Last biking day: Lompoc, 44 miles.

We had a nice biking day with one hill that was 3 miles but not as bad as we expected. We were biking in farming areas most of the day.  The agricultural workers seemed to enjoy waving to us. Drivers were courteous.

We were less than 5 miles from our destination when we had our first flat tire.

We had decided to stop in Lompoc because from there the route was mostly freeway.  We will take transit to Santa Barbara tomorrow. My sister, Helen, will pick us up on Wed.  Our total miles ridden this trip is 910. Thanks for following along with us. Thank you to those who faithfully pray for our safety. We were blessed!

We have a visit with Helen and her husband  in San Clemente and then fly home July 2.

Sunday, 6/23: Morro Bay to Oceano, 35 miles.

We had a shorter route today. We rode inland through San Luis Obispo--there is a nice downtown area where we had good meal.  When we reached the coast again in Pismo Beach area it looked very California with palm trees.  We had a head wind but not many hills. Tomorrow we will have a big climb in our trip to Lompoc.  We do not mind having a leisure Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, 6/22: Morro Bay, 45 miles

We had forgotten how enjoyable it is to ride on flat surfaces. This was a "walk in the park" kind of day.  We were able to meander our way with stops in Cambria (great coffee/bakery) and Cayucos (Ron rated the chowder has one of his best). Both are nice coastal towns similar to Cannon Beach or Seaside. Ron even got a beard trim along the way.  We also arrived at our destination in time to do laundry :-).

One of the pictures is of elephant seals on the beach. Hundreds--at first we thought they were logs. 

Considering it was a Saturday and we were on highway 1 most of the day traffic was light. We came right by Hearst Castle, but did not stop since we have seen it before.  Tomorrow will be a shorter day probably to Oceano.

Friday: Big Sur to Ragged Ridge, 49 mi.

A day of climbing!  The views remain amazing.  We enjoyed our evening in Big Sur and started the day with a 5 mile climb to Big Sur Bakery.  We had lunch in Lucia and shared their "world famous" fish and chips. They were good and the setting/view great.  When we thought we were climbing the last hill there seemed to always be one more. The lodge wad actually 4 miles closer than we expected :-).  The setting is one of a kind. The service and accomodations were OK but the price was for the views.

Monterey and Big Sur, 27+ miles

We started the ride after a big B&B breakfast.  Our first 10 miles was farming. Artichokes were a primary crop.  We were on bike paths almost the entire route to Monterey.  We had beautiful ocean views.  We got smart and took the transit bus to Big Sur--avoiding some very treacherous parts of Highway 1. We are staying in a cabin at Big Sur Campground. We have a challenging ride for tomorrow to Ragged Point.

To Moss Landing, 60 miles

The hostel we stayed at last night worked well. Even though there were 8 kids under 10 y/o in our house it was quiet.

P The first 20 miles went fast. But then we had to navigate Santa Cruz which slowed us down.  That is a nice town. . .lots of things "happening" including a beachfront amusement park. There is alot of farming here. The strawberry fields are huge.  We had to taste some at a roadside stand.

We were about 10 miles from our destination when we were told our mapped route could not be followed.  We were getting onto Hwy 1 and we were told that we would risk getting a ticket since bikes were not allowed there. So we had some backtracking to do.  We are staying at a nautical themed B&B, Captain's Inn. The room is great and a fabulous view of the bay.  Also cable TV for our OSU baseball game.

Back on the Road: SF to Pigeon Point Lighthouse, 54 miles

We had a nice long visit at Dustin's. We ate alot (as usual).  We ate lunch today in Half Moon Bay. The coast in this area looks like Oregon, not developed and many state parks. We are staying at a hostel tonight since there was a lomger gap than we wanted to ride in one day.  It is right on the coast at the lighthouse station.

Happy Father's Day

We will stay with Dustin until Tuesday morning. My sister will pick us up in Santa Barbara Wed. June 26. So we won't have to bsttle LA.

Day 13: San Francisco, 35 miles

We made it. The ride today required alot of stopping to consult the map since we were going through towns.  We arrived at Dustin's about 1/2 hr before he got home from work. We will be here until Monday when we head south.

Day 12: Bodega Bay to Samuel Taylor State Park, 42miles

We made lots of short stops today (to eat)  Ron is eating a sausage wrapped with a blueberry pancake.  Once again the route had lots of hills.  The last time we rode this we did not have baggage because Dustin and Jessica had camped with us for two nights.  We can certainly tell the difference!

We are staying at a campground that welcomed us with a 5 mile bike path. We will reach San Francisco tomorrow.

Day 11: Port Arena to Bodega Dunes State Park, 64 miles

We reached our intended destination at 1:15 which we thought was too early to stop.  Going on ended up to be a questionable decision!  It was quite warm and lots of hills.  We made it safely here about 5 p.m.  It was very wIndy In the hiker biker camp but we asked for a better site and they gave us one with more protection from the wind. There is only one other biker here. He he's older than we are and he started in British Columbia.  He will stop in San Francisco and take the train back to Iowa.

Day 10: Ft Bragg to Port Arena, 45 miles

We rode along Hwy 1. Nice views but still a little foggy. We are stayed in a hotel to watch the OSU Beavers baseball game. They won and will play in the college world series. Our next travels will be to Ft Ross area. . .only a few very small towns. No internet here.

Day 9: Rest Day in Fort Bragg, CA

We enjoyed the overnight with Bob and Laura. We lounged in the morning and went for breakfast. They left to drive home near Sacramento. We rested!  Back on the bike tomorrow headed to Manchester.

Day 8: Redwoods to Westport, CA 22+ miles

We had a beautiful camp setting last night.  We survived without any limbs falling on us. We heard wild cat sounds (most likely cougars).  It was a warm day. We took our time getting to Garberville where we were being met by my brother Bob and his wife Laura.

We enjoyed the ride over Leggett hill in their pickup!  We are stayimg in a cottage by the ocean. It is sunny and in the 60's.  Laura brought a picnic lunch--we are living the good life!  Even a OSU baseball game on TV.

We have about 200 miles from here to reach San Francisco by Friday.

Day 7: Acacia to Weott, CA 58 miles

This was a relatively flat day's ride.  we had about two miles total of uphill. Yea!  We still were glad to arrive. We are in the redwoods, camping at Burlington campground (it is in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  Most of the parks have hiker/biker option for $5 per person.  These do not need reservations. They have hot showers and sell fire wood.We rode through Redwoods and have more tomorrow. The weather is very nice for camping. We meet my brother and his wife tomorrow. They wanted to take us over Leggett Hill and then camp with us at Westport.

This is logging/lumber country.  Scotia is a company-owned town. The population is 1200 and almost everyone works for the
Pacific Lumber Co.  It is a neat and tidy town with lots of lookalike houses.

Day 6: Klamath to Arcata, 54 miles

Hills. . .that is what we remember today.  Also a  fresh strawberry snack. We stopped and chatted with a family of 4 traveling from Crescent City to San Francisco.  They were loaded heavy (2 trailers), even carrying some wood for campfires!  The kids were about 4 and 8.  I commented our kids were lucky we didn't travel that way with them.  They are moving slowly--walking the hills. All is well. In case you wonder we are sore and tired by the end of the day. We ride about 7 hrs and have many temperature changes--so are coats & long pants are on and off several times.