Matt n Sal hit the USA: San Fran to LA: Round 1

Dear blog-readers: my apologies for the lapse in communication!

After hitting San Francisco, we spent 6 days being complete tourists, with our bikes safely locked in the motel room. Time flies when you're bleeding cash, so we soon decided to hit the road Southwards. Day one, we met Felix and Matthias, two German tourists who had just crossed the country and were in the same 'predicament' as us; in that they were ahead of time and now passing time by cycling south. So we joined forces and spent two enjoyable days cycling along with those guys.

Highlights include;
With all the time in the world, we stopped to smell the flowers, pick the strawberries, drink the beers and photograph the lighthouses (all literally).
Day 2: two Germans,one Englishman and one Australian walk into a campsite... It sounds like a joke, and prove to be pretty funny. A few bottles of wine and beer later, a raccoon ravaged our nuts and we failed to capture it... Matt commanded the Germans: 'Throw the light on it!' Felix promptly threw his torch at the raccoon; it scattered after the critter as we laughed at his literal take on Matt's 'cast some light on the subject' suggestion. A conversation ensued on how one might best catch, prepare and eat a raccoon... But given our 60 mile cycle and relaxed attitudes, we all resolved to hit the hay.

We left the Germans and cycled Southwards towards Monterey. There, we hovered for three whole days in order to see a whale. The first boat trip we both got sea sick but never saw a whale. The second day the nausea was all worth it: two tail-sightings. We didn't quite capture it on film but the memory remains. Awesome.

Three days in Monterey later, we reluctantly hit the highway 1 towards Los Angeles. We spent two nights in Pfeiffer State Park (Big Sur) then hit up San Simeon State park. Basically, nice campsites with coin-operated showers and lovely views of giant Redwoods... Really big trees (!)

From San Simeon, we cycled a mere 26 miles to Morro Bay, sadly parting ways with our first synpathetic English cyclist, Greg (from Liverpool, works in London.) Greg was a legend and we were sorry to leave him, but we'd resolved to spend a decadent overnight in a cheap motel here. We now reside in said cheap motel and enjoy a supermarket dinner. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is on tv so I will leave this brief blog now...

Stay tuned! x