Where Did We Cross the Line?
Total Distance Ridden: 1,390 miles
Cumulative Elevation: 80,459 ft.
Day 26 Vlog: click HERE
As we continue to look for the "psychological lines" on this trip, I have found that some are more ambiguous than others. When we crossed from Washington to Oregon, that was a psychological win for us. Then we had another when we crossed into CA and then a huge one crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge--we use these lines to sort of break down the trip into smaller pieces to give ourselves moral victories, if you will. I do it with Katelyn on a daily basis as well; breaking up a 60 mile day into three or four parts is much easier to swallow than just charging at the whole thing.
One of these lines has people debating a bit. For a while, we have been wanting to announce that we are finally in "So Cal" or Southern California. I was ready to announce it back when we pulled into Cayucos. When we were at the beach bonfire, however, I was told that Cayucos was still Central California and that San Francisco was Northern California. Normally, I wouldn't disagree with the locals, but this trip has given me the amazing perspective of time and distance. I know that San Francisco is 7 LONG bike days south of Oregon--feels a lot more like Central California to me! And Cayucos? That's 5 more days on the bike AND we stopped wearing our jackets in the afternoon there--a total So Cal move!
Yesterday afternoon, Katelyn met up with a couple girls from the local church and went out to ice cream and a dance with them. This left me with a little time to kill so I decided to do my research. So Cal is defined in two ways. Some say that it is the 10 southernmost counties in CA which would include San Luis Obispo County. So we have been in So Cal for 3 days now! But wait--others define So Cal as only the 8 southernmost counties and use Point Conception (Santa Barbara) and the Tehachapi Mountains as the northernmost border. If that is the case, then yesterdays ride finally put us over the line. What are your thoughts? I would love to know!
Either way, So Cal didn't want us here. We left Lompoc during the Festival of Flowers and got into the middle of a parade; I always like seeing the local flavor of a town and we got a double dose of it this time. But, as we left town, we headed uphill into winding roads and a headwind that matched San Francisco. On two separate downhill stretches, I coasted to a complete stop. Wind like that makes a 50 mile day feel like 70. Regardless, we kept turning the pedals and eventually wound our way back to the coast. Once we got the water back on our right, the roads flattened out a bit and we slowly made progress towards Santa Barbara--the wind still sending us that unwelcome message.
With no restaurants in the 20 miles before Goleta/Santa Barbara, we had no choice this leg but to complete the entire ride today before stopping for lunch. As I said before, it is tough not to be able to break it up into segments. The pedaling time was still under 4 hours though as we pulled into Lily's Tacos for lunch before a short 2.5 mile pedal to the hotel. By all definitions, we were definitely in Southern California and the town felt like it. The stores, the bike lanes, the temperature--maybe it was in our heads but we definitely felt like something had changed.
After Katelyn left with her new friends, I walked a block down the street to the original "Habit Burgers" joint--the very first one is an outdoor, walk up window with only patio seating. I got a burger and sat down, contemplating the change in the evening temperature--I had shorts and a t shirt and it was pleasant to sit there. Only two days earlier, the second the sun went down I was looking for blankets to crawl under. I went back to the room and rolled up our arm warmers, my vest, and Katelyn's jacket and put them in the very bottom of one of the bags. If this isn't So Cal, I don't know what is.
I do know one thing for certain: We are running out of lines to cross.
As we continue to look for the "psychological lines" on this trip, I have found that some are more ambiguous than others. When we crossed from Washington to Oregon, that was a psychological win for us. Then we had another when we crossed into CA and then a huge one crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge--we use these lines to sort of break down the trip into smaller pieces to give ourselves moral victories, if you will. I do it with Katelyn on a daily basis as well; breaking up a 60 mile day into three or four parts is much easier to swallow than just charging at the whole thing.
One of these lines has people debating a bit. For a while, we have been wanting to announce that we are finally in "So Cal" or Southern California. I was ready to announce it back when we pulled into Cayucos. When we were at the beach bonfire, however, I was told that Cayucos was still Central California and that San Francisco was Northern California. Normally, I wouldn't disagree with the locals, but this trip has given me the amazing perspective of time and distance. I know that San Francisco is 7 LONG bike days south of Oregon--feels a lot more like Central California to me! And Cayucos? That's 5 more days on the bike AND we stopped wearing our jackets in the afternoon there--a total So Cal move!
Yesterday afternoon, Katelyn met up with a couple girls from the local church and went out to ice cream and a dance with them. This left me with a little time to kill so I decided to do my research. So Cal is defined in two ways. Some say that it is the 10 southernmost counties in CA which would include San Luis Obispo County. So we have been in So Cal for 3 days now! But wait--others define So Cal as only the 8 southernmost counties and use Point Conception (Santa Barbara) and the Tehachapi Mountains as the northernmost border. If that is the case, then yesterdays ride finally put us over the line. What are your thoughts? I would love to know!
Either way, So Cal didn't want us here. We left Lompoc during the Festival of Flowers and got into the middle of a parade; I always like seeing the local flavor of a town and we got a double dose of it this time. But, as we left town, we headed uphill into winding roads and a headwind that matched San Francisco. On two separate downhill stretches, I coasted to a complete stop. Wind like that makes a 50 mile day feel like 70. Regardless, we kept turning the pedals and eventually wound our way back to the coast. Once we got the water back on our right, the roads flattened out a bit and we slowly made progress towards Santa Barbara--the wind still sending us that unwelcome message.
With no restaurants in the 20 miles before Goleta/Santa Barbara, we had no choice this leg but to complete the entire ride today before stopping for lunch. As I said before, it is tough not to be able to break it up into segments. The pedaling time was still under 4 hours though as we pulled into Lily's Tacos for lunch before a short 2.5 mile pedal to the hotel. By all definitions, we were definitely in Southern California and the town felt like it. The stores, the bike lanes, the temperature--maybe it was in our heads but we definitely felt like something had changed.
After Katelyn left with her new friends, I walked a block down the street to the original "Habit Burgers" joint--the very first one is an outdoor, walk up window with only patio seating. I got a burger and sat down, contemplating the change in the evening temperature--I had shorts and a t shirt and it was pleasant to sit there. Only two days earlier, the second the sun went down I was looking for blankets to crawl under. I went back to the room and rolled up our arm warmers, my vest, and Katelyn's jacket and put them in the very bottom of one of the bags. If this isn't So Cal, I don't know what is.
I do know one thing for certain: We are running out of lines to cross.
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| Katelyn met up with a couple missionaries today. She asked them why they didn't have bicycles and they said they have too big of an area to cover. I think the 14-year old could manage it... |
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| Let us eat our lettuce! At least what we can before we play Fruit Ninja with it! |
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| So, Fruit Ninja is the phone game where fruits are thrown at you and you use a samurai sword to chop the fruits in half in mid-air. With a lot of the lettuce left, it was time to recreate the game in real life! I told her rule #1 was DO NOT let that knife leave your hand! |
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| Slice! My riding partner is the Vegetable Ninja! |
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| You know you're in So Cal when your bike lane looks like this beauty here! |
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| Katelyn found her wings in So Cal with just one week left to go! |
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| #truth. I almost got blown sideways off my bike. I was really worried for Katelyn. |
So enjoy all of your wonderful descriptions of the journey! It's so nice there are fun experiences along with all of the pedaling!
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