Wow. Time ceases to amaze me. I had a short discussion with Ben about the relevance of time (you will meet Ben later on). "Does time go by faster or slower for people that are younger compared to those that are older?" (was the just of the conversation). I still don't quite know. If I think of my life back in my mini years, it is played back in slow motion. Now I can't even keep up with the day or time. What happened? Is that the transition from being a kid to "grown up"? Does time change? Where the hell is Peter Pan when you need him...
Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of Los Angeles. It was cool to ride around and see all the huge houses, and the strip, but by no means would I ever consider living there...It's a bit too ridiculous. I was glad to get out of there actually...We headed to Santa Monica after about 4 or 5 days in L.A./Hollywood. I did get to see my good friend David Rodriguez! :) I was very pleased about that! We slept on the cliffs in Santa Monica the first night. The next day I realized I could probably never be a beach bum for a living. Matt had to reassemble a whole new wheel for his bike (that looks like transferring the spokes and cassette onto a new rim, whatever that technical bike term is called...). It took him pretty much a whole day. So the rest of us kind of just hung out and moseyed around on the beach. It's a rough life, right..? After 2-3 days on the beach not really doing much, and feeling super homeless, I was pretty ready to start heading North on the 1. The true reality of being completely homeless started to sink in. Feelings of loneliness, uneasy frustration, and downright uselessness started to become very real. Sleeping on the beach those 2 nights in a row in Santa Monica wasn't anything I hadn't done before. I guess having a rough old man ask me if I had any drugs while I was getting some hot water at the gas station for my cup of noodles for dinner was a little different from what I was used to. Or having our temporary neighbor at the beach throwing miscellaneous items around under his tarp roof, yelling and mumbling as the sun went down was far from Flower Mound life. Even the next morning, when another anxious homeless man sitting on a set of steps, down by the porta potties asked in a displeased tone if we were moving anytime soon. Curiously Ashley told him we should be out of the way in a couple of hours...turns out his stash was buried in the sand where we had slept. My initial reaction was laughter, I feel like this could have been something I heard in a joke from some stand up comedian, but a few seconds later, not too much further down was a pitiful ache for the man.
Monica, Ashley, and I road up to Malibu the next day. Matt was still having trouble assembling his tire, so took it to a bike shop with Marty, Elijah, Julie, and Ryan. The whole Malibu area was filled with fancy cars, beautiful beachside homes, some pretty steep climbs and beautiful flowers and trees. We had a donated lunch from KFC and road up a gas station across the street from the Malibu Lagoon entrance. This was the day Monica cut her cast off :) That night we camped on Zuma beach, much quieter and cleaner than Santa Monica in my opinion. Monica, Ashley and I ate dinner at the plaza across from the beach entrance. We combined some Raman noodles, instant Mac & Cheese, and Spamiches (spam on bread...). I am excited to get to seattle and have a grocery store and money to buy real meals and coffee with!
The next morning I took a walk on the beach. Ryan, Matt, Ashley, Monica, and I met at the plaza to charge our phones some and head North. We got into Santa Barbra about 65 miles up before the sun went down. We grabbed some tacos for dinner and headed to a coffee shop we found on warmshowers.com to sleep at for the evening. Marty met us up later in the evening in Santa Barbra with Eli and Victor. We hadn't seen Elijah and Victor for 2 weeks. They road to San Diego while the rest of us went down to Nogales with Susan and Sil back in Phoenix. We had some catching up to do as a group for sure. Most everyone had some things to get off their chests that had been bothering them or that they felt we should approach as a team effort.
All together again, for now, the 9 of us took off between 8 and 9 AM. At this point 5 of us hadn't showered and had been sleeping on the beach for 4-5 days without a shower...so once we got to the shopping mall in Santa Barbra you better believe Ashley, and Ryan were working on finding a hotel to donate a room for the night after only 30 miles of riding. Monica, Matt, and me were not objecting to the idea, as we did smell and feel very fowl. They didn't have luck with hotels, however, Ryan's last try asking a bike shop maybe 10 miles out was successful in finding a home for us in Goleta. We didn't have more than 15 miles to ride to get there, so we decided to take a day at the beach down the road from the outdoor mall. It was a nice relaxing break together again as a family. Elijah and Matt took some time at the skate park while the rest of us took some time by the water. We road to Goleta around 4 PM arriving to Mike's home around 6 after grabbing some supplies for dinner. It was so nice to shower and sleep inside that night!! Monica even shared with us an indie movie from New Zealand called Eagle Vs. Shark, (basically a New Zealand version of Napoleon Dynamite).
The next morning, Mike invited us to go to the bike shop he works at, at the UCSB campus. Ashley, Victor, and I needed some things looked at and we all generally needed to manage our gear and what not. This morning definitely took a 360. Maybe a 180...we kind of all saw this coming a little I guess. As Mike is done working on our bikes and we are all ready to leave, putting on our jerseys, filling our water, and applying sun screen for the beginning of a long day of riding, Ryan disappears. Matt and Marty go talk to him down by the beach to try and figure out why or what he is doing. This discussion turns out to take the morning and then some of the afternoon. In the end, Matt and Marty come back, without Ryan. This frustration, aggravation, annoyance, of a group structure had finally bubbled over for Ryan...I don't really blame him. It does ask quite a bit to stick with 8 (mostly) strangers for 5 months, on bicycles, riding, camping...suffering. Mike graciously allowed us to stay another evening at his home. Matt and Marty stayed with Ryan to see if he could pull through and finish the ride out with us. "Too little too late". Ryan had checked out. I think it was good for him to do what he needed to do. He will finish this ride one day, one way or another. The next morning the rest of us met up to say our goodbyes. It was sad, and unreal, we thought he would actually come back...no such luck.
And then there were 8. We made it to Santa Maria that night about 75 miles North. We asked a church in town if we could stay for the night. It turned out to be some sort of school. They had some sort of play going on that night. One man allowed us to camp out on his land. As we were about to go check out the spot he offered us, a kind, excited, women came out and asked us all about what we were doing. After telling her our purpose and some of our stories, she told us a little about her tour and general journeys of her traveling life. She called the YMCA she was a member of and got us in to take showers. On top of that, she and her husband brought dinner for the 8 of us! Fried chicken, potato salad, strawberries, beans, fries, and cookies! It was such a delicious blessing. We feasted outside of the YMCA. We were all super exhausted. After showers, and food we all walked our bikes down to the park to set up tents for the night, too tired to really care about the dreaded sprinklers.
Waking up to a soaking tent the next morning, I had no desire to move, I was physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. Eventually we were all packed up and on our way to the local grocery store to gather food for the ride. We plugged in our phones, chugged bottles of water, ate some cereal and fruit, and distributed food. By the time we left, I am pretty sure the whole staff knew about the purpose of our journey, which is pretty cool. Right before we left, the store manager donated a box of oranges and strawberries. Even some local shoppers stopped to ask questions and donate a few dollars! God started to show some beautiful moments to reflect on. Shortly after making our way back the highway, Monica's rack breaks. Once we do some jimmy rig-zip tying we are once again, on our way! Our original goal was to get to San Simeon State Park. Monica and I exited into a town called Cayucos, about 20 miles short of the park. Once you stop, sometimes you don't want to jump back on, and sometimes..you don't... :) haha we were ready to be DONE for the day....so we were. And that is one beautiful thing about this trip. Sometimes you just don't know where you will wind up. We got some awesome chicken strips, a burger and some fries donated from Duckie's Chowder House. Afterward, we met up with Martin, Matt, and Ashley for the evening. They were only 4 miles up while Julie, Victor, and Elijah were about 10 ahead, just outside of San Luis Obispo. We slept in a ditch that night, just beside the beach, in a field of cow shit. It wasn't the best night of sleep, but it definitely wasn't the worst.
The first obstacle of the next day was running up the ditch. It was quite entertaining. I could only imagine what the people driving by thought about 5 bikes, on the top of a ditch, tent and sleeping bags flying up from out of know where. We road up to San Luis Obispo and met the other 3 outside of the church they camped outside of. The 6 miles to town was probably some of the most beautiful miles of the trip. The rolling, green hills, happy cows, open winding road. It all looked like a dream. It was also quite an enjoyable downhill cruise into the town. We grabbed some breakfast, started the usual phone charge and went to the grocery store to get the usual bread, peanut butter, and jelly. After about an hour and a half we took off to make our way into Big Sur territory.
I had no idea what this Big Sur was. I was in for a treat! :) We road into the southern edge of the cliffs that night to camp. It might have been about 50-60 miles. We all gathered at the first restaurant before the cliffs really started. After making some sandwiches and talking to a young, French traveler, he accompanied us up the beginning cliffs. We road with him for about 5-7 miles and we continued on to a campsite about 10 miles up. After climbing, dropping, and climbing again for an hour or so, Elijah was ahead and we were ready to call it a day. Seven of us stopped at the first camp site we found. We figured Eli could handle his own, and we knew there were more sites up the road. Julie and Matt found some people at the camp that allowed us to share there lot. It consisted of 2 girls and 4 guys, all from California. Some lived in Santa Cruz, our next location to get to, and 2 lived in Oakland. It was good to hang out with some new people and hear some funny stories. I happened to grab Nico's number, one of the guys that lived in Oakland, just in case we needed a place to stay once we arrived there. They shared some cookies and brownies and allowed us to use the fire they had going to make some pasta! What a night.
The next morning we said our thanks, and goodbyes. We didn't wind up meeting with Elijah the next day, he took off from the campsite about 30 minutes to an hour before we got there. He did however camp with a family of 3, also from the Santa Cruz area, that offered us a backyard to camp if we needed! So we were on our way to and through Big Sur, some of the most awe inspiring views, EVER. It was a day of slow, long climbing, not so much dropping, and more slow, long climbing. Everyone was pretty spread out that day. Once Ashley and I got into Big Sur Julie was behind us and Matt had passed through at some point. After resting, I decided to keep going on to meet everyone in Monterey. Julie wasn't feeling too well, and Ashley's chain was on the verge of breaking. They wound up hitching to San Jose, passed Santa Cruz a little ways. On my way out of Big Sur maybe 6 miles into riding my chain broke going up a series of cliffs. After calling Eli, Matt, and Ashley, to see what everyone was doing, and after sticking my thumb out for 10 minutes, I got a ride from a local into the next main town before Monterey, Carmel, where Matt was. Eli, Victor, Monica, and Marty were already in Monterey looking for dinner. Matt and I got some food from the grocery and put a new chain on my bike. Monterey was about 15 miles out and daylight was going fast. Matt and I road around the neighborhoods a little when his chain broke, and I had to call it quits. There was no way I was going to make it to Monterey that night. We found a walking trail down the road to sleep.
The next morning, we packed up, and headed to the grocery to grab a bag of cereal and some chocolate milk. After that we hopped onto the highway to meet everyone in Santa Cruz. We took a bike trail for a third of the way at least. At one of the cross walks Matt flicked off an angry driver that honked at him for crossing. The next light we got to, the angry driver had decided to come talk (yell) at Matt. Profanity being tossed back and forth between the two, this guys threatening to hit Matt, blah blah blah...Matt asking this guy if he had kids... It was super entertaining. Then as this guy goes to get back in his car, he starts crossing the street when it says not to cross, and of course Matt has to point this out to the angry driver... Two other cyclists road up as the argument subsides. We start to ride with them down the path, and a police officer stops us to see if we are okay, and if we wanted to report anything...Matt said no so we kept riding on. We ride with this married couple to the end of the bike trail out of Monterey and say our goodbyes. They also kindly donated us $20. From there, shortly after that trail, we hop onto another bike trail on the beach for a while. Then we got into some country towns, beginning with old, stagnant, smelly, sea water. Then moving into some windy, hilly roads, and finally to wonderful strawberry fields of all sizes, and old farm houses. We stopped at a small farm with a little red shed close to the road. We talked to the guy who worked the farm with his girlfriend. The little red shed held a refrigerator filled with leafy greens, peppers, lemons, and fresh strawberries. We helped ourselves to a pint of delicious juicy strawberries for $3. Shortly after we were back on the road. Once we were pretty deep into Aptos, closer to Santa Cruz we stopped again for some ice cream. We got ahold of Eli, Martin, Monica, and Victor. They were about 5-8 miles behind us at this point. They caught up to us as we started our climb up the 9 to Felton, where we would be staying for our service projects for the week. It was also a very enjoyable view the whole way up!! Julie and Ashely had made it back down already to Ron's house in Felton, where we stayed that evening. (Ron is Matt's old director at Mount Herman, a camp Matt worked at 5 years ago.) ...and then there were 8, again.
For the next 3 days (Tuesday-Thursday) we pulled Broom from sections of the wooded areas on Mount Herman in the camp. Broom is an invasive weed that grows densely in the area and kills off other grasses and plants. I was so lucky! On Tuesday, my papa was only 30 minutes away from me in California! He picked me up from Felton after a full day of weeding and we took a walk on a trail before heading to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. It was so great to see him and in such a beautiful place! God works in very beautiful ways.
On Friday, 5 of us went back down to Santa Cruz to stay with Ben, Jonelle, and there 4 year old son, Sunny. This is the family Elijah had camped with back at the beginning of Big Sur that I was talking about. Matt, Ashley, and Julie were covered in poison oak so they took recovery time at Ron's for the weekend.
On our way down we stopped off at a Red Wood Park to take a walk through. It was so gorgeous. Red Woods have to be the most resilient trees, ever. We had a miniature tour from a women on the trail, that I do believe worked at the park. She showed us to the oldest, and tallest tree of the park, that was indeed healthy. Just a few feet away you heard a creaking, dying tree, bound to fall sooner or later, just a few feet away. She took us to a Red Wood that was hollowed out, naturally from fires. It fit all 6 of us in the tree. She told us in the past, when that area was considered a resort, the tree was rented out as a hotel room. You could see where the tree was once hollowed out with a window and a stove! The tree since then has healed itself and covered up these holes, one day the whole considered as the door will be too, shut.
We started back on the road and made it to Santa Cruz before dark. Jonelle and Ben were so good to us! They fed us delicious burgers and beans and breakfast the following morning as well! We hung out that night with them and some of there friends. Marty went out on the town. I was going to go with, but decided around 12 that bed sounded better. Monica and Victor and Eli went to bed pretty early. One thing I have learned is when you start to get tired, as a cyclist, you can expect to go down fast. Ben, Jonelle, and Sunny are some of my favorite people to stay with from this whole trip so far, for sure. After breakfast Eli, Victor, and I borrowed Jonelles car to do some shopping, while Monica, and Marty went to try a Indian food restaurant and cruise around. After the three of us shopped Jonelle and Ben invited us to a BBQ birthday for one of Ben's co-workers. We packed our bikes once we got back to the house and road about 5 minutes to the park to meet them. After some grub, a beer and chatting the 3 of us said our thank you's and goodbyes and made our way back up the mountain to Ron's. Eli split off for a bit to check out a skate shop/park, so Victor and I were on our way. Martin had gone back to Ben's to sleep off the night he had in the city, and Monica was knee deep in a book store somewhere...they made there way up a little later. Eventually we were all back at Ron's, in Felton, preparing to leave the next day (Sunday) after we attended Ron's service at the church down the road. It had been at least a few years since I had been to any church service, it was nice to go, peaceful.
Matt and Jules had poison oak all over, still. They hung back with Ron a little longer, as the rest of us made our way up to the one and only, San Francisco.
To be continued.... ;)
