Map courtesy of AAA

Saturday, July 31, 1999 - Bodega Dunes State Park to Samuel P Taylor State Park
We had a late start because of some tire trouble. We headed on down the road passing a cute little town of Valley Ford. The sun was shining and everything was grand. Then we headed back towards the coast to Tomales bay and it was windy cold and very nasty. We stopped in Marshall for lunch (had a good Rueben) and then headed on to Point Reyes Station breaking back into sunshine. It was also a very cool little town. We got groceries there and saw Frank and Will there. In Olema we got gas and beer. Then we headed into the Park for our camp.

We were talking to Larry, earlier, who had done this trip times previously and he said he was stopping in SF because of the bad weather.

While waiting for Will and Frank we met a very interesting gentleman who we later learned was named Dennis. He can be described as a vagrant, but he was much more than that. He got some meat out of the cabinet, told us that some of the meat had fly eggs on it and had begun to smell, but that he just washed it off and was cooking it. His cabinet was a cornucopia of rotting smelly food that he just cooked to death over the fire. We all had a good laugh about where the meat came from. We met another gentlemen later but we will include that in the next update.

Sunday, August 1, 1999 - Samuel P. Taylor State Park
In addition to Dennis there was another guy who showed up to sleep on the table. He was wearing dress shoes and periodically disappeared to bring back some chunks of fire wood.

Will asked him if he was heading some place. He said yeah and then paused for about 30 seconds and said "it is a long journey". That was weird. We locked up everything, took more stuff than usual into the tent with us and went to sleep. About 3:00 am, Dennis was digging through his meat pantry again; cussing at it and being rather annoying.

Until later,
Tad and Dan

Sunday, August 1, 1999 - Samuel P. Taylor State Park to Half Moon Bay
We did not get up until about 7:00 am. Dennis showed up again and started the fire with white gas. I could feel the heat when it flashed. Thank goodness no-one was burned.

Dan and I got packed and headed out. We stopped and talked to the Ranger who reminded us of Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. We told him about the homeless guys and his meat pantry.

The trip through Marin County to the Golden Gate bridge was uneventful and slow. We stopped and ate at Denny's and then stopped at a bike shop and bought some tubes.

The Bridge was windy but clear. We finally made our way to Daly City and stopped for lunch. The wind is tiring but at least there is sun.

Until next time,
Tad and Dan

August 1-2, 1999 - Samuel P.Taylor to Half Moon Bay continued.
The rest of the day from Daly City to Half Moon Bay was uneventful. We got to Half Moon Bay State park and were disappointed by the presence of more drifters at the hiker biker site. They were nice enough people but aimless. There was a couple with a little girl. Dan and I felt sorry for a kid growing up in that fashion.

We ate and went to bed early. At 11:45 we were awakened to a rendition of Janis Joplin's "Oh Lord won't you by me a Mercedes Benz". We yelled out that it was quiet time but they did not stop until I yelled "Hush!!".

That was all of Half Moon Bay.

August 2, 1999 - Half Moon Bay to Sunset Beach
We left Half Moon Bay State Park at about 7:30. We road back into town for an Egg McMuffin and to get some groceries.

The ride into Santa Cruz was nice. A few steep hills and some rolling hills. The sun came out and we had a great tail wind. We stopped and ate at Davenport at a little taqueria. It was quite good. Santa Cruz was fantastic with great weather and interesting sites. We got off track from the book and wandered through Capatola. What a cute little town.

We then continued to Aptos and bought groceries for the night before continuing on to Sunset Beach State Park. The strawberry, cabbage and artichoke fields looked great dipping down to the ocean.

There was a strangely steep climb to the camping location. We camped right next to a Group of Jewish School Girls and we learned that the tables were not Kosher.

Until later, shalom
Tad and Dan

Map courtesy of AAA

August 3, 1999 - Sunset Beach to Big Sur
We got a very late start out of Sunset Beach State Park. The weather was great from the beginning. We packed up, sent email and started towards Monterey. We stopped for an early lunch at Burger King in Castroville. After lunch the wind was in our face as we headed into Monterey. We ran into Rob (from New York) for the second time for the day. We were not sure how to get through town so we stopped and bought a map at an Ultra Mart.

We found our way through some steep hills in Monterey with Stefan. Stefan left us around Carmel. We stopped in Carmel Heights and had another SoBe. We did some good climbs into Big Sur and hit some incredible winds around Hurricane Point, I wonder why they call it that. The winds pushed us into Big Sur where we saw Stefan's bike, we went on to the campground. Pfieffer Big Sur is a beautiful campground, the nicest we were in, probably. Stefan and Rob came in soon after.

We went over to the lodge/grocery/restaurant and were sickened by the prices, we just got some Ramen and some chips and called it good.

We had good showers and the weather was actually warm in the evening.

Till later,
Dan and Tad

Map courtesy of AAA

August 4, 1999 - Big Sur to Cayucos
We started the morning with intentions of a very short day to Kirk Creek Campground. We scaled the big hills of Big Sur and went up an down till we got to Lucia. At Lucia we saw Stefan for the last time and the two kids who were trying to make it to SLO that same day. The store in Lucia was nothing but over priced junk food so we decided we could make it with our current food. We headed on down to the camp and when we got there we saw increased prices for a crummy camp. We then decided to push on to Cayucos and enjoy my birthday.

We scaled the big hills past gorda with little trouble. The flats around Ragged Point were a welcome sight. Finally we got the tail winds we were needing to push us home. We pounded for miles till we got to Cambria where we enjoyed a hotdog and a SoBe which powered us on home to Cayucos. We stopped at the market for my birthday meal and went to the house for food, the spa, and a real bed. It was a nice treat for the end of the trip.

Overall the trip was great, we had our moments of displeasure but most of that was directed towards the weather. We saw a lot and met a lot of great people. Most drivers were great with a few jerks here and there. Most people were very curious especially about the BOB trailers. I would recommend this trip to every adventurous cyclist out there (I just wish you better weather than we had).

Farewell,
Dan and Tad