Day 20 – Marina to Lucia (70 miles / 994 total)

Let me start by saying I just ate four hotdogs along with one can of chili. So good. Reminds me of hanging out at the river in Bend with Anthony and going swimming at Grandma Ginny’s house.

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 20 days now.

After so many miles I have broke some things that could not hold up to the challenge. Among them:

1. My solar charger is officially dead. It will charge AA batteries great but I need it to charge my Blackberry, which it won’t.
2. My stove. It turns out it needs a serious rebuild which I’m figuring will take me an hour. I’m not going to trash it but I’m tempted. Looks like the canister based stoves are the smart choice.
3. My Blackberry – the charging mechanism is loose. Which is very dangerous, if it breaks I will no longer have a way to charge my phone.

Lately I’ve been interacting with a number of gas station attendants, as gas stations are where I buy my food, supplies, water, etc. The attendants vary greatly but generally show an interest in whatever it is I am doing. Today I met a real nice one in Big Sur. He was crazy but gave me what he described as a magical tour of the river behind the gas station. Real nice guy – he left the gas station shop open while we toured.

Hydration required a great deal of focus today. Two times today the distance between stops was 23 miles. 23 miles in the hilly sun requires a tremendous amount of water. In total I drank around 180 ounces of water.

I’m glad to have the hills over with today. Today had around 2000 ft of elevation gain (in aggregate). I handled it well. Taking breaks has been the key. The shoulder was good enough but not great around Big Sur. The road is all under construction so the cars have to go slow, which is nice.

The camp site I’m at may be the best yet. Kirk Creek Campground is sold out on a Thursday night (hiker/bikers are not turned away). Today I’m joined by a couple from Berkeley. My picnic table has an amazing view of the ocean. The sun should set in a little bit. It will be nice to listen to the ocean instead of Highway 1 as was the case last night.

Before I go any further, I forgot to mention Mike and Jon from yesterday. They could see I was carrying a lot of weight (they were “credit card touring” – going from motel to motel) and not enjoying the head wind so Mike got in front of me to block the wind, while Jon road in the back. Real nice guys from Washington State heading to San Diego.

The homeless accept me as there own and perhaps I am to one degree or another. I met a man who graduated from Berkeley and was now in the aluminum recycling business, as he put it. He was riding a fixed gear bike (I totally get not wanting to bother with adjusting cables) and had been all around the U.S. When I mentioned that I was from Long Beach he was able to recite all the bordering cities and which river path goes out to which city. Impressive, maybe they teach that at Berkeley. Anyhow, he planned on staying in Monterey for a little bit.

Bobby Darin’s album, Song’s from Big Sur (I think that’s what it is called) is my favorite. Not only did he once again change musical genera, he did so amazingly. My personal favorite is the song that includes the phrase “the vacuum of my mind” (I’ll jot it down in another post). Call me crazy but riding through Big Sur clarifies the album a great deal.

Trivia winners from Day 18 had a number of good answers. Among them:
Marjorie J., a previous winner
Lexykins, a previous winner and coworker
Kelly C., one of the original readers and previous winner. 
Coral L. a first time answerer but long time reader. (I met her husband when he told me I was playing left field too far out in a game of softball.)

Today’s trivia:
Why did Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa change it’s roof four times?

Towns passed:
Monterey (pop. 29,674)
Carmel (pop. 4,081)
Carmel Highlands (pop. 900)
Big Sur (pop. 500)
Lucia (pop. 0?)

Day 20 – Marina to Lucia (70 miles 994 total)

thanks for reading,

sellers