Beaches everywhere

Sunday, July 20 (Day 65)

Distance: 83.5 miles

Average speed: 11.4 mph

Max: 34 mph

Total: 3625 miles

Weather: morning fog and chill, afternoon sunshine and 10 mph tailwind!!

It felt odd to ride at 8 am because it didn't look it, with the fog obscuring most light. I turned on my rear blinker (which I leave on all the time now) and set off onto crowded highway 101.

Pros of highway 101: beautiful scenery, often a wide shoulder, frequent signs warning cars of cyclists, passes lots of beaches and historical sites and towns

Cons of highway 101: often a narrow shoulder, heavy traffic, lots of tourists, very hilly

But man is everything gorgeous. Riding down the coast, it really struck me how developed pretty much everything is. It seems that people found paradise and chopped it all down to get a better look, and now only a few breathtaking glimmers shine through.

All day, I kept getting asked, "you really started in New York?", and I have yet to figure out how to respond! Yup, my sign speaks the truth, and I made it this far.

I stopped to visit a beautiful old lighthouse. There are quite a few of these treasures along the coast.

And had a lovely ice cream break!

And finally stole a chance to step into the freezing waters of the Pacific, grinning with glee.

I stopped to chat with a touring family. They started in Seattle and are headed to Northern California, and are "credit card touring", which means no camping gear is necessary. 

Trish, Matt, Morgan, and Maddy are having one last hurrah before the kids head to their respective universities, and all were a huge pleasure to meet. They were a riot! They have been on the road for 10 days and have 10 days left, and are planning to send things home tomorrow. I couldn't help a small laugh, because for me 10 days seems too short a period of time to send anything home. They're almost there! I have to remind myself that my version of time is a little skewed.

After that encounter, I went through the first tunnel of my trip. At the entrance is a button that cyclists press, which turns lights on in the tunnel and flashes lights on signs for cars to slow down and be aware that a cyclist is in the tunnel. It wasn't so bad, and it was pretty short. Beats going up and over the mountain!

Soon, I made it up a big hill and rounded the corner to be met with a spectacular view of sand dunes for miles.

By then I was feeling drained and ready to turn in, so I found a wonderful hiker biker camp and set up. A park ranger invited me to the s'mores event that was going on nearby, which attracted many children (never a bad thing).

There's a man, Ben, camping here. He quit his job a month ago and is going to hike around the United States. He started in Seattle and is going to go down the coast, across the south, and up the east coast!

Miles to San Francisco: 593