 9:00am, after a nice breakfast at the Davenport Road House. As we were leaving, two couples rode up for breakfast. They had camped at Pigeon Point and were headed south. We never saw them again, so they must have taken their time with breakfast. The hill we could see from our room did not turn out to be as difficult as we had feared, more tail wind today!!! Hwy 1 takes you past all kinds of fields. We saw some big fields of leeks among other things. Does a leek on the road qualify as road kill? We saw quite a few leek on the road. Or is it leeks, who knows. Entering Santa Cruz we diverted off our planned route and rode right along the coast from Natural Bridges park all the way to the Santa Cruz Board Walk. Beautiful ride, lots and lots of people on the path along the bluff over looking the water. Moms pushing babies in strollers, fellow bikers, people fishing, walkers, people just enjoying the day, etc, Lots of surfers in the water. We had a photo op and had a couple of lads from Australia take our picture. They have been in Canada for a year and are touring the US en route home. I said as Australians I thought they would be in the water surfing. No, the water is "to bloody cold."

We stopped in a coffee shop near Cabrillo College for a bite and then back on the road. We passed some lovely fields of heather with a big beautiful old home over looking the fields. The house is on Heather Lane, how lucky can you get. Later on we passed a few miles of strawberry fields on both sides of the road. Lots of workers in the fields. Closer to Moss Landing we rode by lots of artichoke fields.

We road a bike trail into Monterey and to our lodging. We walked up the street to Caruso's Italian on North Fremont. The manager, Richard from Suva, Fiji was very gracious and friendly. He gave us some sherbet and added a loaf of his homemade bread to our leftover take out bag. Nice guy. He has been in US for many years. His oldest son is going to St Mary's College in Moraga and he just bought his 16 year old son a very hot looking Mustang. Scary combination. His son had been looking for a car and Richard bought the Mustang, had it detailed and then parked it near the restaurant with a "For sale by owner" sign on it with his son's cell phone number listed as the contact number. His son saw the car and told his dad about it and they went to look at it. Richard told his son to be sure and bring his cell phone with him. After looking at the car, he told his son to call the owner and ask about price. The boy realized it was his number on the sign, asked his dad if it was for real and gave him a hug and a few tears.

We have great room tonight, two rooms, two TVs, fridge, microwave and $30 cheaper than last night.

I am working on getting some photos posted. Still new at this blogging. I had to call Brian for some help and he got me going in the right direction.

It is off to Big Sur in the morning.

As you ride along the road on a bicycle you have a chance to see things that you might miss in a car. For instance, road kill, live wild life, interesting signs etc. We generally keep a running tab of such things. Yesterdays road kill: one seagull on the Great Highway. Today's list: one rabbit, one rat and two snails. Actually one of the snails qualifies as live wild life as well. It was alive until Rudy thought it was trying to pass him on a particularly steep climb, so he ran over it.

Live wild life today also included: 4 ground squirrels, lizard, a really feral looking cat, a running across the road, from one strawberry field to another, one live bunny, birds of many types and a dogs of all types and sizes.

Like all lists, some things are hard to fit into a particular class. A beautiful black deer for instance, painted on a big yellow sign.

Tuesday, Davenport



What a great day. We left Rudy's house with the bikes in back and headed south along with my wife Mary who had been recruited to drive Rudy's truck back home. She dropped Rudy and I off at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge and after a photo op, we joined the bike commuters on the way to San Francisco. We met or were passed by at least 30 people on bikes in the short time it took us to cross the bridge. A beautiful morning, clear and in the 40s. We could easily see the Farallons Islands about 22 miles off the coast.



Entering San Francisco in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, we saw our first interesting sign: "Coyote Crossing." We never saw any and skirted the very posh Sea Clift area and headed down 27th Avenue toward Golden Gate Park. Our route took us down The Great Highway along the coast to Highway 35 and Skyline Boulevard in Daly City before hooking up on Highway 1. We stopped in Pacifica for a bite to and a fellow patron commented on my good looks and obvious intelligence. Great coffee at the place, I have no idea what was in it as we avoided it.



South on Highway One up some good climbs; heart rates up, speeds down, but a tail wind. A good climb took us past Devils Slide which is being bypassed with a new tunnel through the mountain. Devils Slide as the name implies is an area that annually closes Highway One with rock slides. Great views of the ocean.



Lunch in Half Moon Bay in an English Pub. Our waitress, "Cola" short for Nicole was pleasant and we had a nice chat with some fellow diners. They were locals and said we had a couple of big hills on the way to Davenport. Descriptions of hills by vehicle drivers are always suspect but he was fairly accurate. Our good fortune continued in the form of a very strong tail wind and we rolled into Davenport around 3:46 after traveling an estimated 75 miles.



Along the way we chatted with two young men on carbon fiber bikes and no gear. They were part of a group that was doing a project for school. We later met and rode with another member of the group who was very interested in our ride. We saw a few other riders who also appeared to be touring. The north bound riders did not look happy, our tail wind was their brick wall.



We stopped at Pigeon Point Light house for a photo op and will post a couple of photos if I can remember how to do it.



We are staying in the Davenport Road House Inn. Not much choice, population is around 400. There is a large cement plant in town. We had a nice photo of local church built entirely of concrete made with local cement, but never had a chance to check out the church (it was up the hill). We had a nice dinner, checked in with the home front, made some reservations for the next two nights. it will be an early night as we are tired.

April 5, 2010

We asked Dempsey's employee to take our photo and right after he took it, Betty, the young lady in the photo asked if she could be in a photo. Not wanting to disappoint her, we complied.

Santa Rosa, CA

Planning and training for a long ride is absolutely the best thing you can do. Have the right equipment, plan in detail, put in the training, and have a good time. Well, things do not always go according to plan. Although we have done some time at the gym recently, actual time on the bikes has been sparse. A little over a week ago, we loaded up the bikes and rode from Santa Rosa, CA to Petaluma. Dempsey's Restaurant and Brewery turned out to be a good half way point. 42 miles round trip, we are ready to go!

And the blog. I have been an experienced blogger for about 20 minutes now, thanks to my kind hearted neighbor who is an experienced blogger. I should have asked him if I could post his blogg link. Part of that planning thing.

We are leaving tomorrow morning from the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. We have ridden from Santa Rosa to the bridge so we decided to start there. I am taking my bike to Rudy's house, loading it in the his truck and we will get an early start in the morning.

I hope to post daily between here and San Diego over the next 11 or 12 days.