Jono's Travel Blog

27/09/2010 Day 27 Vancouver to Mexico

Distance Travelled: Standish-Hickey CG to MacKerricher CG 45Miles (72km)

Money Spent: $3 for steak and butter

Time cycling: 3 Hours 55 minutes

Total Distance Traveled: 1684km

It was another warm night; Jeff and I made breakfast and packed up our things by 10.

After a few more kilometers of Highway 101 the Pacific Coast bicycle route took us on Highway 1 South. The first obstacle we had to tackle was the highest pass in California for this route at around 2000 feet high, I personally thought it was easy enough for the 4 Mile incline to the top but I beat Jeff by 15 minutes. I sat waiting on a tree trunk viewing the scenery and taking in all the fresh air.

Chang, the Taiwanese guy I had met a few weeks ago joined us for a break at the top then for the rest of the day. He only cycles between 60 to 80km a day and had started in Alaska he is going to make it down all the way to Argentina but at the rate he is cycling its going to take him 2 years to get down there, throughout the day he was the one behind…far behind, but after trying to pick up his bike I don’t blame him for being so slow, I couldn’t even pick the thing off the ground.

10 miles into days ride as we were heading downhill Jeff got a flat on two occasions so I spent a bit of time at the bottom of the hill drying my clothes in the sun, sun tanning and eating cookies, wild blueberries and blackberries and munching down on PB and J sandwiches.

Cycling back towards the coast you could certainly feel the sudden drop in temperature as well as the fine haze of sea water giving that salty smell in the air, it was also a little odd as gum trees and leaves lined the road reminding me of Australia. Gum trees here were introduced to California as a fast growing hard wood – some info for you.

We had a bit of a break in Westport where there was a survey to fill out for cyclists doing this route through California and also where I hopped on the internet to check out accommodation for San Fran and thankfully I now have a place to stay all thanks to couch surfing.

We arrived in the next hiker/biker camping spot according to Jeff’s west coast cycling book where again there was nobody to collect money so we camped again for free.

The 3 of us cooked our own separate meals had showers (using a bathroom sink and a bucket) and went to bed.

I went to the local market before dinner and found a frozen piece of beef that I defrosted and cooked up with butter and chicken stock with a cream sauce pasta as a side, it was a good hearty meal to end the day.