Monday, July 20, 2009
Day 26 - San Simeon, CA to Edna, CA - 51.42 miles
Waking up to our biking friends at the campsite was nice, but waking up to a third broken spoke was not. Austin has actually learned how to true a wheel pretty well, so we were able to ride 45 miles to San Luis Obispo (SLO) before having it fixed properly. After a fixed spoke and putting pink handlebar tape on the Cannondale (pink on yellow is like hotter on hottest), we hit up the SLO Jamba Juice, grocery store (where we finally remembered to buy Nutella to go with the PB, granola bars, and fingers), and library for four posts (Since we're posting a few days at a time, we hope all 7 of you are reading each entry. We'd say 8, but we know Tina is.). The big adventure of the day started when another generous David found us in the library to "pay it forward." He explained that he has done a lot of touring and was so appreciative of the generosity others showed to him that he wanted to invite us to come stay in his home. We pretended to think it over, but knew this option was 1,000 times better than the Pismo Beach Dunes Vehicle Recreation Area (think ATV's, not back country). After winding through Edna Valley wine country, we arrived at a beautiful home with a front yard filled with grapevines; orange, lemon, and avocado trees; and one excited six year old who couldn't wait to show Stephanie around. David gave Austin a beer while Sasha showed Steph her room, the pool, which oranges were edible, and made sure we knew all the rules of the house - "If Papa's office door is closed, it means he's working, but you can still go in." Remarkably, David and Sasha left us home alone to join friends for dinner. It's hard to say if we were more excited about taking showers, doing laundry, cooking in a kitchen, having unlimited Internet access or just the refreshing generosity. When they returned, Sasha showed us how to check the moon phases, showed us the weather forecast for tomorrow's ride, and took our picture - all on Papa's iPhone. It was like a Mac commercial. When Sasha fell asleep, we swapped teaching and railroad engineering stories with David. He is one of 20 engineers who conducts the SLO to LA Union Pacific Railroad. He said there were 100 engineers a few years ago, but there just isn't much freight to move in this economy. He ended up being called to work in the middle of night so we woke up to an empty house and a nice note - "...please feel free to hang around and rest for the day....lock the gate on your way out." Ironically, we were so excited to see Big Sur yesterday, and didn't have much to look forward to today. We knew this summer was going to be filled with adventures, but we're slowly learning that you can't predict when they are going to come.
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Funny, reading about St. Simeonyesterday was like reading a travellog, but reading about David and Sasha felt like I was right there with you ( writing workshop...)
ReplyDeleteFunny the way what you expect to be amazing rarely is and the magic moments are unexpected gifts. there might be a book in there somewhere...Something, Something, Something and the Art of BI-cycles???
Talking of iphones, ( well, you were...) I spent quite a bit of time this weekend checking out the constellations, scanning for good PD for teachers, pushing to up my IQ, and looking up the translation of guntagawn and ownshuck( it's about the only amp that hasn't yet been put out there). Not a bad little toy, though owning one might make it a lot more difficult to actually do any work.
HI STEPH AND AUSTIN!
ReplyDeleteit is morgan and paige! I was so happy when I read that you actually went to the boardwalk. I hope the roller coaster gave you a little thrill...at this point you probably forgot what it felt like to be pulled up a hill by something other than your own legs. ha. my attempt at a joke. anyways, i love reading the blog and looking at the pictures. i comment a lot less often than i read it, considering this is comment number 2. but that doesnt really matter, except it probably does to you. but a few updates for you:
1. Mr. Lehn-- your classroom is being put to fantastic use, i play board games in it every day, and i think of both of you. Also, your homeroom-- great for stackers.
2. Steph-- your classroom has just recently begun to be used (i havent been yet), but it is for this weird art class taught by this lady who makes giant horses out of drift wood. I will let you know how it goes.
we just went camping in maine this past weekend and thoguht of you while we were at our campsite. My aunt tells me that this was the summer to bike the west coast...apparently the weather has been better than usual? besides the fog which you write about. currently, it is raining in greenwich. regardless, i hope you guys have had the time of your lives and really enjoyed yourselves. i am jealous and i cannot wait to hear all about it when you get home. enjoy your last few days, even though i am sure it seems endless and like home is so far away. maybe you should just bike. whats another 3,000?? just kidding. i will see you soon! let us know if you need a ride home from the airport. i miss you! cant wait to hear about it. (ps, paige loves the pink handlebars, but she wishes they were purple) we love you guys!
rock on guys everyone says hi, well OZ says hi and Poppy says no and coco cause that all she can say
ReplyDeleteIrish Austin
If you take a 270 degree turn right now we'll probably get to Montana at about the same time and we'd be happy to strap your bikes to the back of the car. But if we must wait until driving the west coast then we must. I also think it's weird that blogs post to the top rather than the bottom. I don't read down to up, why would a blog go down to up.
ReplyDeletePeople are strangely generous and friendly and somehow the two of you seem to pick them out, or they seem to pick you two out. The people at Trader Joes who are TRAINED to engage you in conversation don't even talk to me. Maybe I'll have to try biking some time.
I look forward to learning how to true a wheel sometime.
-J