How to be cool: By people with no experience

Editors note: You’ll have to forgive the lack of photos on this blog. I’ve updated the blog since my last trip, but that broke my photo integration. Once I get back to San Francisco, I’ll fix the blog and re-add photo integration. You’ll just have to deal with my writing until then.

Monday! It’s now a real trip and not just a weekend :). We’ve named the trip “SLO ride”, which I think is appropriate on so many levels.

Monday was likely the least scenic day of the trip, bring mostly inland and flat, but we had a great time, and met quite a bit of a headwind along the way. It was mostly a heads down biking day, but the campsite we stayed in at the end was, well, interesting.

Monday started at a “hole in the wall” place (it was literally called hole in the wall), where we all, inspired by Darragh’s breakfast choice yesterday, got French toast and eggs!

We started our ride to Monterey after that! The ride from Santa Cruz to Monterey is mostly along a busy and loud section of highway 1. We stopped at a really cool art motorcycle that was made almost entirely from horseshoes and is about 10 feet tall and 15 feet in length. That was a pretty fun stop!

After the motorcycles, highway 1 turns into a freeway, and we took backroads along a farm! All the people working on the farm were very friendly, and waved and said hi as we went along. We were able to chat and play word games along the way, which was great!

After the farm, we made it to the trail along the coast in Monterey! That was likely the most beautiful part of the ride, although by then we were pretty tired! We bikes into town, stopped at the Joe’s at which the locals Trade, and picked up dinner (penne pasta, bell peppers, onion, seasoning, hot Italian sausage, and a side salad), some beers, and of course the triple ginger snap cookies and peanut butter cups!

Turns out the campsite in Monterey is at the top of the hill! So we had to climb 500 feet to get up there. However, we more than made it, and found a lot of people already up there!

The first person we ran into was Chris. He was the park ranger, and a great guy. He had just revamped the signs, and was very friendly helping us check in.

We then made it up to the hiker biker site. A guy, who we later learned to be named “Jimmy” yelled as we passed the site “you looking for the hiker biker”? Thank you Jimmy, we would’ve missed it otherwise! Jimmy is from SLO, and has been biking up the coast from Seattle! He’s had a great trip, but is missing home a bit. We chatted about his trip, the people he’s met, and the places he went. Like many people along the trip, he’s biked with a lot of people along the way!

Next was Ruth. I was surprised when we made it to the site to see so many tents, but so few bikes. But, like Ruth, it looks like there’s a good amount of people that live in town that are living in the campground. Ruth used to live in San Francisco, but now lives here, likely only in the campground. She was very chatty, and brought out a candle so we could all see each other! We had a nice chat with her for a good while.

After Ruth, we meet Fred and Aria. They were both biking from Seattle to San Diego or Mexico, and had met each other along the way. Fred was almost comical in how downtrodden he was. “My entire body is broken” and “how expensive is the bus?” He’ll make it just fine, but he was funny. Aria on the other hand was positive and convicted. They both rolled up to the campsite after dark, and I think we’re happy to be there!

Lastly, there was Brandon and his friend who’s name I don’t know. Brandon was in the army “101st Airborne” and proud of it. Since leaving the army he’s been back packing around the country. His pack weighs 80 pounds, and he had some great stories.

I’m not sure the background on Brandon’s friend, but he was in his early 50s and also backpacking around the country. They’re both southern boys, and were hilarious. Brandon’s friend was witty, very intelligent, and kind. Brandon was also smart, but strong and convicted. A conversation between the two of them might went:

Brandon: “So then the RV I was hitching in broke down, and we were in the middle of the desert you see, and it was hot as balls out. Well I didn’t think they’d be able to fix it, so I got out, and started walking. I was booking, probably making 10 mph.”

Brandon’s friend: “10 mph, you were not, no way”

Brandon: Yes I was, you ever heard of the airborne shuffle”

Brandon’s friend: “10 mph, that’s basically running. No way”

Brandon: “(inappropriate sentence) I was! I had two camelbacks on. Had both tubes in my mouth at the same time. Had all 80 lbs on my back too (Brandon’s friend: bullshit) I had sucked them dry when the RV gave me a call, and said they’d fixed it and could pick me up. Good thing too, I could’ve died out there.”

We had a great time listening to stories from the two of them. They both have just been traveling around the country for years. They were surprised by how many people were living in the hiker/biker campsite. I assured them that most in California were just hikers/bikers, not people living there, and they were relieved by that. But I gave them a heads up that the one in Santa Cruz is biker only. Brandon’s friend pointed out: “See, I told you, all these people living here is not good! They’re gonna start making more and more of these biker only of people start living here like this!” I hope not, for their sake, but think he’s write.

We were planning on staying two nights in Monterey, but because we didn’t feel comfortable leaving our gear in camp, we’re likely gonna go 20 miles to the next campground and stay there. Aria and Fred will be there too, which should be great! And it should be an easy day for us.

Tonight and tomorrow we may be out of cell service! So no promises on posting blog posts!

Mike, Brittany, and Mark!