Temptation wins Over

Friday July 27, 2012

Brandon had another flat on the way to Monterey, so the count was 5 flats to my 11.  We rode our bikes into Carmel and decided to have a Bagel and Breakfast at Safeway.  After much discussion and looking over the map we decided to opt for a bus instead of doing the one over to Big Sur state Park.  Jamie had taken off 20 minutes before us and it was probably our last time we would see him.  He was stopping in San Luis Obispo and was trying to make it there by Saturday night.  I'm sure we probably could have riden it but realizing we only have a few days left of our vacation we both decided to get as far ahead as the bus could take us.  So $24 dollars later we arrived at the Oceano Campground.  Which was a whopping two day travel on our bikes but 8 hours by bus.  We called my cousin who lives in a town close to SLO(cant remember the name) and she came to visit with us the next morning.  Jill it was so nice to see you and thanks for everything.!!Even though we didn't get to spend much time with you we did have fun and I hope Joe gets the Job in Billings.!!  Jill gave us a ride in her big truck to Cambria, from there we rode to Lompac, then all the way into Santa Barbara.  We had spoken to my sister Laurie who lives in Palm Springs.  We were to meet her in LA or try to get there by Sunday.  We stayed our last night at the Carpinteria state Beach, which was the most expensive state park we had stayed on our whole trip $10/person and showers were not free they cost a quarter per 1 1/2 min.  It was a nice state park we met up with David who we had not seen since two days before our first break in Florence, Oregon.  He told us he had ridden for five days with Peter and we asked about the road over to Big Sur.  The book we are following says there are no shoulders and to be very careful.  He told us one of the gentleman he started riding with had actually gotten clipped by an RV so it was quite scary and shook the whole group for awhile.  I was glad we had opted out of that section of the trip.  I told him to give us a call as he and his girlfriend are planning on a bike trip into Utah.  We would gladly host them for a warm shower.  We said good bye that evening and told him our plan to stop in LA.  He was traveling all the way to San Diego and was taking a flight out on the 4th of August.  It has been the best time we have ever had on a vacation.  In alot of ways I wish this road was a bit safer (shoulder) and since this is such a popular ride some of the drivers were a little more patient.  It was nice to know we could actually ride the whopping 1418 miles we put on our bikes without killing one another.  Okay so we did have one little break down in Santa Cruz(Hehe, I'm not gonna LIE).  We enjoyed the beautiful parts of the country we saw on our bikes and the people we met were so beautiful, warm and friendly!!!  Our passports wont be stamped again in Mexico but we are alright with that, I am so proud my girls made it to their destination.  They started  on May 25th in Anacortes, Washington and arrived in Bar Harbor Maine on Sunday July 29th with a whopping 4,000 miles on their bikes.  Way to go Hannah & Chloe!!!!  Hoping for Better roads and more support for all those bikers out there on the road!  Thank you Laurie & Andrew for coming to get us to be able to spend time with you and hopefully not gain all the weight back that was just lost!!  Until our next Adventure  :)  Mickey & Brandon