Nomad No More

Silver City, NM. 30 December 2008.

Congratulations, you have made it to Bakersfield in time for Christmas.  Spend the Holidays in your aunts house surrounded by cousins and their kids.  Take your grandpa out for french toast breakfast.  You catch a ride with your Dad down to San Diego, then to Joshua tree.  Spend a few days hiking and climbing on the rocks before heading home to New Mexico.  Store your bikes and trailers, and consider taking a climbing trip next time. 

A BIg Kid's Playground

Monterey, CA

(spend your last day in Monterey at the Bay Aquarium, which you explore from roof to basement, watching sea otters, finding tree frogs, and searching for the sea dragons)

Day: 22 Dec 2008

Weather: sunny, breezy

Health: acting like a kid in a candy store

Food: free pancakes :)

Next Landmark: Bakersfield, CA

Distance Traveled: Just shy of 800

Big Sur State Park, CA.  21 December 2008

The electric cable snaps down the road, creating a small wildfire, and cutting off electricity to the community.  You spend the night huddled under piles of blankets, hoping it doesn't snow.  Wake in the morning to hot cider, clear skies, and an adventure in the Andrew Molera State Park.  There you witness a scene from "The Birds," spy a wildcat, lend your map to a lost family, and avoid the rain by playing gin rummy under the outhouse roof.

California + Fire = Burnt Big Sur

Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, CA

(catch the bus to Big Sur, bike to the national park to find out it is closed due to fire damage, go to the beach instead, befriend a local with a dog that chases seagulls and scares small children)

Day: 20 Dec 2008

Weather: california sunshine :)

Health: looking forward to a warm hotel room

Food: free pancakes with peanut butter mmm

Next Landmark: Monterey, back down the mountain

Distance Traveled: 765 miles

Strawberry Fields Forever

Monterey, California

 (eat the most amazing strawberries in the world, follow potholes mud plastered farmer roads, wonder why there isnt a ferry across the bay) 

Day: 18 Dec 2008

Weather: sun, cloudy, rain, sun, looming storm

Health: wondering if monterey is really 11, no 6, no 12, no 20 miles away-  you think the highway patrol should figure out what is wrong with their odometer

Food: trailmix and cliff bars

Next Landmark: Big Sur, um up the huge mountian

Distance Traveled: 765.7ish miles

Scenic Rating: 9

Sunset Beach, CA 

(leave late from SC to hit up the bike shop, meander along next to the ocean, you are the only ones in the campground so you get the "sunny spot")

Day: 17 Dec 2008

Weather: Off and on rain and sunshine

Health: brrr, impressed with surfers in the wintery surf

Food: couscous and a bad brand of instant chai

Next Landmark: Monterey, still ahead 

Distance Traveled: 720ish miles

SurfCity (Almost)

Santa Cruz, CA

(pass by a brussel sprout packaging plant, a snowman!, and surfing paradise. watch the christmas trees strapped to the top of cars whizz by, wonder if everyone in SC really is crazy or if it's just you)

Day: 16 Dec 2008

Weather: sunshine! whoooo

Health: teeth chattering and windblown 

Food: $1 pizzas downtown sc

Next Landmark: Monterey, some miles

Distance Traveled: 702 miles