Day 19

August 31^st 2008

Half Moon Bay, CA to Santa Cruz, CA

59.8 Miles

I did finally manage to get some sleep last night. But I still woke up at my normal time of 6:30am. The party-goers were strewn about the camp site, sleeping it off. I started packing up my stuff, and usually I try to keep it quiet, but this morning I took great delight in unzipping and zipping up the pockets on my panniers. Since I double bag all my gear in plastic garbage bags I enjoyed crinkling the plastic several times as I was putting away my bivy and my sleeping bag. In fact I ruffled all the plastic bags just to make sure they were wrinkle free before stowing them away for another day. Although I enjoyed myself, I noticed that none of my fellow bikers were disturbed. Darn.

By 7 am I was ready to roll again. Today’s mileage went by quickly. I had fairly level terrain, wide smooth shoulders, and a nice tail wind. This section of hwy 1 is beautiful, but its is also unique, at least as far as I could tell. There is San Francisco to the north, a very large city, and Santa Cruz to the south, another large city. Route 1 is the only road along the coast and yet the region is not over developed. In fact it is mostly farms between the two locations. And even though this was a beautiful Sunday, there was hardly any traffic, at least in the morning. It made for some great riding and for some unspoiled scenery.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

By 11 am I was in Santa Cruz. I stopped at a grocery store to get myself a mid morning snack, and then I rode into Old Downtown to find the library. It didn’t open until 1 pm so I killed time by relaxing on a bench where I could admire the Greek Orthodox church and the Mission Style City Hall. It was quiet and pleasant, unlike last night. Eventually the library opened and I spent a couple of hours updating the blog and charging up my phone and my camera. When I was finished, I headed a few blocks over to the heart of downtown to get myself some lunch.

Sailing by Santa Cruz

While I was hiding out in the library, all the people arrived. Downtown was busy and crowded and hot. I wolfed down a quick bite and got myself out of there. I must admit for being a tourist myself, I don’t like hanging out with them. After a few miles of riding through the streets of Santa Cruz. I arrived at New Brighton Beach Campground. The Hiker/Biker Section was empty except for me. A man could get used to this.

View from New Brighton Beach State Park

Maury