We woke up feeling refreshed and enjoyed some yummy cereal, yogurt and bananas for breakfast before we got packed up. Joel helped us out a bit with a couple maps so that we would know where we were going without having to worry about getting lost. We stopped at the grocery store on the way out of town. Right when we pulled in there was a cyclist on a really nice triathlon bike that was broken down with a flat tire. He was a college student at the university in town and for some odd reason didn't take any tubes, CO2 cartridges or tire levers with him on his training ride. Luckily we were there to save the day. Loic had some fun patches left from Japan that we used to patch the guys tire and we let him use our pump so he was all set and ready to ride again. After the fun, Loic and I headed in to buy groceries and Joey stayed outside to watch the bikes. The ride was pretty flat overall this morning. A good majority of the ride was through a nice valley full of fields, some of which were strawberries, which were again a tease. For a little while we rode near the ocean, but like where we had started today, the road cut back inland to the dry, treeless areas. We stopped for lunch in a small town of Guadeloupe at the picnic tables outside of the American Legion Building. Today, we tried what we call a "Loic Sub." Loic often takes a big loaf of french bread and cuts it in half to make a huge sub with salad, cucumbers and sliced chicken from the grocery store. We did the same, except had some tomato too and "Americanized it" with a packet of mayo. It was so yummy and really kept us filled up- especially since we drank so much water because it was again, really hot outside. It was also great to not have to do any dishes in the middle of the day. Joe and Loic worked on cleaning all of the chains by putting them in an empty soda or water bottle, adding a tiny bit of gasoline and shaking the bottle. They were as good as new! As we were packing up, a couple members of the American Legion were there and they unlocked the bathrooms for us in case we needed to use them- that was so helpful because then we didn't have to go searching around town to find one. While we were taking our lunch break, we saw a touring cyclist, a lady riding by herself, and waved a hello at her. She stopped to chat for a minute or so but didn't seem too interested in sharing about each other's travels. It was actually kind of weird because 99 percent of touring cyclists love nothing more than to talk about the trip they are doing and hear about other's travels. For most of the afternoon, we climbed. It was a pretty gradual climb for the most part, but it was long and since the sun was beating down on us, it made it feel even longer. In the end though, it was nothing like some of the hills we've done on the coast- not too steep in comparison at least. We rode past one of the Air Force Bases before coming into the town of Lompoc. It was still a little early, but we still didn't have too much time before the sun went down. We took a bike path a short way into town and found a nice church that looked like it would make a good home for the night. While we were riding around, we saw the lady that we met at lunch time sitting at the Starbucks. Again, we talked for a few minutes and found out she was going to the campground in town, which was 10 bucks a person, part of the reason we don't go to campgrounds. It was right near a grocery store, so I walked over and bought some ice cream for dinner, since Joey and I really didn't feel like having a full meal after the huge lunch we had. The funny thing is that after such a hot day, by the time we were eating the ice cream, it was already really cold out because the sun had gone down. We just put on some warmer clothes and were just as happy enjoying our ice cream. I was happy to see that the church had a security light so that I could work on a little wire bicycle and relax without being in total darkness. While we were sitting there, we heard what sounded like a pep band off in the distance. So, Joe and Loic went to investigate in case it was a football game so that Loic could see some of an "American football" game. I stayed back and watched the bikes and worked on a little wire bicycle just for fun. When the boys came back, it turns out there was no game, but instead some kind of high school pep rally at a pizza place. Later on, we got our tents set up and hit the sac. For some reason we were pretty tired tonight. We rode a total of 58.60 miles today.
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We got a phone call from Joey's Dad around quarter after 5 this morning. He had been watching the news and heard that there was an earthquake in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. The main reason he called though was because he saw that our SPOT tracker showed we were camping right near the ocean. The news said that there was a tsunami alert for the Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Luckily we were far enough south that we shouldn't really have to worry about it. But, even still, I had a hard time going back to sleep because all I could think about was a bunch of water rushing towards us and our tent floating away. Laying there listening to the waves didn't help either- it was a mental thing, but it always seemed like they were getting louder. Eventually though, I was able to fall back asleep for a couple more hours. When the alarm went off at 7, we got everything all packed up and ate the last two blueberry muffins that we had left while Loic did his morning exercises (yes, he does push-ups, sit ups, and does curls (using a panier) on top of riding bike!). He is so healthy and fit, us Americans- not so much. Since we were only about a mile from the Hearst Castle Visitor Center, it didn't take us long to get there. The doors were open and so we didn't have to wait too long. Joey was able to get 3 tour tickets for 9am, and the first showing of the IMAX video was at 8:15 so it worked out perfectly! We were worried we would have to wait until 10 to take the tour because we wanted to watch the video first, which would make it so that we got on the road a lot later than we would have liked. The video was awesome! It told the story of how William Hearst grew up and how events in his life lead him to build such an incredible place. Since it was an IMAX video, the scenes were amazing from views of a plane flying over mountains and the ocean to beautiful images of different places in Europe. I am so glad the video was included with the tour, it was a great way to get a better idea of how the castle came to be what it is today. After the video, the three of us were a little hungry since we didn't have a lot for breakfast. Joey and Loic went over to the "snack bar" to satisfy our hunger. Loic came back with a sandwich and a cookie and Joey came back with 2 chocolate filled croissants that were still warm. Joey and I thought they were awesome, but according to Loic, that quality croissant would be considered a low end croissant that you would get at a grocery store for 20c. I guess we need to go to France- I can't imagine how good their "good" croissants must be! We boarded the bus and headed up the 5 mile winding road to the castle. It was neat because as we were climbing up to the 1500ft elevation, the castle would come in and out of view as we ascended. When we got there, I was just so excited and I think Joey was too. Loic on the other hand grew up in an area where there were really massive, beautiful, historic castles around him, so this wasn't quite as exciting for him, although he did enjoy getting to do something different from riding. Just the outside of the "ranch at San Simion" was incredible. There was so much detail and quite a lot of gold plated decoration too. Our tour guide, Anni, was great! She really knew her stuff and made it seem like she was excited to tell us all about the place. Our first stop on the "Grand Rooms Tour" was the waiting area where Mr. Hearst's guests would enjoy cocktail hour before dinner. What an incredible place- full of beautiful art and antique wall coverings; it's really pretty impossible to explain. From there we went into the dining room, where our guide made sure to point out that amongst all of the expensive art and decoration, the tableware that Mr. Hearst used for dinners was not elaborate. In fact it was your basic silverware and plates, and the best part was that it was "Americanized" as Loic put it, because there was a ketchup and mustard on the tables still in their original glass jars- again, very low key. Next, we went into a sitting room. More beautiful art, another fire place ( it seems like there was one in every room), and beautiful furniture. The billiards room was next followed by the movie theater/ stage. Everything was just incredible. As we perused the gardens and pool areas (we could spend as much time doing this as we wanted-could stay right until the last bus went back down at 6 even) I couldn't get over how beautiful all of the flowers were and how amazing the walkways were laid out. The outdoor pool, which was built 3x before they were happy with it, was stunning, oh what I wouldn't give to go for a swim in there. There were a number of orange and lemon trees on the grounds along with a few cottages, that were equally as beautiful. There are 2 full tennis courts, too. The indoor pool was just as impressive, if not more impressive than the one outside. There was an amazing diving platform from the second floor and there were gold accents everywhere throughout the room. The buses, which depart every 10 minutes pick up near the indoor pool. I wasn't quite ready to leave yet, but the boys were, so we got on the bus and headed back down the mountain. There was a little museum in the visitor center that we walked around for a little while before getting ready to go. I am so glad that we got to see the castle! We used part of Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Mary Lynn's donation to see the castle, just as we used Mr. and Mrs. Banagis's donation to go see the Winchester Mansion in San Jose, which I think I forgot to mention when I wrote that journal. So- thanks again to Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Mary Lynn, and Mr. and Mrs. Banagis!! Since it was getting close to lunchtime and we were all hungry already, we headed over to the little park across the road from the visitor center entrance. Joe was still in the mood for breakfast, so he had some oatmeal, but since it was close to lunch time, I was ready for lunch, so I had some mac and cheese. It was already pretty hot out, just as it has been for the past couple of days. It will be so nice to get a shower at the end of the day today when we get to our host, Joel's house in San Luis Obispo! It was around 12:30 when we got on the road, which is earlier than we anticipated. For most of the ride it was flat. We had a little bit of a headwind in a few sections that slowed us down a little, but we still didn't have as many miles to do today so it was ok. We stopped to fill up on water in the town of Cayucos. It was a very cute little town full of little shops and restaurants. We found a little coffee shop, and were surprised to see Jame's bike out front (the cyclist from the UK that we met yesterday,) We chatted with him for a little bit, looked up the exact directions to our host's house, since both of our phones were dead, so we wouldn't be able to call him very easily, and then were on our way again. The second half of the ride was a bit more hilly. I was a little tired when I woke up this morning for some reason, and I was really feeling it this afternoon. The sun was beating down and we were all sweating like dogs. I think part of the reason that I was feeling so tired was because the last few days have been so warm. When we made it to San Luis Obispo, we stopped at a halloween costume store, just to look around, and to show Loic what it was all about. Right next door was a gas station. Loic bought a bottle of gas so that we could clean all of our chains tomorrow, and it was probably the cheapest gas fill up ever- just over a dollar. We didn't have any trouble finding Joel's house, but did have to climb a little bit of a hill in order to get there. When we got there, we got our bikes all put in the garage and then Joel showed us where we would be staying for the night. I was so excited to see a bed again and was really looking forward to the shower! There was a world map with a bunch of pins in it, showing all of the countries that Joel had traveled to- that is his big thing is traveling, not necessarily by bike, but there are some places he has traveled in by bike. After what was an amazing shower, We enjoyed some crackers and feta cheese and then a wonderful dinner of pasta, homemade basil pesto, Italian sausage, tomatoes, fresh bread, and homemade wine. It was delicious!!! After dinner, Joel took us in his car to go see the downtown area of San Luis Obispo since we had missed it on the way in. The three of us walked all over the downtown area with our very own tour guide. We saw one of the old missions, the creek with a bunch of restaurants and a brewery, and a very fun, tree lit downtown that was pretty much like an outlet mall, but in a downtown area. There were a number of chain stores fixed in with the general downtown. There was even what they call "bubblegum alley," just like Seattle had. Who knows which one came first. It was a pretty cute little quaint area. It was so nice to get to see it, I am glad that Joel suggested it. Later on that night, Joel fixed Joey up wit h the Daily Show on his tv (it worked out well because that is one of Joel's favorite show's too. I went to bed pretty early since I was sleepy. I was falling asleep sitting on the couch as it was. Another wonderful day. We can't believe this weather- and neither can Joel since he said it is extremely unusual for this time of year. After a wonderful morning getting to see the castle, we rode 45.04 miles.
Last night I finally got caught up on my blogs. Unfortunately, right when I was done with yesterday's blog, I went to save it and the tablet glitched. I lost almost the whole thing. This has happened a few times before, but not in a while. Being extremely frustrated, I almost said heck with it and almost went to sleep. But, I've been behind for too long now and I just couldn't let that happen. Writing the blogs is a great way for me to clear my head of everything that happened that day. Once that problem happened and I had to go back and re-write almost the whole day, I had a hard time figuring out what I even wrote. After I calmed down a bit from my frustration, I got it done and was able to go to sleep. This morning we woke up nice and early and had a little breakfast picnic on our tarp again. It was nice that we could see the ocean across the road from where we were. After our yummy breakfast, we hit the road. The first few miles were relatively flat, with only a few rollers. We crossed a couple of bridges, one of which was under construction, and enjoyed the views. The sun came out strong almost right away this morning and warmed it up real fast. About 5 miles into the ride, the climbing started. That's all we did for the next 30 miles. We would climb for a couple miles and then descend for a couple miles. It was a very tiring morning, especially with the sun beating straight down on us as we were climbing. Luckily for us that the scenery is so beautiful because the miles just went by so slowly; it didn't feel like we were getting anywhere. For part of the day yesterday and most of today, I wore an earplug in my left ear to try to drown out the traffic noise a bit. Every once in a while when the traffic is really bad (although it wasn't bad today), my left ear hurts a little. I kept meaning to buy some ear plugs, but always seemed to forget when I went somewhere that sold them. Amazingly, the Hilton Hotel we stayed at with Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Mary Lynn had some in the room- it worked out perfect because now I don't have to buy them! The plug, even though it's a little uncomfortable, really does seem to help. After only 21 miles, we stopped in a little town called Gorda for lunch since it was already lunch time. There was a nice little convenience store with a restaurant next door. When we pulled in, we were excited to see another touring bike. We met James, from the UK who was riding from San Francisco down the Ecuador. This was his first bicycle tour and he seemed to be loving it- what a long ride for a first tour! After talking with him for a little while, we made some lunch. There were some nice picnic tables in a little nook between the two buildings that worked perfect for us. While we enjoyed our mac and cheese, I worked on catching up on our budget log and thought about how hard the rest of the day was going to be if it was anything like this morning. Joey and I also enjoyed an apple and one of our blueberry muffins. I am going to miss Safeway when we get to an area that doesn't have them- just like the Fuggie-o's from Canada. Oh well, we will enjoy having muffins as long as we have Safeway stores. About a mile after we had lunch, we climbed some more. This time we had a pretty long climb, somewhere between 3 and 4 miles. Just when we thought we would be at the top, we would get around a curve and see that it just kept going up and up. Curve after curve we just kept climbing. By that time it had to be in the 80s. Between going so slow up that climb and having the sun beating down on us, the sweat was just rolling off our faces. It was warm and sunny yesterday, but today was definitely warmer! We had an awesome descent and then found ourselves climbing again. For about 12 miles after lunch, that is all we did. What a hilly day! When we got near the county boarder, there was a little resort area that had a restaurant and burger stand. While having a little break, Joey and I decided to get a milkshake. We offered one to Loic, but he is very good with his diet and tries to avoid that kind of thing- he has such great self restraint, much more than I could ever have when it comes to ice cream! What a fantastic treat it was on a hot day like today. From that point, the ride was all downhill or flat. It was amazing. We met a couple brothers, Dan and Kevin who were in the middle of their yearly trip together. They do an unloaded bike ride from San Francisco to I believe LA. They caught up to us after the descent and we were able to keep up with them on the flatish ground. It was nice having someone new to talk to for a while. The last 15 miles went by SO fast. We had a slight tailwind and after climbing all day, we all felt like we were flying. After a little while, the Hurst Castle came into view off on top of one of the hills. We also came to "Elephant Seal point." There were hundreds of elephant seals scattered along the beach just bathing in the sunshine. They were so funny to watch because they would lay their flicking sand on their back with one of their flippers and when they decided they needed to move it took them forever. They would wiggle along on their bellies for about 10 feet and then just laid down as if they were saying "Ok, whew, I need a rest." Then, they would do the same thing again. Over and over until they got to where they wanted to be. The seals looked so chubby and lazy laying on the beach- they were so cute. A few seals were playing in the water just off shore, but the majority were just laying on the beach. While we were there, we met a lady who was from Fairbanks, AK. After talking with her we found out that it was 14 degrees f there right now- yikes!! About 5 miles later, we made it to the entrance for the Hurst Castle. We had recommendations to go there from both Joey's Dad and from Bart (our host from a couple days ago). There was a car waiting to turn out of the entrance, so we stopped to ask them if they knew how much the tour was. They informed us that it wasn't too outrageously priced and that it was about a half a mile to the visitor center. We were so worried that it would be something crazy like 50 or 60 bucks a person, just based on what the Winchester Mansion was like, but it wasn't. It turns out that it is only $25 a person and that includes a 45 minute IMAX video and a 2+ hour tour of the castle (and we're allowed to take photos inside even)! The last tour for this evening was already sold out, so we decided we would camp somewhere close by and come back in the morning for the tour. I am so excited for tomorrow, especially since I was preparing myself all day for the possibility that it would be too expensive and we wouldn't be going to see it. When we started looking for a place to camp near the entrance which was close to Old San Simeon. That little area just had a couple old buildings and a state park, so there was no place to camp. Disappointed, we continued on, figuring we would have to ride all the way into the town of San Simeon to find a place to camp (which was about 5 miles away). We really didn't want to do that because that would mean that we would have an extra 5 miles to do in the morning. As we were riding along, we checked a couple places that might work to camp, however the pickings were very slim since most of the area was just a dry weed filled field with a few bushes here and there. Amazingly, we found a place that would work- and was less than a mile from the entrance! It was a little flat section that was a bit lower than the road and hidden by a patch of bushes-perfect! We were right close to the water so we could listen to thewaves crashing along the beach all night. It was only about 6 when we got here, so we had a short amount of time before the sun went down. Another perfect place to watch the sunset! I worked on making another little bicycle out of wire-still trying to get more efficient at making those, it still takes me forever to get one done. We were still pretty full from having a milkshake, so we just had an apple for dinner. Once the sun was down, the full moon kept it bright enough to make setting our tent up a breeze- and it didn't even get that cold out like it usually does when the sun goes down.I was even able to keep working on my little bicycle under the moonlight for a while. We had a very tough morning today. Thank goodness the last 15 miles were easy! Our miles totaled 51.24 today.
Breakfast was a breeze this morning with the store being so close. The rest of our milk from last night survived and we were able to use that on the cereal that we bought this morning. The three of us ate at the tables inside the store, which is always a nice change from eating outdoors. There is also free wifi at Safeway, so we were able to utilize that, as well as the bathrooms to rinse out our breakfast bowls. Last night while I was typing away, I fell asleep and woke up with my hands still on the keyboard. So, after we ate, I finished up that blog that was left in mid-sentence. I am one day away from being caught up on blogs now, FINALLY! As we were relaxing, we saw one of the cyclists from the group of three we met yesterday- we knew we would run into them again at some point. We got a little bit of a late start this morning, but at least it was a productive morning for all of us (Loic had to catch up on his journal, too). The ride was a bit hilly today, but the views were amazing yet again as we rode along the ocean. Up and down and back and forth we went as we meandered along the cliffs. There were even a few neat bridges that we went across too. At one point, we came across a section of construction, right in the middle of one of the uphills. The traffic was reduced to a single lane, but it ended up not being too bad because there was a button for cyclists to push to turn the light green. We waited for all of the traffic at the light to go through before we did since we had to climb. The button really worked well because we made it all the way through before the traffic light changed in the other direction. Normally, the light would have changed a lot sooner for the oncoming traffic. We primarily had a tailwind, but since we were meandering back and forth along the cliffs, sometimes it changed to a headwind or side wind. At the the top of one of the cliffs, the wind was really strong, so strong that I didn't have to pedal at all the last 100 feet of the climb. As we got closer to Big Sur, the road started to turn away from the ocean. It took us through some cow pastures and then into the woods. There were a few sections of redwood trees, but they weren't as big as the ones that we saw in Norther CA. The Big Sur area was different because all of the businesses were very spread out. We ended up finding a nice place to have lunch right next to the library in the green grass under a sunny sky. There was even bathrooms right close by at the gas station and running water from the hose. After having some mac and cheese, Joe and I went to do a little computer work and while he waited, Loic took a little nap before doing some computer work of his own. We had a nice long, but productive lunch break. Almost immediately after getting back on the road, we had a pretty long climb, probably a couple miles long. The boys were waiting at the top like always, they seemed to do a lot of that today since we had lots of uphills. Once we were over the top, we could see the ocean again and would ride along it for the remainder of the day. On the way down the hill, we saw one of the cyclists from the group of 3 that we saw earlier. She was riding unloaded in the opposite direction, probably heading into "town" to get something. For the rest of the afternoon, all we did was go up and down. We probably rode for another 15 miles or so before starting to look for a place to camp for the night. On the way, we had a short little stop near one of the state parks. There was a waterfall right near the ocean where the water came off the rocks and disappeared into the sand below. It was so beautiful! After our short little walk, we only rode for another 2-3 miles before finding someplace that would work to camp. It's a little harder to find places on this section of road because for the most part, there is the ocean on one side and a big steep hill on the other. But, we managed to find a nice place in the woods. Since we still had a little bit of light left, we decided to go across the street to a pull off to make dinner. As we were sitting there, we enjoyed the view of the ocean and the sunset. It was the perfect spot for dinner. By the time we were done with our rice, had everything cleaned and packed up, we had just enough light left to get ourselves and our bikes into the woods to the spot we had picked out. Once the tents were set up, Joey and Loic went on a little adventure to see if they could get down to the water (they had seen a road/path while we were eating). I stayed behind to relax. As we were laying in our tent we could hear a couple seals barking down by the water, along with the faint sound of the waves crashing against the shore (although that was mostly muffled out by the bugs humming in the woods). Although we had a shorter day of riding, we still got a lot done today. Our miles totaled 41.95.
Bart made us some really yummy pancakes this morning for breakfast. It's been so long since we've had them, so it was a wonderful treat. After we got all packed up, I took a shower this morning so that I could start clean. It will be a few days before we have another one, so I wanted to take advantage of it while we had one to use. Bart left at about 9:30 so he could go to the group ride. It was a bit sad to have to leave from there since we had such a great time. All set with maps for the different areas we were going to go through, including LA, we headed out as a group of 3 again. Within the first 3 miles of the ride, we saw another Safeway. We didn't need anything, but decided to stop anyway because we saw a few touring bikes outside. Sure enough- touring cyclists. The group of three was riding from Astoria, OR down to San Diego. We chatted for a bit and then parted ways. Chances are we will run into them again in the next couple days. We had some awesome back roads to follow for almost the entire morning. The road took us up a few hills in the beginning, past some really big houses, and then out into farm land. We passed by so many strawberry patches. The smell of strawberries wafted in the air- what a tease!!! After a while, the land flattened out quite a bit and we were able to move right along. Eventually we found ourselves back on rt. 1. Not a mile down the road, we also found a super awesome treat. A case of strawberries had fallen off a truck and there were still a couple of the plastic boxes full of berries that were pretty much completely in tact. Unfortunately the rest of the boxes of berries were spewed all alongside the road. We couldn't be happier- after being teased for so long by the strawberries, we got 2 boxes for free- can't get much better than that! Bart had told us about a place where we would see a lot of seals on a dock. Sure enough, right where he said they would be were over 100 seals lazing around. The three of us watched and listened to them for quite a while and then continued on. Bart also told us about a place we might see sea otters, but unfortunately we didn't see any- unless we looked in the wrong place. Before turning onto another side road, we stopped at this really great produce stand. They had everything. Lots of pumpkins for Halloween time, and all of the fruits and veggies you could ever want. According to the lady that worked there, almost everything was locally grown. They even had a fun little "picture wall" we could put our faces in. A nice man named Rafael was nice enough to snap a picture for us. Afterwards, he shook my hand and introduced himself. Then he proceeded to crack the end of each of my fingers on my right hand. He then introduced himself to Joe and did the same thing; likewise with Loic. It was pretty funny! Joe and I bought bag of apples and a couple bags of grapes to keep us going for the next couple days. As we were walking around there, we were happy to find a bag of tortilla chips and a sample of each of the different kinds of salsas they sell there. They sure were yummy- my favorite one was the mango salsa, definitely not a flavor combination you would expect, but it sure was good. As we were packing up, Rafael came over with a bag that had 2 cans of coke and a can of grape soda inside! More treats! That was so nice of him. As we were heading down the next side street, it was really flat. We could see for quite a ways across the farm fields. A little while later, we found the bike path we were looking for. That would take us all the way into Monterey. We stopped for a lunch break in the town of Marina. As we were rolling into town, we were so surprised to find a Wal-Mart there! Guess the town was bigger than we thought. We made a quick stop there, since I had to pee, and I decided to buy a loaf of hot fresh Italian bread, too. Not to far from there we found a little park with a table where we could eat. Since we were still pretty full from our great breakfast, we just snacked on bread and some of the fruit we had gotten. The library was nearby, so before heading out of town, we stopped there to see if we got any response emails from the Warm Shower's Host we contacted for a few days from now. Sure enough we did! It is always so nice to know that we will have a place to stay. The bike trail paralleled the highway pretty closely all the way to Monterey. When we got into Monterey, it got a little closer to the water which was very nice. The trail took us right through the main part of town, right near the Monterey Wharf. We took a quick break to walk to the end of the pier, but we were a little disappointed; we were hoping to see some more seals at the end like we did in Santa Cruz. It was nice however because for the majority of the day cars were not allowed out there- that made it more scenic and peaceful! Although we could have taken a shorter, more direct way, we decided to take the scenic route and stay right along the water. That was a very good choice because it was just beautiful! At one point we found a church and thought about camping there. It was perfect; there were woods all around so we wouldn't be seen and we would be out of the way. At that point though, we only had 47 miles and wanted to go a little further so that we would have less to do tomorrow. From where we were, we went around the corner and entered the "gated area" of the peninsula. That area is full of golf courses and really expensive homes and resorts. Since we were on bikes, we were allowed to just ride right through without having to pay anything. It was an incredible ride. Not only were the views of the ocean spectacular- but the houses, or should I say mansions, were amazing. Every time we went by one, the next one was even bigger and better. It was pretty mind boggling to think about really- these houses were just so massive and really pretty. We rode by "The Lone Cypress" tree that has been growing there perched on a rock for over 100 years. It was very picturesque with the position the sun was at. Shortly before we came out of the gated area, we rode through Pebble Beach. We saw a bunch of deer on the golf courses as we rode by. It wasn't too far to get into the town of Carmel. To our surprise, it was a pretty touristy town full of little shops and people walking around. We had a huge, steep hill to climb to get to the main area of town. We met a couple walking who had both lived in Buffalo for a couple years and had visited France a number of times, so they were able to relate to both Joey and I and Loic. When we asked about a grocery store, they told us one that was just a couple blocks away. We headed in that direction so that Loic could get a couple 'quick dinner' things so that he wouldn't have to cook since it was already dark. With our lights on, we headed up the rest of the really long steep hill to get to rt. 1. That section happened to be a little busier which made me a little scared. Joe and Loic were ahead a little bit, but like always would be waiting for me once there was a safe place to pull over. On the downhill section of the 1 that we rode on (from the grocery store we only did probably 1 or 2 miles of riding in the dark) there wasn't too much room, and there was no real shoulder because there was a big hill right next to the road. As I was riding down, I saw who I thought was Loic oj the other side of the road heading back up hill. I had just gone through an intersection with a light and thought maybe we missed a turn or something. Loic waved at me and so I figured I needed to turn around. I was a little frustrated at that point because this section of the road had a small cement barrier down the middle of it. When the traffic was clear, I bounced my bike over the bump and started up the other side. I had to walk since I was still in a "downhill" gear. When I got closer to the stoplight, which wasn't too far away from where I first saw Loic, I realized that it wasn't Loic after all. The cyclist had just kept riding. When I first saw the cyclist, I thought for sure it was Loic- he had a head light on just like him and he had the same panniers (reflectors were showing). As if I wasn't already frustrated from turning around, I re-turned around and went down the hill. Sure enough, Joe and Loic were waiting at the stop light at the bottom. The boys thought it was pretty funny that I ended up turning around like that- they were wondering what was taking me so long to go downhill. Right after coming down the hill, we were all surprised to see a Safeway! The couple we met didn't mention there was a big grocery store like that in town. They also said that the only place to camp would be back in Monterey, but us touring cyclists always find somewhere to set up our tent. So, we decided to try something new tonight. Lenson, our host in Los Altos, said that a few times on his trip across the country they would camp behind a Wal-Mart or grocery store and had quite a bit of success with that. We figured it wouldn't hurt to give that a try, especially since none of us wanted to ride in the dark anymore. It turned out to be perfect. There was a nice wooded area right behind the store where we would be out of the way and no one would see us. We decided to lay our tarp out and have dinner before setting up the tent. I ran around into the store and picked up a half gallon of milk so we could have the cereal we got yesterday (we got two boxes since Loic was coming, but since we had pancakes, we didn't need it this morning!). Being so close to the store will work out nicely for breakfast tomorrow too! We rode 60.73 miles today.
Today we slept in a little again since we have such a nice bed to sleep in. Like yesterday, I woke up to Joey watching a documentary on Netflix on the tablet. We had some cereal and then I took a shower and hibernated upstairs for a little while so I could focus on getting a couple more blogs done- slowly getting caught up. Around 11, we hopped on our unloaded bikes to go on a little adventure. Bart was nice enough to show us some neat things in the area to go see, so we had a couple little destinations. First, we rode through the little town of Capitola. There was a cute little area full of shops and palm trees. From there, we rode along and were out by the ocean. We saw a lighthouse off in the distance and some really huge, well huge to us, waves rolling into the beach. All poor Joey wanted to do was go play in them- he's been talking about playing in the waves since we first saw the ocean, but the water is still a bit too cold. We found the bike path that went across the railroad bridge that Bart had told us about. As we were riding across, we could see the theme park right next to the ocean. There were roller coasters, a ferris wheel, and a whole bunch of other rides. Unfortunately it was closed, but it looked like it would have been a lot of fun. We rode past the boardwalk and then up the hill to Lighthouse Field State Park. There, we could see and hear seal rock. We also had fun watching the surfers in the water. While we were there, we got talking to a local cyclist and talked with him for quite a while. Eventually we started to head back the same route we came. We did make a little side trip to go out onto the Santa Cruz Wharf. It was pretty much just a bunch of shops and restaurants out on the pier. At the end of it though, there were openings in the pier where you could look down to see all of the seals sleeping on the boards below. We stayed there and watched them for a long time. They are so funny to watch because they just walk all over each other and laze around. At one point we even saw an otter in the water just off the pier. We watched him swim around under water near the support beams getting mussels and then go to the top and lay on his back to enjoy his meal. We could hear him crunching on the shells as he was breaking them open. He was really cute! From there, we rode back towards Bart's house. On the way, we decided to go stop at Safeway to pick up some cereal and milk for tomorrow since we had eaten a good amount of Bart's. We took a different road back in order to go to the store, and on the way saw a Little Ceaser's pizza that was having a customer appreciation $3.99 for a large pizza sale. We were pretty hungry, so we figured we would give it a shot. The pizza was pretty good! After stopping at the store for cereal and milk and riding back to Barts, we found out that he was planning to make pancakes in the am. We of course love pancakes, so we were pretty excited. Again, I went upstairs to work on blogs. As I was working, it was getting closer to 5:30. We heard the doorbell ring- Loic was here! He told us some stories about how there was a huge parade of people in the streets of San Francisco a couple nights ago after the Giants won and would be playing in the World Series. Fittingly, we got to watch the first game of the World Series tonight while enjoying some snacks, beer, and wine. Again, Bart made another awesome dinner of bbq ribs and tenderloins, rice, and another great salad. For dessert, we enjoyed the rest of the apple pie and ice cream. It was an "All American Meal" for Loic. We joked about how big Bart's grill was (which it was a completely normal size here in the US, in fact it was the smallest one he could find). Loic said that in France, that size would be considered huge! It was a fun evening. Joe an I rode 18.34 miles around the Santa Cruz area today.
Joe and I were up around 7:30 so that we would have plenty of time to join Bart on his group ride at 9:30. We each had a couple bowls of cereal and enjoyed the super sweet strawberries that Bart put out for us, too. Unfortunately though, the phone company guy that was scheduled to be there before 9, showed up late. By the time he was finished doing what he needed to do, it was too late to go to the group ride. We were a little disappointed, especially since the group ride with Lenson and Monica a couple days ago was so much fun. So, for the majority of the day I attempted to work on blogs but was almost completely distracted by the Law and Order SVU marathon that we somehow got watching. Joe and I had a complete veg day- we didn't really do anything productive, well I got a couple blogs done, but not enough to be caught up yet. But, I guess it's not that bad to have a day like this once in a while- we sure did enjoy just relaxing on the couch. Bart let me use his laptop, so I was able to get some photos uploaded- this has been great being able to stay up on that- it's so much better than when I would go for 3 weeks without getting any uploaded-that was a nightmare! As I was working on the photos, Bart brought me a glass of wine- talk about service! It was so great! Around 4 or 5, Bart put out some more of his super yummy snacks, including those really awesome flat pretzels! Just like last night, Bart made another incredible dinner. We enjoyed Greek style marinated chicken, broccoli and rice- along with some more of that tasty bread we had yesterday. We heard from Loic and he will definitely be here tomorrow afternoon/evening, so it worked out perfect that we had such an awesome place to relax while we wait for him. For the first time in a while, we had a zero mile day.
It rained for a good portion of the night and was still raining when we woke up. Lenson headed off early to school, in the rain. Luckily for us, by the time we actually got ready and on the road, it had pretty much stopped. We had some cereal for breakfast and I enjoyed another shower before we left just to get me nice and woken up, ready for the day. That is one thing I miss about being home- having a nice hot shower every morning. But as much as I miss it, I would never trade being on the trip in order to be at home- the trip is just way to much fun, we are so lucky. For the first few miles it was pretty chilly. The sun came a few times, but for most of the day it was cloudy. Although we were in a pretty populated area for the first 5 miles or so, the traffic wasn't too bad. As soon as we started getting out of the city area, we had quite a bit of climbing to do. There were quite a few shorter steep hills at first, but once we got onto route 9 we almost immediately started climbing. We just went up and up and up and up and up. Curve after curve, I kept thinking that we would almost be to the top, but then we would just keep going up. We climbed for about 5 miles and reached an elevation near 2,000 ft. For some reason, I found that I had to stop a few times on the way up. I don't think I ate enough this morning for breakfast because I was starting to feel a bit shaky and almost like I had no energy to accelerate. The ride down the other side was SO cold. I had to stop a couple miles down to put on my extra coat and my warmer gloves-and I was ready to put my pants on too but decided to just tough it out. Burrrr. We made it to this little town of Boulder Creek where we found a little park to have lunch. We both sat right in the sun in hopes that it would help to warm us up. We eventually got nice and warm again, but it took a little while. Joe and I made some Mac and cheese for lunch and then got everything cleaned up and were on or way again. To our surprise, there was a lot more to the little town than we thought there was. They had a little downtown section and everything. From there, we passed through three more towns. They were just one right after another, only separated by a mile or two of road. The second half of the day's ride just few by after how slow the first 20 miles were. We had looked up the directions to our host, Bart's house, before we left Los Altos this morning. The ride into Santa Cruise wasn't too bad, but their roads are a little crazy. We stopped at a Safeway when we saw one, to restock on our mac and cheese and get some more muffins. From there we headed to find Bart's house. At one point, the road we were on met up with another road with the same name, one was Ave. and the other was Dr. On the directions that we wrote down earlier, we only wrote the name of the street, so when we got to that intersection, we weren't sure which way to go. We weren't expecting two roads to have the same name like that. So we took the less busy looking road. Not too long after that, we figured out that we were probably on the wrong road. We could see a bunch of houses off to the left and knew that we would have to cross over the highway next time we got a chance. About 5 minutes after riding down that wrong road, we got a phone call from Bart that confirmed it (he had been watching our SPOT). The good news is that weren't too far off from the road we needed since they ran parallel. Bart lived in a town that was a little east of Santa Cruz, called Aptos. When we got closer to Bart's house, we got to the top of a hill and found he was waiting there for us! He had ridden his bike to meet us so that we wouldn't have trouble finding his house. It was so nice to have a our very own tour guide! After settling in a little, we got to enjoy some beer and white wine. In fact, Bart had a kind of beer that Joey must have really liked, because he drank it pretty quick. It was funny because every time Joey finished a bottle, Bart brought him a new one. There were also some really tasty snacks to enjoy- my favorite was flat pretzels. I've never had those before and I liked them so much better than regular pretzels. The last presidential debate was on, so it was really nice to get to watch one of those since we had missed all of the others. Bart made a wonderful dinner of pasta and tomato sauce, fresh bread, and an amazing salad. After dinner I enjoyed a nice hot shower and was excited to sleep in a bed. What amazing hospitality. Bart told us that we were welcome to stay as long as we needed. We have kept in contact with Loic, who is still in San Francisco and were waiting to hear if he will go with his original plan of riding through Yosemite and Death Valley to Las Vegas, or if he will ride to LA. It turns out that it is already snowing over near Yosemite and the pass is closed. We got an email from him saying "Lets go to LA!" Even though it's sad that he won't get to see Yosemite, we are happy that we will get to see him again. So, since it was ok with Bart, we will wait here tomorrow and Wednesday for Loic to get here so we can ride again with him. We rode 50.01 miles today.
We all woke up nice and early so that we could go to the Stanford Tri. club group ride. Joe was happy to have a working pillow again! We had a quick breakfast of cereal and then got ready. Monica met us at Lenson's and we all left from there. It was 8 miles from his place to where we would meet for the ride. Monica and Lenson sure were fast. I was left in the dust once we got going on the main road. At that point I was a little worried that everyone would be as fast as them and that I wouldn't be able to keep up. Either way, I was having fun riding since my bike was unloaded and felt speedy. We were a few minutes early when we go there, but once people started showing up I felt a little better. There were a lot of new members and they didn't all look like crazy intense racers. In total, there were probably 20 or more riders. After about 5 miles, the group split up; some people went to do the longer ride with a big climb, and others went to do the "flatter ride" that was a little shorter. All 4 of us went with the shorter ride because Lenson had a bunch of school work he needed to do later today. It was a great ride, especially when we got off the main road. We rode on a small winding side road and then after crossing an intersection we were on a road called Canada (with an ~ above the n, not the country). It was an awesome road to ride on today because on Sundays, they close down the road to traffic for "bicycle Sunday." What a great thing not only for racing cyclists, but also for kids and families. There were so many bikes on the road; it was amazing. We retraced pretty close to the same route on the way back to the campus. By the time we got back to where we started, most of the riders had already headed off to the area of campus where they lived. Lenson, Monica, Joe and I waited by the "pink" fountain for one of Monica's friends. From there we went to the Graduate Community Center where there was a little restaurant named Rays. After an already awesome morning, we enjoyed a yummy lunch thanks to Monica. She was sad that she couldn't host us herself because of her new roommate, and insisted that she buy us lunch. Joey and I each had a really tasty cheeseburger and fries. From there, we headed back to Lenson's. I got a little behind and somehow got stopped by EVERY single stop light. That was a little frustrating. When we got back to the "shack our back," we said our goodbyes to Monica and spent the remainder of the day relaxing. We all had some ice cream as a midday snack, oh how I love ice cream. I worked on trying to catch up on blogs, which now seems like a never ending battle. Before it was enjoyable because I would just do one a day, or 2 if I happened to get a little behind. Now, because the tablet was down for so long, I have a lot to catch up on. Some of the blogs, I hand wrote, but still needed to go back and type, either way, it was a little tedious ( took a lot of breaks from doing them today). But in the end, I just can't give them up. For Joey and I, the blogs are a way to go back and re-live the days and help keep it so things don't just blur together. They will be more important down the road as we are looking back on our travels. Once I get all caught up, they will be fun again. The boys went on a walk to the grocery store at one point this afternoon. I made the last of our pasta/ spaghetti/ mozzerella cheese for dinner when they returned. Before bed, Joey and I watched a pretty funny movie on Netflix. Another great day. We were both a little tired from this morning's ride since we aren't used to going so fast- but boy was it great to ride with our bikes unloaded! Even though we didn't ride our bikes loaded, we had a pretty good loop ride from and to Lensons. Our miles from that ride totaled 44.98.
We slept in quite a bit today. I worked on a blog or two in the morning and we looked up the directions to the Winchester Mansion (Mystery House). From where we were it was a little over 10 miles away. Joey unloaded our bikes so they were all ready to go, since we planned on riding there. I took another shower since it was readily available- love hot showers! As we were getting ready to go, Lenson offered to give us a ride if we wanted it. The more we thought about it, the better that idea sounded. That way we wouldn't have to worry about our bikes at all. So, once we were ready to go, we hopped in the big van and off we went. Down the highway- those crazy California highways with 4-5 lanes of traffic in each direction. As we got close to the Mansion, we were even more glad that we didn't ride because there was still just so much traffic. The mansion was amazing, just from the outside. We went in and got our tickets. We didn't have too long to wait before our tour number was called and we got to go see the inside. They had headset and audio devices so that we could find out more information about each room and each section of the house that we were in. It was pretty interesting to hear about some of the reasoning for the way things were and how the continuous building evolved. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos indoors, but it was something we probably won't forget. There were windows that faced walls, doors to nowhere, cabinets that you couldn't store anything in because they were so narrow, "easy riser" stairs (one set of which had 7 switchbacks and only gained about 9 feet), and so many other crazy things. Not to mention, the inside of the house that was finished was just beautiful (there were a lot of sections that were in the middle of being built when the owner, Sara, died). It's hard to explain what the inside was like, but it was just amazing. The mansion itself is massive, and I feel like I would easily be able to get lost in there if I was walking around by myself. After seeing the inside of the mansion, we got to tour the basement. They had hard hats for each of us to wear since the ceilings were so low and there were pipes everywhere. They showed us the coal chute and how the furnace would work. A big thing on the property was to not waste anything, so there was a special sifter to sort through the ash from the furnace to find left over chunks. In fact, a lot of the things inside the house were quite innovative. Behind the house, a labyrinth made of hay bales was made for the fall /halloween time. We had fun walking around in there too. One of my favorite parts was walking around the garden at the front of the house. It was so pretty, not to mention the views of the mansion were stunning- right down the the front door. We had a lot of fun today, and are definitely glad we took an inland route from San Francisco to San Jose so that we could see this. After the tour, we went on a pretty long walk (probably 3-4miles) in a quest to find the REI store since Joe's new pillow (that we got in Seattle) was not holding air anymore. The best part about REI is that you can exchange or return anything for any reason at any time. On the way, we were getting really hungry. We kept walking and walking, hoping to find a Safeway. Eventually, one popped up and we decided to get a sub from the grab and go section. We enjoyed our sub at the tables inside and then continued on our walk to REI. We got his pillow all exchanged with no problems and then gave Lenson a call to come pick us up. Joe and I made a quick stop at the Target that was across the street to pick up some cereal for breakfast the next two mornings. Lenson found us ok and then we were off back to his house. After enjoying some brussel sprouts and some more of our pasta and sauce for dinner, we had a little time to relax. Monica (our original contact, Lenson's friend) came over to visit and we had a little campfire in Lenson's fire pit. Monica even had a bag of marshmallows! We had a great time chit chatting about bike touring and about life in general. We are so glad that we got to meet here too. The best part is that we will get to see her tomorrow too because she is planning on going to the Stanford Triathlon Club group ride (even though she is an alumni). Lenson invited us to go too if we were interested. It will be nice to get to ride with some people tomorrow, I just hope they aren't too, too fast! A very enjoyable rest day!
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