SPENDING TIME WITH THE GIRLS IN THE WILDERNESS

Erika has been home for a week and wanted to try out backpacking which I am always in to so it didn't take much for me to get talked into going. We had a good time it was hot out and it was good that we went in on a Thursday because more people were coming in on the week end so it was not very crowded except for the misquotes which were in plenty. We hiked into Marion Lake that's in the Jefferson Wilderness and only a three and half mile hike in but it is up hill all the way. I had a good time anytime I can spend time with Erika and Kari its time well spent so it didn't make any difference how it turned out but I must confess I did have some concerns for Kari's health but being the trooper that she is she made it.

Sunday - June 1st

Dad finally ended up in Leo Carrillo, after riding 77 miles (That included a little side trip). He ended up at his campground to find that the trail to the hiker biker was overgrown. No one was there. It was all overgrown. It was scary, so he decided to go to an RV park that had campsites too. It was going to cost him $60, so he rode back to the original campground. The ride back was amazing, because he got to go by Malibu Beach. It was really wild. He loved it. He ended up paying $25 and got a regular camp site.

Saturday the 31st - Lovin' Santa Barbara

Today was a 43 mile ride to Tarpinteria State Park. The road was really good and there were no hills. Dad fell in love with Santa Barbara. There is a pier that has a bunch of restaurants and a cool ice-cream shop at he end. There were long beautiful beaches. It was a really cool town. He couldn’t check into his campground until four so he went and did his laundry. He had a hamburger in this really cool little shack right next to his campground. He got a little peeved because a fellow piker came and set up his tent right next Dad even though the campground was empty. The man wasn’t very friendly and just sat and drank wine all night long. It was really strange. It wasn’t the best campground, because it was right in the middle of the city and right next to train tracks. There were trains going through all night long. On the upside, he had an apple fritter in the morning from this amazing bakery. It just melted in his mouth.

Friday the 30th - Boring Ride With a Great Ending

Boring ride over a really steep hill. That’s how Dad defined today. He was supposed to go to one campground but it didn’t have hiker biker site, so he rode a little further to Refugio State Park. It was $5 and right on the beach. It was cool to sit there and look at the ocean. It was a hill up and then a fun three mile ride down.

Thursday the 29th - A Very Long Day

Dad rode to Hurst Castle today. He went to the visitor’s center and paid $10 for a piece of pizza and an orange juice. The campground he was planning on staying in was right next to it. It was suppose to be a short ride that day. He ended up going to the next campground in Oceano, making his days mileage 115. Another reason why the ride was long was because he got lost in one of the cities right before Oceana. He traveled down several roads, did a lot of backtracking, and then finally found his way. He ended up gaining a day because he rode to the campground he was suppose to be at the next day.

The Hiker/Biker part of Oceano State Park was right on the beach. Dad didn’t want to take his bike out on the sand or set up his tent in the wind, so he headed back to the main campground. It would cost him $25 to stay at a regular site. The lady told him that a biker had arrived earlier and might want to share his site with him and split the price. Dad found the biker and was delighted to find his fellow biker from Seattle. Dad shared the camp site with him.
Dad walked down the street to have dinner at the Mexican restaurant. He said it was really really good.

Wednesday the 28th - Dad meets a new little friend

Today was a great ride. He rode 61 miles to Cook Creek Campground. It was a real neat campground, because it was right on the water. The ocean was so blue. It reminded him of Hawaii. Unfortunately, it was very very cold. He sat on the beach and watched the sunset. The only downside to the campground was that the water had to be boiled. Dad wasn’t too happy about that.

He was woken up in the middle of the night by some scratching outside. He had seen signs that there were raccoons in the area, so he started making noise to scare whatever was outside away. The noise went away for a little while, but shortly returned. Whatever was outside was messing with one of his bags. All of a sudden he heard it being dragged. Dad jumped out of his tent with his sleeping back around his ankles and ran after his biggest bag being drug by a large raccoon. Dad would have none of this and started down the trail after him. Luckily he got the bag back before the raccoon made it to the bushes. Dad looked back up the path to see the contents of his tent trailing after him. The bag wasn’t damaged and his sacred Disneyland tickets were safe. Dad said that if the raccoon had made off with those tickets he would have made a coon hat by morning.

The Latest From the Road…or Not

The first four pictures are from the 26th. That's Seal Cove Lighthouse. He thought it was a cool old-fashion lighthouse. He stayed at New Brighton State Park. There were no signs leading to this campground so it took him a long time to find. After wondering around for a several miles he finally asked where it was. He ended up finding it. A biker from Seattle that he had met a few days earlier was at the same campground. It was nice to see a familiar face.




The last picture is from the 27th. That’s Vet Memorial Park. It’s located almost at the top of a very steep hill. It was hard because he rode all day and had to finish with that hill. He was lucky that he only rode 47 miles that day, so it wasn’t too bad. He met a guy from Britain at this campground. He really liked talking to this guy. The guy had just finished school and got a job offer, but he told them he didn’t want to start until September so he could take this trip.

Most of his ride was through really cool farm country. There were miles and miles of cool strawberry fields. He stopped and bought a box. He said one of the strawberries was as big as an apple. The strawberries were a nice little treat. It was overcast, but 70 degrees.

So Dad sent these pictures a couple of days ago with a really long message. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand one word of that message. It went along the lines of “……Light House…..long day…..remote…..no electricity or running water………I’m turning my phone off………..I’ll call you later.” So that’s all I have to report until I get a hold of him.