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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