Slate grey cloud

Woke up to a cold grey morning. Im not sure what the regular weather is supposed to be out here on the western coast in Sept. But I was definitely hoping for more sun and heat. I took my time getting the bike loaded and out the door again this morning. Weather report said that the clouds would part around 1PM, Sounds good to me. So I ride North up the coast.

The PCH (pacific coast hwy) is a bit unruly. Its here and gone and moves about from highway to small road and back to highway without a moments notice. Im not sure exactly where it starts and where it end, but its definitely been one hell of an adventure.

At about 11:30AM I was freezing! I decided to pull over at a starbucks, get a hot drink, grab my new book and settle down and warm up, and wait out this crap weather in hopes for the sun to start shining. One of the girls working at the starbucks commented on my book, and how much she loved it. We talked very briefly about it, though I was only about 19 pages deep and she had finished it, our conversation did not last long at all.

The sun however looked like it was finally breaking through the clouds, so it was time to push on.

The weather here on this coastal ride north is quite bizarre, and annoying. between the pacific ocean and the mountain ranges there is this huge grey blanket of low clouds, and its windy and cold. However when the road takes you east of those mountains, the sun is shining and its warm. So the zig-zagging through the weather all day is ridiculous. though the majority of my trip today was all grey and cold. So much for the weather report. The sun never broke through.

The PCH is a pretty nice ride, even through the grey clouds. I must say though that it doesnt hold a candle to my ride around the coramandel penninsula in New Zealand. That by far is my top ride ever hands down.

The PCH does have some very amazing views over huge cliffs and down to the pacific ocean. Some of the views here are quite enormous. The Pacific ocean seems calm and vast. At times it's actually hard to see the horizon. i see no boats, no whales, just an endless calm sea that stretches so far out to the grey sky. Seems lonely, unforgiving, deep, cold.

Todays ride was 272 miles. A long, slow ride as the PCH curves all over, and at slow speeds. It also was going to end my days trip into Monterey Bay, California. I hate to dump on places. But Monterey was not what I expected. It's just OK, though after Santa Barbara, it would be hard to top.

Tomorrow I keep riding North. Will be in San Fransisco in about 100 miles. Hopefully there will be warmer and sunnier weather.

Also, I've been blogging every day, and sometimes you cats don't get email updates, so be as it may, and if you even care, you can always check the map on my travelblog page to see where I've been. No worries. I think most of my blogs are a bit boring.

I heard the Eagles blew it today. Some things never change

Miss you all

-g