Misty's Misty Adventure

Saturday, 22 August 2009

Road Trip Day 3

Since the TrekAmerica part of my journey ended I've been all over the place with my eating habits. When on your own, it's easy to find yourself missing meals because there's no-one else to say "I'm hungry" or "Where shall we stop for lunch?" Also, neither of the motels I have stayed at so far offered breakfast.

So, took steps last night to make sure I had a good start to the day by finding a restaurant for breakfast this morning. I found a place which had received glowing reviews on the TripAdvisor site and enjoyed good coffee, two eggs (over easy), potatoes, white toast and sausage. Very nice it was too and a habit I need to continue as I'd never usually skip breakfast so why start now?

The PCH

So, today was the day I drove the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH. Since I was first alerted to its existence by Danny at work, I've wanted to drive it. I have been on the PCH for the last couple of days, but the section I drove today from Morro Bay to Monterrey is the most impressive. The road is cut into cliffs, sometimes several hundred feet up with sheer drops on the seaward side and cliffs threatening to drop rocks from the landward. I drove over several recent small rock falls and over even more sections of recently repaired road.

The only fly in the ointment was that the low mist I mentioned enveloping Morro Bay last night had not lifted and extended almost the entire length of this most dramatic section of the PCH.

I'm not sure how much I missed though as the road requires your 100% attention. I managed a few glances left and right on the occasional straight section, but these rarely lasted more than a couple of hundred yards. I did make sure to stop a few times and take a break and look around. My fellow road users were in no hurry either, which is commendable, but if I could have a dream come true it would be to drive the same route again, but with no one else on the road and in a car better suited to the twists, turns and inclines... something like a 1.9 litre diesel Renault Megane Convertible perhaps?

Still, mustn't grumble. The Beast did just fine and I dare say in a car with manual transmission I'd have ruined my leg making all those gear shifts.

Back to Nature

After the morning and early afternoon of driving surrounded by Harley's, camper vans and Mustang Convertibles (Grrr...) I took a break back to nature in the afternoon at Point Lobos State Reserve. It's a lovely spot where some great geology is exposed where land meets sea. There's a mix of soft conglomerate and sandstone alongside solid granite. The result is a series of crinkly bays, beaches and nicks in the coastline.

That's No Log

When I browsed the information leaflet issued at the gate I noticed a bit about Sea Otters and thought, "Yeah Right, I'll never spot one of those..." Well, just shows what I know. I did as they advised and looked for a log sized object with bumps at each end; the head and back flippers of the otter and there it was right in front of me.

Best of all, it was doing that trick of opening shells by bashing them against a stone balanced on its tummy.

I spent a very relaxed couple of hours at Point Lobos and felt refreshed for the rest of my journey.

Salinas

I'm now in my hotel room in the Salinas wrestling with a dodgy internet connection. It's quite a large motel, but very clean and comfortable with a Black Bear Diner on site where I've just demolished ribs and steak with mashed potatoes (I've had it up to here with French Fries) and onion rings.

There's a mall near here but as its Sunday tomorrow it doesn't open till 11:00am so I am going to have a lie-in before heading to the mall for some essential supplies.

After that, I'm off to San Francisco for a couple of days.

Goodnight.

Stats - Day Twenty Nine

Distance travelled - 146 miles - Morro Bay to Salinas via the PCH and Point Lobos State Reserve

State count - 16 + DC

New Feature!

Room numbers stayed in - 203, 1, 148... I'm trying to devise some kind of "Room Number Bingo" or maybe some way of plotting them on a scatter graph in the hopes they form the pattern of the constellation Pisces. Any suggestions, do let me know.