A slight change of plans led me from Santa Barbara to Oxnard instead of Camarillo. I had made a booking at the Flamingo Motel. In a move of sheer genius, I reserved said quite sketchy looking motel for April 5th, and I anticipated I would be a tad bit further east than Oxnard in April. Whoopsie! The Gujurati lady shooed me off and waved her hand down the road. "Let me see your confirmation number, I have no rooms, you will have to go somewhere else, there are other hotels down there." Thanks to technology I made another reservation (that is a bit of an upgrade from the Flamingo Motel) and I ended up 1.5 miles further down the road. I had also looked at campgrounds in Ventura, but they wanted $45 - for a tent space. So I splashed out for running water and electricity. The Flamingo, btw, is a rather dull 1 star, although they advertise themselves as a brightly shining 2. Due to the unforeseen change, I almost planned to do a century on day# 1 and end up in Culver City, but hey, 100 miles on the first day would have been as stupid as walking from More Mesa to Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara on a high tide. I did that with my daughter last week, and I'd like to think I've exhausted stupid for a few months.
I met a guy in Kuwait who did a cross country ride and I asked him at what point he thought he'd made a mistake, he said - without hesitation, "The first day." After that, it was all right, and he was quite sad when the ride ended. I'm sure my day of thinking, "Well, THIS was a mistake" will come, but it wasn't today. Other than being thrown out of the Flamingo Motel (which I suspect is a rather good omen), it was a brilliant ride down the coast. I'd kind of like to get that 'this was a mistake' feeling out of the way and pedal on, but I know it's coming sometime along the ride. I strongly suspect it will be on the day I turn left towards the Sierra Nevada mountains, not headed to the beer by the same name but the mf mountains. It's supposed to be a relatively short 57 mile day, but 40 of those miles are uphill. Here's to hoping I don't discover why the Aussies call them 'push bikes.'
Rincon, Queen of the Coast.
Where I didn't end up staying.
I met a guy in Kuwait who did a cross country ride and I asked him at what point he thought he'd made a mistake, he said - without hesitation, "The first day." After that, it was all right, and he was quite sad when the ride ended. I'm sure my day of thinking, "Well, THIS was a mistake" will come, but it wasn't today. Other than being thrown out of the Flamingo Motel (which I suspect is a rather good omen), it was a brilliant ride down the coast. I'd kind of like to get that 'this was a mistake' feeling out of the way and pedal on, but I know it's coming sometime along the ride. I strongly suspect it will be on the day I turn left towards the Sierra Nevada mountains, not headed to the beer by the same name but the mf mountains. It's supposed to be a relatively short 57 mile day, but 40 of those miles are uphill. Here's to hoping I don't discover why the Aussies call them 'push bikes.'
Rincon, Queen of the Coast. 
Where I didn't end up staying.
Had I known you'd be there you could have couch surfed at Jeff's (my Kwaj board delivery friend). Peddle on and enjoy those Pacific sunsets!
ReplyDeleteOr as stupid as walking the volcano with new shoes and no socks?
ReplyDeleteMB, Jeff also brought a board out for me, I took him for a surf at the pit. Next time. Gwyne, yes that was also quite a foolish move.
ReplyDeleteI can't read, your fingers must be tired from peddling all day?
ReplyDeleteFingers are fine. Legs, eh, not so much.
ReplyDelete