Day 19 – Pescadero to Marina (60 miles / 924 total)

Today felt like I road from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. That doesn’t quite make sense as I passed through Santa Cruz and I’m just outside of Monterey. But neither of those places are familiar which is behind my feeling.

A tail wind carried through Santa Cruz but was quickly replaced with a headwind once I passed through strawberry fields in Moss Landing.

I’m a little upset at the moment. My stove ran out of fuel and it was a pain to find more. It runs of gas or most any fuel but most of the gas nozzles in California seem to be smart enough to not turn on when they are not inside a car which, in turn, leads to the gas station attendant asking me not to do that. To make matters worse I thought I had enough fuel for dinner and had to make a last minute run to Jack in the Box. (Getting back on my bike after I think I’m finished riding sucks.)

Thankfully Walmart had kerosene (thanks Steve).

My back hurts, my wrists hurts, my knees hurt but none of that is new.

Tomorrow is supposed to have a lot of hills.

I’m anxious to get somewhere I’m familiar with. This wont happen until I hit Morro Bay in a couple of days.

The road was nice and safe today. I took side streets most of the way.

I’m staying at an RV park that warrants locking up my bike.

For some reason people don’t seem so friendly near Monterey but maybe I’m not that friendly. As I ride I try to smile and wave but there is usually only a look of question on their face.

So much agriculture in California. Very different from Oregon.

My beard (I think that is what it is now) feels weird.

Funny story from last night.
So, there I am minding my own business, staying horizontal when I hear footsteps outside my tent around 4AM.

Too light to be human. Too many to be a bear. I had seen warning signs for wolves, coyotes, and bobcats (? – that can’t be right) but nothing for raccoons. I’m not too worries at this point but some animals will chew through your tent to get to food (which is where mine is and there is no place to hang my bag).

After a few moments of scrounging around I find my flashlight and get ready for the battle royal; Mono y Mono (hopefully there are not many). I grab my weapon of choice – my shoe. Not sure what I’m going to do with it but I figure I can throw it or knock this animal off of me if it is so bold to attack. So me and my shoe exit the tent to face the beast (at this point my feet now get cold because I have no shoes on).

I can hear it scurry away but can’t seem to find it. Finally I see two eyes reflect back into my flashlight. Whatever it is doesn’t even move, it just stares back. At this point I’m half awake and – true story – almost ask if it speaks English as I figure that this will assure me it is not human or at least not ALF. I chuckle too myself (if Christine where there she would want to know what I was chuckling about) and get ready to throw my shoe. But I don’t throw my shoe as I realize it may get lost or chewed up and I only have one pair. So it seems my only move is to chase it, which I do. Thankfully it runs away but not before I can tell it is a raccoon – they have followed my GPS from Oregon apparently.

With new confidence I walk back to my tent and just to be safe I move all of my bags into my tent even though only one has food in it.

I’m half dreaming, half sleeping when I hear the raccoon. This time it is attacking the my new friends from REI’s tent. Again, I get up and charge the raccoon and again the raccoon retreats but this time with a banana in his mouth. I wake up everyone in the campsite and warn them about the danger among us and they all get up and put their bags in their tents. Sellers – night watchman for the campground.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t fall back asleep until 6AM. Oh well.

My legs look like the front of your car after driving 60 miles.

Santa Cruz is pretty cool.

I can’t write any more. I’ll acknowledge the trivia winners tomorrow.

Today’s trivia, Bruce Springsteen’s most misunderstood song is _____________.

Towns passed:
Davenport (pop. 200)
Santa Cruz (pop. 54,593)
Aptos (pop. 9,396)
Moss Landing (pop. 300)
Castroville (pop. 6,724)
Marina (pop. 25,101)

Pictures link.

sellers