Coastal days - Posted from Phoenix, Arizona

Driving down the Pacific coasts, with all the freedom to take my time and spend some time surfing when I wanted to: not a bad thing to look forward to, not at all.

The first day included all I had expected, and a little extra: I took off from the Morro Bay motel, after the usual motel morning ritual: blog posts, pics and movies... the road offered beautiful views, and after a few miles the first surprise: I had to get fuel at Cambria, and there were big signs on the road saying that it would be closed later in the day. I checked with the attendant what would happen exactly: I wouldn't want to have to go on the #101 highway instead of the #1 coastal road. He informed me that there was a bike race going on: all the way from Monterrey (which would be my end goal for the day) to Cambria. The closing of the road would be with a moving gate however, so no reason not to head on North.

After this first surprise the second turned up after a few more miles: an elephant seal colony! The stink came first, but then the view... there must be a few thousand elephant seals here!

I spend a little time looking at these creatures. On the beach they look quite lazy: dozing in the sun, using their flippers to throw some sandsunscreen on their backs, fighting now and then. There's actually a back to back line of seals directly against the surf. I don't know if this is if they're too lazy to move up onto the beach proper, or if its to be as close as possible to the water to cool off. Compared to their behavior on the beach it makes a lot of difference when they're in the water: fast, playful, fluid. I would have loved to dive with these creatures. However, I didn't investigate my options, didn't have much time, little money, and no experience dry suit diving (the water is too cold here). So I guess I'll have to come back here some time (the whole Monterey bay area is a huge, huge marine reserve, with lots and lots of beautiful wildlife).

After driving through some more beautiful scenery the first stop due to the race came up: a portal across the road, which was apparently a timing or finish gate. Major respect for the cyclists on the road: I had been zig-zagging, climbing and descending again on this road... all in my airconditioned glass bubble of course. Doing this on a bike, in the blazing sun outside is a demanding task! 

I had thought that this stop was it, but it turned out further down the road there would be another stop.

I stopped to take a shot of this beautiful rock, and maybe check out if there were any rare birds on it. There was an elderly couple with binoculars nearby so I asked them what they were seeing. This was the start of a very nice conversation: they had been watching whales actually and offered me to take a look as well with one of their binoculars. These were very good binoculars, offering a beautiful view of what was most likely a blue fin whale, feeding a mile out of the coast. We spotted their breathing clouds for a while, and also checked out what other wildlife was around: seals, cormorants and pelicans. It turned out that the lady of the couple had been working as a volunteer at a local marine reserve association for 20 years already, so she had wonderful stories of the growth of the wildlife in the area. The elephant seal colony had grown from a few hundred individuals to some 2400 now. 

The couple was actually there to watch the bike race: I was suprised, because I thought I had already passed it. It turned out it was a full on tour with professional cyclists, just like the Tour de France. They showed me the participant list, which also had a lot of Dutch people on it (I'm not into cycling, but only recognized a few names). Some googling afterwards turned up the url of the event (http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com).

After spending half an hour or so with the couple I decided to try to move up a little, before the platoon would hit our spot: I did want to do some surfing as well today! Well, I only made it half a mile down the road before a motor officer directed me to the side of the road: the race was coming near! It is always a big circus to see such an event pass, and this was no exception. A fun thing to come across however, and quite good to be forced to stand still and just to take in the scenery for a change. All this driving makes you miss a lot of stuff which requires longer or closer inspection.

The leaders

The platoon coming down the hill

The rest of the circus

When the circus has passed I could move on again. A few miles down the road was one of the surf beaches I had marked down. However, from the roadside I could only see a National Forest campsite, and a parking lot for daytime access to the beach (paid). I wanted to make some miles, instead of spending time and money, so I passed it. However, a mile down was a Volkswagen van parked on the roadside, near a fence. I decided to check it out, as it might offer a good view of the beach.

This view was so enticing to me that I decided to turn around and call it a day with regards to driving. The campground host had a spot for me for one night, there were no showers, but there was beach access and flush toilets... so value for money for a change! I spent the rest of the day surfing. An impression in the video's below.

Youtube: http://youtu.be/rG5UroFyEWw

Of course I could post video's of ten of these rides, but that would be boring for you. Instead, take a look at one of my fails: I nearly lost my camera here!

Youtube: http://youtu.be/E4KZKmmftOY

How do you end such a day? Like this:

Having spent half the day surfing yesterday, today would mean a lot of driving to make up for that lost time. Monterey was the goal. The drive was pretty much the same: great views, but a lot less stories because I had miles to make, so just an impression in pictures below.

When I reached monterey it was already evening, so after getting groceries it was time to start looking for a place to stay the night. None of the couchsurfing hosts I had written had replied, and I didn't really feel like spending more money, so nerding time! Freecampgrounds.net didn't offer any solutions, so I marked down a few spots via google maps satellite view (yes I am Dutch and stingy ;-)). The cheapest campground option would be a National Forest campground on a racing ground.. quite a strange combination. 

I first drove up to the sites I had marked down just west of Monterey, but these turned out to be a crowded and fenced forest entrance, and a private rich people's area. Annoyed I turned back on the road towards the Grand Prix campground. Instead of finding your usual self registration envelopes and box there was a manned fence, and race posters everywhere... oh oh. The woman at the gate told me that it was a race weekend and that there was no National Forest Campground this weekend: camping tickets were sold together with entrance to the races. It was near sunset though, and I told her I was just there for the night, asking for the Grand Prix campground (the one furthest away from the raceway, without showers and facilities). She was in a good mood, and just let me through! I couldn't find any place to pay either, so that was $30 saved! The campsite itself turned out to offer an amazing view too! Sometimes you gotta love serendipity and friendly people! 

The next day at breakfast the first engines started running and I saw motorbikes and Indiecars on the track. 

I took a last look at the beautiful views and had to move on to do more driving. However, like on the first day, I was surprised by wildlife, on a beach that should actually be a surf beach (but no waves to be found!). The wildlife consisted of:

A sea lion colony

A family of sea otters

Pelicans

White herons

A seal

And pièce de résistance: 

A snake: it was on the road, but it was fast, fast fast and very difficult to photograph

Googling and comparing the pattern on its back should make this out as a California red-sided garter snake. Pfew, not venomous to humans, so I didn't do anything stupid.... or is that the wrong conclusion ;-).

All this wildlife was at Moss' Landing... guess what was the backdrop?

Yup, sometimes 'ugly' industry results in a perfect habitat for lots of wildlife! Next up: driving! Tonight I would have to be in San Mateo, to meet up with Couchsurfing host Eli. He would have to work though, so I would meet him after 19:00. This meant that I wouldn't have to hurry, and could surf another day.

This time it was on Manresa beach, where I got a lot of comments on my van, so lots of small conversations on the parking lot: fun. On the water I met another beginner surfer, he was from Colorado and traveling with his dad. The conversation with the locals on the water didn't go much further than grunts and growls... we didn't get in their way though, so at the end of the day at the parking lot we did share a bit of smalltalk.

Pretty endless surfing beach right there...

The road to San Mateo that Garmin sent me to had me a little worried as it was a very small provincial road winding up hill tops trough dense forest, but I did end up where I needed to be. Driving into civilization again after days of ocean roads was strange, especially seeing all the familiar names on the (road) signs: Palo Alto, Google, Menlo Park, Cupertino, Stanford, Los Altos... almost surreal. At the same time the sky and sunset also made a grand display: I'm gonna make a really corny reference here, but it reminded me of the Pocahontas line 'can you paint with all the colors of the sky'.

The day ended by meeting up with Eli and heading for a drink in San Francisco. However, these stories will have to wait until another blog post. I will end with Picasa links:

Day 55: Coastal roads

Day 56: Coastal roads

Day 57: Coastal roads