Day 18 - Friday, July 13, 2012 - Siesta, for-eva!

We left out of Santa Cruz, pedaling through suburbia for the first hour or so. Once into a more rural setting, the aroma of sweet strawberries filled the air and we were surrounded by commercial strawberry fields for miles. (side note: working the strawberry fields is no joke). Artichokes appear to consistently be a main crop in this part of California as well.

In Moss Landing we checked out some sea lions hanging out on a pier before catching lunch-breakfast. We also took advantage of the fresh produce market and small parcel of land behind the whole facility. This land was located behind the dumpster, full of burrs, and small rodent holes. We proceeded to take a siesta for a longer than planned period of time (1.5 hour).

We exited the 1 and rode through Seaside and Monterey on a bike path and were distracted by the many sites (man riding bike on handlebars with no hands, dog with a wheelchair for hind legs, people having conversations with themselves, harbor seals, etc) and took ourselves slightly off course.

We had a massive climb to get back on track. We rode through Carmel and into the magnificent city of Big Sur. The vistas were outstanding and the wind was gusting. We made it into Pfieffer State Park after 82 miles. By far the best campsite yet, extremely spacious and woodsy.