When I woke up, Ray was already making coffee. As I packed, we talked about our hike rides. He had been camping in Oceano for a week or so. He told me about a place not far from there that was really cool... A train built as a diner. I suggested I would likely have breakfast there. When I was all set to go, I sat down with him. We spoke about professions. He had been a grade school teacher. Originally he was from Chicago. He was also a photographer. I opened up my Flickr album and showed him my Chicago images. He nodded and said the place name of each photo. He then looked at me with a worn half-smile half-sad-face and said, "You're making me homesick." I asked him where home was now. He said San Diego. When I asked if he had a place there, he was silent for a time and then told me how he lived in a hotel for a little while, and it was cheap, with lots of poor people. He described how he couldn't get from bed to the bathroom without killing two or three cockroaches along the way, and there were bed bugs. After a year, he wondered why he was living like this, so he got his act together and got this stuff, motioning to his tent, bike and gear. "I'm essentially homeless." I nodded and he continued. "I should be getting back there. I'll get my job at the hostel I used to work at, make some money and eventually is likd to buy a sailboat. Then I could take folk out on the water." I told him about my idea to give walking tours in Toronto and charge per person to make some extra money. He liked the idea and gears seemed to be turning in his head. I asked if I could take his picture and he said, "sure." After I took the picture he said, "you can tell people you got a picture of a cowboy." I was finishing getting my bags on my trike when he hit up to move around. Then, as he had before, hd disappeared without saying anything. I wanted to leave but felt funny about leaving without saying goodbye. I ride for. Hoping to find him in the washroom of entrance but I didn't, do I hit the road.
About a mold later, I saw the diner he was talking about. It was too cool looking not to stop, so I went to check it out.
Inside was even cooler! I ordered a Mexican omelette and the couple next to me asked me about my trip. The guy behind them, seem in the picture, chimed in. They had been talking before I ordered. There were in town got a wedding and just grabbing a bite. They called their brother who was doing the procession as they got a verbal invite. Even though he was conducting the ceremony, he wasn't sure, so they laughed and said they were waiting for his call.
After I ate, I hit the road. I didn't get pictures but there were a lot of migrant workers in a lettuce field, picking and prepping the lettuce. A while later a lettuce truck passed by. About an hour after that, another one passed by. I started noticing stray leaves of lettuce on the road.
I took the route the book suggested, but I wish I had veered right the way the bike signs had posted. I would have avoided a pretty steep hillside completely. I should have made and followed the rule, "choose the direction that cars seem to be taking the most often." I did see this great little structure that seemed really old. And it looked like it was still bring used.
I backtracked to take a look and managed to get a good shot of the inside.
I wondered if it was still Ken Craig's notary republic or something else. There was no telling for sure.
It wasn't long before I made it to Santa Barbara County.
A celery truck drove by when I got to Guatalupe. It didn't smell like anything. When this strawberry truck drive by it smelled heavenly. It was a nice change from the smell of lumber which I was used to in Oregon and Washington.
I never heard of Chicago chop suey, and it was funny to see this after talking to Ray. I wondered if he had noticed it or would on the way back down.
It was a small little town with some abandoned places, but they had a bunch if grocers.
I got this great frozen dessert which had bits of mango in it. I got approving looks and compliments on the trike.
There were some cool old cars at what might have been done kind if car dealer, or it might just have been someone's collection.
I was definitely in a high-density farming area. I thought I could smell the different things that were growing. It was hard to tell by sight since we get the final product without all the bush or plant. Broccoli, if I'm right, was easy to smell.
Some fields had lots of workers, others just had a handful working machines.
I had to contend with some pretty steep hills. A friend was messaging me asking about my trip, and the back and forth gave me some good distraction. And fortunately, what goes up, must come down, and I enjoyed a great for hill into Lampoc!
They had a drive in that may or may not have been operational. It was the coolest looking drive in! As promised, it was a city of Arts and Flowers. Of at least flowers from what I could tell of this distant field.
I spoke to a biker about the hill we had tackled. He said I had just one more before I would be done with them for the rest of the way. This would have been true if not fit Beverly Hills.
The final hills were not so bad. They weren't steep, just long and curvy. It was nice that the downhills were fast and the up hills were gradual. It seemed like there was a fibre optic channel by the side with all the danger signs along the side of the road.
The cows continued to stare...
And I had a few final downhills before camp.
I'll never cease to enjoy when the radar speed signs pick me up. Particularly when it's between cars when they pass. 63, 67, 70, 64, 20, 68...
The final stretch back to the ocean was a great downhill. And not long after that was camp Gaviota.
Thd hiker biker was by the washrooms again. There were lots of youngsters talking loud and roaming around, but it never prevented me from getting to sleep.
I had eaten sound Burger King in Lompoc, and there was nothing around do I ended up eating some salmon jerky and a bag of crackers I had leftovers from some soup way back when. There were no other bikers, which would mean an early start, which was good as I hoped to go 20 miles past the suggested camp from the bike bible. I didn't have thd stomach to eat the Doritos, which I suspected would never be eaten as I had had the for weeks. But they would be my safety blanket for when I did find myself without a place to buy food.
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