I opted to hang out with family just outside of Oakland, rather then going into San Fran. As i had been there last June for work, it wasn't a big deal. To avoid spending a day riding in traffic, I took an Amtrak bus to San Jose, then a bus to Monterey. I had thought of taking a bus to Santa Cruz, then cycling the coast to Monterey, but that would have entailed catching my first train just before 7 am. As it was sunny, I had thought as soon as I got into town I would finally go for a swim in the ocean, as I hadn't yet. But of course about 15 minutes before we arrive the weather turns and it, well not quite drizzles, but close and it turns cold. The best laid plans go oft awry.
I got into town at 3:30, which gave me enough day light to have a peek around town, see the fisherman's wharf, aka tourist trap central and meet Jimmy who is the mainstay of Occupy Monterey. He had his own occupy shrine set up.
I was staying with KG, who had told me there would be five other couch surfer, that we were amount pizza and having a pizza party. It turns out two of them were a day off on their schedule and were arriving the next evening instead. But he did have another friend who came over. So we had one Italian girl who is living in NYC, one English guy who is living in Italy, one American girl living in LA traveling for work, and me, one Canadian girl, not quite living anywhere at present, other then on my bike. We all hang out eating pizza and drinking wine until 12:30, which for me right now is late. I had a great time getting to know Renee, the girl living in LA. She even gave me a ride this morning, so that rather then having two grueling days, I could have two moderate one. But what with taking off late and not quite knowing where to get out, I only managed to get 5-10 further then I had planned. Tomorrow I will have about 65 miles to ride. The coast here is easier then north, because rather then rivers, there is creeks/streams, which while they do form decent sized canyons, are not as large and are all bridged. Prior to SF, all the rivers along the coast entailed cycling down inland a bit, to sea level, around a sharp bend, over a small bridge, then another bend, then uphill headed towards the coast again. This pretty such ensured some headwind. Now, while the road is a fair deal high, it very infrequently goes down to sea level, though the coast does appear to wind a little more, much larger linger windings. The coast here's largely rock and rock beach, very much like BC coasts are.
I also saw my first bike tourists, but of course I was I. The car when I saw them, but I think from now on, they will start cropping up.
And it is finally warm. No more wearing my cape, no more tights or cycling pants. Sunshine on my skin! Well some anyway, I am hoping for more, but I am sure that I will get soon enough.
The climate seems to have changed again. As soon as I hit California, the trees went back to the proper size. However, I have been lead to believe that this is due to logging or rather the lack there of, with plenty of protected park space. I did see my first blooming cherry trees about half an hour on my trip into California. I think it was two days after that eucalyptus trees started showing up. Often they were beautiful massive delightful smelling lines of them along the road, maybe 10 or so at once. I have seen small areas, but certainly nothing looking like a Forrest made of them. There is still eucalyptus trees, thoughh less of them, way less trees in general one side of the road is cliffs, other is mountains/hills that are mostly arid grassy lichen areas. They are very pretty and green enough right now, but they must be scorched and brown looking in summer.
I am currently camping by a little stream. There were a bunch of twenty year old guys who were bouldering down it as I set my tent up. It is much colder then I was expecting it. My last camp was surprisingly warm, I even left my feet unzipped in my sleeping bag, not tonight. I am not sure if the cold is from the stream or from the haze, which has been hanging around all day.
