Day: 96

I decided to chill out a today when I peaked my head out of my little yellow tent and the rain and grey skies. I snuggled back up I my sleeping bag for another couple of hours until I started getting hungry and motivated myself to go find some breakfast. I had seen a sign yesterday that said “Sunday Brunch”, and to me nothing says Sunday like all you can drink Mimosa’s!

Unfortunately upon reaching my desired goal I found out they only do the brunch during tourist season, which to my dismay doesn’t start until next weekend.

Bastards! I’ll have to have a sober morning.

I just found a diner and ate some Eggs Benedict sans Mimosa’s, and spent the rest of the morning wandering up and down the five blocks of mainstreet looking at all the little tourist and antique shops. The day was passing slowly but I spent a good portion of it readingVeronika Decides to Die and blogging, then just walked along the beach to the grocery store to find myself a dinner feast of a roasted chicken (1/2 of which I ziplocked for tomorrow), some cheese, bread, carrots and an orange. I washed it all down with a couple of German Beers.

Moanahh is falling apart to my dismay. She lost a spoke yesterday, the brakes are giving me problems, and the shifting is slipping. When I get to San Francisco I’ll have to take her into REI for a check-up.

I finished my night with the last 40 minutes of my movie from yesterday on my laptop and was asleep before the sun was fully down (around nine), trying to prepare for my ride into San Francisco tomorrow. It looks like I’ll be there for about 5 nights, the first three in a hostel, then my sister is flying up and we have a hotel for the next two.

Day: 95

So leaving Capitola this morning someone had told me there was a campground at Pescadero, about 40 miles north into the wind.  It was a rough ride with gusts in my face the entire way but finally made it after about five hours of riding, I was exhausted.

Hmmm… this campground looks empty. Where are all the tents? And whats that no camping sign doing where there is supposed to be campsites?

Freakin Damnit!

I checked my camping map (which I hadn’t done before) and guess what? No camping for 15 more miles…

I called my sister to bitch for a minute on the side of the rode and jumped back on Moanahh. Perturbed that I was going to have to ride another 15 miles, at least the wind had died down, but the rain was just starting to come down! Lightly at least.  I pedaled through the mist/light rain for a couple more hours and arrived, beat, at Half Moon Bay (30 miles south of San Francisco) to pay my $3 and set up my tent.  I took a much needed hot shower and set out to find some lunch/dinner and somewhere to connect to the internet.  I ate a burrito and spent about 2 hours at the local Starbucks just to be out of the weather.

I made my way back to camp with the intention of reading until dark then watching my $1 copy of Pirates of the Caribbean (from Charity and Spooners “Estate Sale”) until my battery died on my laptop 30 minutes from the end.  I didn’t actually do any reading, I ended up talking for a couple of hours with an English guy who is on his way south on his Bike from Vancouver.  I did watch most of my movie though after that, Ill have to recharge tomorrow and watch the rest then.

P.S. Sorry about the blah picture… it was a rather dreary day. I was barely motivated to take my camera out for this one just to prove how dreary I found it.

Day: 94

This morning Aaron was heading north up PCH to catch the 101 home, and I was just heading north to the great whatever. The difference is that he has a car and I was sick of biking these monstrous hills on a windy mountainous road with no shoulder. Guess who tossed his bike in the back of Aaron’s Civic and hitched a ride to just north of Monterey? That’s right. Me. I still haven’t decided how to judge this situation, a 30 mile short cut was nice on my legs, but did it sacrifice the integrity of my journey? That’s what I said too. There hasn’t been any integrity so far, why start now.

Just after nine Aaron and I split up and he headed south to his new apartment that he moves into tomorrow and his new job at Nick on a new cartoon. He is days away from starting “adulthood”, I told him I’d call on Monday night and ask what it’s like, because I sure don’t know. I continued my running away from adulthood by pedaling another thirty miles or so to New Brighton State Beach, just outside of Capitola. I set up camp (happy to only be paying $5 again) and decided to spend the day doing what I really love doing on Fridays, going to the movies. I asked the ranger and he sent me a couple of miles away to a small theater just outside the Capitola mall (which by the way also had a Starbucks for blogging). I blogged and played online for an hour or so while I waited for The Break-Up to start.

After the film I made my way back towards the beach to have sushi at a small restaurant I passed on my way to the theater. I wandered the tourist area of Capitola for a while until last few nights heavy drinking started to catch up with me and I went back to camp for a relaxing evening. I even visited the forest rangers campfire program with all the kids and sung a few campfire songs before bed.

Day: 93

What Are We Going To Do? That was the question of the day. Aaron and I had bought food yesterday for a breakfast and lunch picnic today, so food was the least of our worries. We had the whole day to fill so we decided to do some hiking after breakfast. We hiked the campground’s Valley View and Falls trails, taking our time to enjoy the journey and spent lots of time just catching up with each others lives. After our hikes we went down to the creek, read, had a picnic and feed the squirills. We sat their for what seemed like a good few hours, but when we looked at the time it was still barely three pm.

What Are We Going To Do? The question came back at us. The day seemed to be passing extremely slowly, but I suggested we take a drive down the coast and see what there is to see. we found what might be the best looking beach in California, probably because they didn’t allow people on it. Aaron and I look down from above, and Aaron strategically planned multiple routes down the cliffs to the beach below, but their were to many people around so we settled for just hanging around the tops of the cliffs for an hour or so.

What Are We Going To Do? Once more the question was posed. I suggested we stop at a shop on the way back to camp, find some food and stock up on beer for the evening (it sure is nice having a car, I don’t have to ride around with beer on my bike). We got back to our site and started drinking and drinking, we ran out of beer and had to switch to some left over vodka, we ran out of vodka and we had to walk to the camp store for more beer, we ran out of beer and balance, and just staggered around the campground trying to make friends in our inebriated state. It was good fun until we were completely done. To bad Aaron’s leaving tomorrow, these last few days have been great.

Day: 92

I woke Aaron up about an hour or so after I woke up, had some leftover pitas and peanut butter, we paid for another night at the campground, then decided to head up to Monterey to go to the aquarium. After a beautiful/hilly (cringe!) drive north for thirty miles we arrived in Monterey. We grabbed a slice of pizza, went over to the ticket counter (paid student price thanks to my Turkish student ID, saved $2) and headed in to see the vast realm of the underwater worlds. We spent about four hours wandering among the fishes, sea otters, jellyfish, etc, etc. I think we agreed that the octopus was the coolest thing there; we even said on the survey we filled out on our way out, when we were asked how the aquarium could be improved, that they needed a bigger octopus exibit and a in house seafood resturaunt.

We headed over to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks for a couple of hours, so I could catch up on my blog and Aaron could draw. Around six we found some mexican food then headed over to Safeway for food/party supplies for tonight and tomorrow. Another beautiful drive south and we had ourselves a campfire, drank a bottle of Captain with some Coke, and passed out some time around 11:30.

Day: 91

I got out of my sleeping bag excited today (but freezing cold, easily my coldest night yet), Aaron was on his way up to spend three nights with me; and to tell the truth the absolute loneliness of this trip is really getting to me. It’s not like the European alone, where there are lots of people around to hang out with just not any you know, here there is no one around at all. I have a few conversations with the rangers or other campers, but barely anyone my age or with similar interests. Needless to say I was excited to spend a few days not alone.

I had told him to meet me at Big Sur State Park, which meant I had 25 miles to ride today. A kind of casual day, nothing hard core, a bunch of hills though. I rode for a little less than four hours and made it to the campsite, called Aaron to tell him we are in number 47, set up my tent, ate lunch, and went down to the creek to finish reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I knew Aaron was still a couple of hours away so I rode my bike around the area and just set to exploring what was going on in this beautiful park.

Finally around six he showed up, we talked for a while, then left to find some dinner (I was out of food). We headed up to this place, Nepenthe, which overlooked the ocean, had wonderful martini’s (my first drink in four days), and cost us about $40 each. I was already feeling better, having him around was re-energizing my spirit. We picked up some firewood and ice (he had vodka and mixers) on our way back. When we got to the campsite he tried, unsuccessfully, to set up his tent; I turns out he had brought poles for another tent. I piled all of my stuff out of my tiny tent into his car and we decided to both squeeze into my tent tonight. We lit a fire and stayed up for a few hours telling stories and becoming better brothers.

Day: 90

Stumbling into the Lime Kiln campground just after one o’clock, six hours (& 41 miles) after leaving San Simion this morning and riding Moanahh up and down PCH where the Santa Lucia Range meets the ocean. When I got here I found that they have no Hike and Bike area, disappointed I shelled out the $25 for a regular site. As recompense, the ranger told me he’d give me their best spot which just opened up a couple of hours before. He was good to his word, when I got up to my site I found my site hidden away right next to a creek and at the trailhead to the Lime Kilns.

I made ate lunch and decided on a hike up to see these kilns that the campground is named after. A leisurely half mile trail lead me right up to four gigantic kilns, which I suppose from the name where once used to process lime; can’t really be sure though. I hiked back down, grabbed my copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and headed down to the beach to spend the afternoon reading, relaxing, and trying to prepare my muscles for more hilly riding tomorrow.

This was a very laid back day, no shopping or chores, the only thing I had to accomplish was taking apart the rear wheel of my bike because the disc break seems to be dragging and slowing me down. I’ve been having problems with it ever since I had to take it apart at Gaviota to change the intertube. I think I have it fixed right this time, but I won’t really know until I ride tomorrow. Here’s to hoping.

Day: 89

Now this entire trip I have been staying in sites in the California campground system reserved for people who either Hike in or Bike in. The cheap price ($2-$5) per night is a way for the state parks to encourage this type of travel, in some areas (mostly populated areas like Pismo and Carpenteria) they have problems with people taking advantage of this by parking their cars outside and walking in or moving into the sites for extended periods of time. They are also trying to keep the vagrants out. Carpenteria now has a one night Hike and Bike area that can’t be checked into until 4pm and Pismo plans to close their Hike and Bike entirely for the summer. Needless to say that this abuse by some effects everyone who wants to use our parks in the way I am trying to. Now the point to this rant.

Last night I meant a married couple who have been biking the coast (north to Oregon and back) for the last four months, they were on such a tight budget that at one point they had to stop and work on a farm for a month to raise money to make it home. They shared the Hike and Bike area with me, as did two women and a 4 year old little girl. I thought it odd that the women and the little girl we’re in this area, but they were near another site and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Well, this morning the ranger also thought it was weird that a 4 year old little girl was hiking the coast and came over in his truck to question the one woman who was there. She quickly folded and said they parked their Escalade in the overflow lot and only paid $6 for the three of them instead of $25 for their own site. A $40,000 car and she couldn’t afford an extra $19 a night… right. I was furious, and what was worse was that the married couple, who are actually using this site rightfully and needed the discount to enjoy our state parks at all were sympathetic to her! People don’t be such asses, some idiots are ruining a good thing for us all. I was ready to yell at the women myself but the staunch ranger had already brought one of them to tears. Ha!

Anyway after that episode of rage I got on my bike and rode the five miles to Hearst Castle, the reason I spent two nights here in San Simion. The hour and a half tour (which you had to take) was expensive, $24, but it came with a ticket to watch a 40 minute IMax movie on the building of the castle. I arrived at the ticket window at 9:18am and was in luck because the next tour started in 2 minutes. I was given my ticket and rushed out the door to get on the bus up Hearst’s Enchanted Hill. We (12 of us in a tour that in the summer has 40) meant our guide, Glen, at the top and he set off to show us all around this eccentric castle. Hearst had acquired art and architecture from all over the world and build them into his house. Spanish ceilings, Italian statues near the pool, Persian rugs and a vast assortment of worldly treasures. As I was taken around the Castle I was impressed, it wasn’t just a big house like I expected, it was a full on museum built into a house. The only disappointment was the Neptune pool wasn’t full of water (earthquake repairs), but Glen said it best; “Millions of people have seen it full of water, only you and a few thousand other have seen it empty.” What a crock.

The Imax film was great and I left feeling like the $24 wasn’t quite the rip-off I thought it’d be when I bought my ticket. I jumped back on Moanahh, and rode her back to the campsite to grab my computer then a few more miles into Cambria to buy some groceries for the next few days (the married couple warned me that my next stop was desolate), and try to find an internet connection. Found the food, but no luck posting my blog, it looks like it may be four or five days until I am back to civilization and can get caught up. I made my way (against the harsh afternoon wind) back to camp, finished reading A Brave New World (one less thing to carry), ate a small dinner and went to sleep shortly after dark.

A side note; as I was falling asleep I realized it has been two whole days since I’ve had a drink. I can’t remember the last time that happened. You probably can’t either.