Day 18 – San Francisco to Pescadero (55 miles / 859 total)

It’s been a good day.

First the big news. For the first time on my trip I have set up my tent without the rain fly. There is no chance of rain and it’s not that cold. I’m excited. I pulled into Costanoa Campgrounds where you “discover the pace of nature” a few hours ago and things are working out.

As I write this the sun has set beyond the line of eucalyptus trees but has a ways to go before it succumbs to the ocean below.

I was warned about Costanoa. “It’s expensive” per the adventure cycling maps but it was my only choice. It is by no means the best campground – in fact, it may be on listed towards the bottom of the list. But it is warm, I have internet (saves me about an hour of trying to find a place to upload these posts) and am in the company of other cyclists. $27/night

The other cyclists
Turns out those guys you see at REI do go out and go on adventures. I’m sharing a primitive campsite with three guys from the Berkeley REI store, which I spent a bunch of time at yesterday. They even recognized my tent, the classic REI Half Dome (the original). They are also heading down to Southern California.

The day started rough though. I left my folks house headed over to BART and took it over to SF. From which point I proceeded to get lost trying to find Highway 1. I found Highway 1 and accompanying head wind after about 20 minutes (I wonder what people think when they see the red dot move back and forth over the same street).

But it was hard to leave the Bay Area this morning. I felt like I was climbing out of the safety net heading back up to the tight rope where I was trying to walk to the other side. Early in the day I wondered whether I had made the right choice.

My knees are doing much better. My hands and wrists are sore but nothing to worry about. I won’t discuss what my toes look like.

Between Pacifica and Montara Highway 1 has no business trying to let cars and bikes share the same road. The road is steep, has tons of cars and a four inch shoulder. It was the worst road yet. Half Moon Bay and beyond has been the opposite, huge shoulders, nice wind, rolling hills that keep it interesting, few cars, and great vistas.

The waves down here are amazing. They seem to peak and pick a direction giving the surfer time to enjoy the ride.

Dried out vegetation is slowly replacing lush green along the road. Truth be told, I missed the brown. Brown means dry, brown means warm, brown means Southern California.

A horse seems to be walking around the campground. Signs are everywhere instructing dogs to be on a leash but I guess horses are exempt.

I stopped by old town Pescadero for chips and a coke (aka lunch) and can say with certainty that it is a nice place. Two mini marts, one bar, and two Mexican food places.

Towns passed:
Daly City (pop. 103,621)
Pacifica (pop. 38,390)
Montara (pop. 2,950)
El Granada (pop. 5,724)
Miramar (pop. unknown)
Half Moon Bay (pop. 11,842)
San Gregorio (pop. unknown)
Pescadero (pop. 122)

Trivia:
What was the purpose of the California Missions?

We had a funny post by anonymous that I won’t repeat here and Lexykins is close but alas does not have the correct answer for Day 12 and are still waiting for the correct response.

Time to go take some ibuprofen and get ready for bed.

Picture link:

Day 18 – San Francisco to Pescadero (55 miles 859 total)

Thanks for reading.

Sellers