Day 14

DAY 14

September 16, 2013, Monday

Half Moon Bay State Beach to Sunset State Beach, California (Monterey Bay)

67 miles (running total = 699 miles)

Another beautiful day greets me as I awaken before dawn. Last night, Alan and I agree to ride as a team for a while, and he suggested we arise early today because we have nearly 70 miles to reach Sunset State Beach in northern Monterey Bay for tonight’s camp. Alan always gets up early, as all cyclists usually do, but he even beats the early birds. He like to ride at a slower pace, so he allows himself more time. He always arrives at the same nightly destination as everyone else, but he gets there later and leaves earlier. To awaken me, he walks over to my trike and jingles the flag antenna, which activates my little yellow bear bell. Of course, I am already awake, just savoring the final few moments in my cozy warm bag as the sky very slowly brightens off to the east.

We take off, and after a while I pedal past a sign that says 46 miles to Santa Cruz, and 95 miles to Monterey. Alan tells me that navigating through these two cities can be problematic, and how on a former trip, he got lost several times and had to backtrack. He offers to guide me through both towns, through all the little unknown bike paths and alternate routes that make the journey more enjoyable, and sometimes shorter. I navigated San Francisco on my own, and yes, it can be a frustrating exercise having to stop and ask everyone you see how to get where you are going. So, I graciously take Alan up on his offer and tag along behind him.

Today the ride is relatively fast and easy. We are out of the huge cliff mountains for a while, and maintain much higher speeds with much less effort. The shoulders are mostly over sized and clean, which suits me fine, but I know that south of Carmel, the cliffs will return in a couple of days. I ask Alan about New Brighten State Beach, but he says Sunset Beach is a much better campground in his opinion. The scenery is gorgeous in many places. At one point, I look off to the left, towards the east, on a section of road that is elevated, and gaze down into a serene and idyllic valley shrouded in morning fog. A picture on my Kodak Z915 digital camera brings it back for you – what do you think? I can always spot Alan up ahead in his Arizona jersey, which has seen better days. I tell him he needs a new one once he returns home.

Up in northern California, this highway was called the Redwood Highway. Here as I head south from San Francisco, it is now called the Cabrillo Highway. Before this trip began, my sister Willow sent me a postcard with a photograph of Pigeon Point lighthouse on it, and she wanted me to stop there and see it on my journey. So I did. I took a couple photos to show her too. There is a hostel at Pigeon Point lighthouse, and the scenery is wonderful, but I pedal on towards Sunset Beach and Monterey. The pedaling is easier today because there is a very nice tailwind to drive me forward. Look at my smiley flag on the trike as it sits in front of Pigeon Point lighthouse. The original big classic light is gone in this lighthouse, and only a small modern beam shines. They must have run out of money to maintain the historic locale.

Passing the Santa Cruz county line, I am greeted by Swanton’s berry farm, just one of many such roadside businesses that motorists can visit to taste goodies and load up the trunk with fresh food. As a trike nomad, more weight is not something I want, so I travel on, taking only pictures.

Finally, Alan and I enter the city of Santa Cruz, and in good time too, as the roads have been easy. He knows his way through here. I ask him about a Safeway. He says to wait until the one on the south end of town. There are 5 Safeway supermarkets here, and, true to his admonishment, the final one is the nicest one. It allows us to eat a little later so we won’t be starving for dinner tonight. There are several short but steep uphills as we progress through Santa Cruz, and the city goes on for what seems like forever. We have come over 50 miles so far, a long day in many cyclists’ minds, but we have about 15 or so to go.

Santa Cruz is bike friendly for the most part, with many signs telling motorists to be kind and share the road, plus it has bike lanes here and there. Where there are no bike lanes, the city has erected bright green signs that show a bicyclist in the lane in front of a car, with the words underneath: BIKES IN LANE. Leaving the southern end of the city, the Pacific Coast Bike Route parallels the freeway, separated by a chain link fence. There is a key intersection after the PCBR crosses the freeway, where we follow the sign and turn right. Alan once turned left here, which is the intuitive thing to do based on how the terrain appears, and ended up inland in a town called Freedom. His knowledge is valuable. Another sign reads BE COURTEOUS SHARE THE ROAD, showing a car and bicycle side by side.

We are now in sprawling agricultural landscapes, with huge white mansions and long distance views near the ocean. As the day is wearing thin, we arrive at Sunset Beach road, a narrow straight road that leads about a mile or more to Sunset State Beach, through the endless fields of green crops. The ocean is dead ahead, and camp is near again. We pay our fees ($5) at the guard house, and I learn that it is about another three quarters of a mile to the hiker/biker camp, up some very steep hilly terrain. After 68 miles, I pull off the pavement and into the tiny hiker/biker camp area, next to the showers. This campground is mostly empty out on this end. It is very far off the beaten path, and few tourists probably even know about it. As a result, it is also very quiet out here in farmer land. It is on a bluff above the ocean.

Alan bought a pizza at Safeway I discover, as he gets out his Jet Boil stove and starts heating up sections of it one at a time. It smells like a pizzeria out here, but I eat my Uncle Ben’s precooked Santa Fe rice out of a packet, mixed with 3 ounces of Starkist pink salmon, wild caught, of course, not farm bred. There is a seemingly endless field of some crop just over a tiny berm past my tent. I am surrounded by an ocean of green on three sides, and an ocean of blue on one side. I write in my journal once bedded down in my tent, using my headlamp. A nearly full moon rises. Through the first half of the night, I enjoy watching it cast moon shadows on me through my tent door mesh. It is magical, and I am at peace. Good night.

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