Donny,

I thought Ken would be the one lagging on Monday, but it turned out to be me. We had a really good trip overall. The weather turned out to be great the whole trip.

Sunday after we left you, we went Elkhorn Slough and then got on the bike path all the way to Monterey. We got to Monterey by 1 pm, but it was 2 before we found our motel. We followed the bike path for a couple of miles to Pacific Grove, then doubled back to find Munras (70 miles). We were both pretty tired so we laid around until 4. Turns out the motel I picked was at the 1700 block when I should have picked one around the 300 block. We ended up catching the bus down to Fisherman's wharf for an early dinner and walked back to the motel. It wasn't too bad of a walk (17 blocks).

Monday, we ended up taking a long detour around the Monterey Peninsula, adding 15 miles to our second day to make it 110 miles. I kept thinking my Mom might come along so we could unload our gear, but no such luck. Turns out she probably passed us when we were stopped at Big Sur. There was very little traffic, and the cars were more courteous than many of the drivers in San Jose. The climbs were long but not steep, the descents were about "as good as it gets". We had just enough food and just enough daylight to get to San Simeon. We arrived right around dark, when my Mom was just fixin' to go look for us. It was only about 2 miles to Cambria from the motel, so we went to Cambria for dinner.

Tuesday, we went to Cambria again, and had a leisurely morning. Then went to Hearst Castle about 11 am. I thought that was pretty neat also. The weather was good this day also, with just a little fog around San Simeon Bay. Then we drove to Buellton and checked into Motel 6. We ate at Anderson's this night. I finally had their Split Pea soup.

Wednesday, Ken and I went for a 35 mile ride around Solvang, after we had gone to breakfast and the fog had cleared. We found 2 very nice deserted roads. It was a long drive home. We left at 12 noon and got back to SJ around 5 pm. I was able to make it to Spanish class tonight.

Mom, Pat and Mardi were great sports about the whole thing. All in all, I would do this trip again. The only thing I would have done differently was to get a motel closer to the restaurants (Fisherman's Wharf) in Monterey, and get a motel in Cambria instead of San Simeon. We drove to Cambria 2 times.

I wouldn't want to ride down Hwy 1 on a weekend, but it was just fine on a Monday. And I would definitely want to have a SAG. I guess I am just a wimp, but I don't think I would want to do another bike trip like this loaded down. It slowed me down too much on the climbing and the descending.

-Kim