Day 11 Santa Barbara to San Jose

I got up fairly early the next morning and got packed.  I felt kind of bad leaving so early from Brian's, but I definitely felt like I was cramping his style being in such a small space and all.  Still, even though it was a brief stay, we had some good chats over coffee.  I told him he's welcome to come up to Seattle any time, hopefully he takes me up on it one day.

I got on the road around 8:30, and headed north.  Since everyone had recommended the Big Sur stretch of Hwy. 1 as the must see road, I decided I'd head up and check it out.  I contemplated riding past Gaviota for the sake of taking a different route, but decided I didn't really need to see an oil refinery, so took 154 back over the pass.

Saw some cool cars on 101, presumably headed towards Monterey

By the time I made it to Santa Maria, my butt was pretty sore, so I stopped off at a Starbucks for some coffee and a bagel.  I guy with functional cerebral palsy was impressed by my tablet and bluetooth keyboard setup.  The waitress was not impressed with his advances.  I got the feeling it wasn't his first visit there.

After my coffee and a little journaling, I got back on the road and hit the intersection with 1 at San Luis Obispo.  The morning hadn't been all that warm, but the temperature dropped the closer I got to the coast.  The marine layer was in full effect, and there wasn't much to be had for scenery.  I knew that Hearst Castle was nearby, and considered stopping off there to go on a tour and maybe let the fog burn off a bit.

I don't typically seek out big tourist destinations, but I do enjoy historical architecture, especially where money wasn't a concern.  I'd briefly researched it before heading up there, tickets were $25, and they strongly recommended getting reservations.  I figured I'd play it by ear and check it out if I felt like it while in the area.  I was getting pretty chilled by the time I saw the signs for Hearst Castle, so I decided I'd stop in.

The parking lot turned out to be much bigger than I anticipated, and it was packed.  It was like a mall a few days before Christmas.  I would really have liked to take a tour, but not in crowds and chaos like that.  I circled around and found an empty overflow parking lot to stop and layer up in.

A small glimpse through the trees at fields of metal

There's hints of blue sky out there, c'mon!

 After I put on my layer, I hopped back on Hwy. 1 and hoped for the best.  Unfortunately, the cards weren't in my favor to see Big Sur in all it's majesty.  I had glimpses of what I knew would be scenic in clear skies, but I just couldn't see much of it.  And of course, traffic was slow.  A lot of drivers were considerate about using turnouts to let faster traffic by, but all it takes is one inconsiderate RV to hold up a line of cars for miles.  There was also construction, which helped in taking a few pictures along the way.

I just know it's beautiful out there.

There was some actual clearness here

The sun came out in sections, but it was still cool out.  I wanted to pull over and stretch but only if I could do it in a sunny spot.  As luck would have it, none of the pull offs happened to be in the sun, and before I knew it I hit the turn off for Salinas.

I'd seen lots of exotic and collectible cars coming in the other direction, and I think a lot of them were coming out of Laguna Seca.  The road to Salinas leads right to the track, so I stopped by on my way through.  I'd love to see the track in person and just take in the venue, seemed like a good place to take a break.  Looking at the schedule now in retrospect, I see it was the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Weekend, a race where vintage cars could open it up for the weekend, and it was no joke.  They had guys checking tickets at the entrance, I asked if I could just take a cruise around the parking lot to take it in, but was flatly denied.  So, had to do the u-turn of shame and head back down the hill, behind a smoky old Aston Martin.  I got to follow him most of the way into Salinas, where I stopped off for gas and a stretch.

I looked at the map and saw that Hwy. 130, aka Observatory Rd., was in striking distance.  I'd seen it on the map before, and last time I was in the Bay Area I had seen the observatory up in the hills and thought about how it would be cool to go up there one day.  So, I struck out in that direction.

I hit a bunch of traffic coming into San Jose, and had to sack up and split the lanes.  This time, I was flying solo and was extra paranoid--especially with a significant portion of the traffic returning home from the race.  At one point I let a pack of squids through.  I had been going around 35 mph and they were probably doing about 65.  They gave me courtesy waves as they rolled through, and I followed along in their slipstream until I got to the exit I was looking for.

I inadvertently ended up going right by the disc golf course in San Jose, and got disoriented.  I had to pull over and check for directions, but even after getting oriented, I had difficulty finding the way--I'm not entirely sure Google was accurate about what roads were actually usable.  Eventually though, I found Quimby road, which was a cutoff road leading to Observatory Rd. There were signs warning against taking trailers past a certain point, so I figured it must be the right way.

Quimby was indeed tight and twisty.  The road was in decent condition, but you really had to maintain focus, it was narrow with steep drop offs.  At one point I came to a steep, tight hairpin, a 1st gear turn.  As I was setting up my line, I saw that the pavement was discolored, and it looked like there had been a head on collision there in the recent past.  The entire road was covered in oil, and I had a real clencher of a moment with my bars almost turned to the lock, trying to maintain momentum while keeping my bike upright, and feeling the whole thing sliding to the side.  I made it through OK, but my heart was definitely pumping after the fact.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for lodging that evening.  I saw a couple parks on Google maps, but couldn't tell if they offered camping.  If I had to, I would just ride until I found an opportunity, but it had been a long day, and I didn't feel like tackling all of Observatory Rd. if I didn't have to.  When I came to Observatory Rd. from Quimby, I passed a county park within a mile.  It was one of the ones I'd spotted on the map.  I pulled in to see if camping was available--it was.  Score!

It wasn't the cheapest, $24 for a site, and $7 for firewood (no gathering allowed), but it was the right place at the right time.  The campground had huge sites and all of them were empty, save for the camp host.  I picked out what I deemed to be the best one and set up camp.

If you squint, you can see the observatory on top of the hill.

Here, I'll squint for you.

I was a short walk from the bathrooms, which included a free shower.  I quickly took advantage of it, and predictably, it felt great.  Unfortunately, in all my meandering to try to find my way to Observatory Rd., I hadn't passed by any grocery stores, and I didn't have anything besides crackers on me.  I'd only had that bagel at Starbucks earlier, but strangely I wasn't all that hungry.  I spent the evening next to my $7 fire, catching up on journaling and finishing off the last couple fingers of Bulleit.

May as well take a selfie.