Woodland Hills to Orcutt, California

May 7, 1981 to May 9, 1981

The Three Amigos and The First Three Days

Statistics:

5/7/81-Woodland Hills to Oxnard - 65 miles;

5/8/81-Oxnard to Refugio State Beach (RSB) - 57 miles;

5/9/81-RSB to Orcutt - 60 miles.

Description of Events:

May 7, 1981: Since I couldn't sleep the night before the start of the trip, I stayed up watching The Tonight Show, with Johnny Carson. Jerry Seinfeld made his debut on that show. I had never heard of him before but he was hilarious. The good laughs might have been the catalyst for me finally getting some shut eye.

Since Mark-H had gotten caught up in all of the excitement, he decided to ride with Paul and I for the first three days. We started on May 7th, which was a Thursday, as I remember. Our extended group of family and friends met for breakfast at a restaurant in Woodland Hills. It was somewhat centrally located between Mark's place, in Chatsworth, and Paul's in North Hollywood. Topanga Canyon Boulevard (CA-27) also runs through Woodland Hills and was our route out of the San Fernando Valley. At the little diner, we all had a few laughs, checked our bikes one more time, said our good byes, and we were off.

The photo in the lower left corner is from one of the training rides. Lower right is getting ready to depart from the parking lot in Woodland Hills. Upper right is boys being boys and climbing up on those rather tall poles (that I definitely cannot do these days). Upper left is climbing out of the San Fernando Valley on CA-27, aka Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

View of Woodland Hills, in the San Fernando Valley, as we were climbing out if it.

We crested the top of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and began a long and thrilling descent to Malibu Beach. Those poles (in the photo collage above) were at the top of Topanga Canyon. From there, it was all downhill to the Pacific. At Malibu, we turned North on the Pacific Coast Highway, aka the PCH and/or California Highway 1 (CA-1). We rode the hilly and sometimes busy PCH all the way to Oxnard, passing by all of our favorite beaches: Will Rogers, Malibu, Point Dume, Zuma, Leo Carillo, and Point Mugu. We camped somewhere in the Oxnard area but my journal does not specify exactly where we ended up. In my mind, it was on a beach somewhere but it has been too long ago to remember for sure.

The road ahead (the PCH), North of Carpinteria. We had made a brief stop at the trailer around midday on the 2nd day out. Then we continued onward because it was too soon to stop for the day, even though the trailer was tempting us.

May 8, 1981: We rode fewer miles but seemed to have a much longer day. We passed through Ventura and then stopped in Carpinteria, where Paul and Billy had a trailer. It was a brief stop (maybe a lot longer than I remember), then we moved on down the road. We were saying goodbye to all of these familiar places, including the beach volleyball courts of Santa Barbara... Paul for a little while... me possibly (definitely) for a very long while. I remember reaching Refugio Beach as it was getting dark. There was nobody around to ask, so we set up our camp on the beach. I know I slept soundly that evening.

We camped near Orcutt, on the last night that Mark was with us. His wife, Sue and his sister Debbie drove up to get him.

May 9, 1981: The three of us rode further Northward up the coast. Mark was excited because his future wife (Sue) and "current" sister (Debbie) would be meeting us in Orcutt. He would be headed back to home and work, while Paul and I would be continuing on. We were also excited to see some familiar faces and all have a final evening together.

At Gaviota, the PCH turned inland and took us to Lompoc, where we had a break. This was where the local fellow told us we were stupid for riding North. He ended up being more hospitable, after I spoke to him about his comments. He gave us some good information about the road ahead. I remember Mark saying that Lompoc sounded like a name for a town in West Virginia.

We made it to Orcutt. Our friends were waiting for us there. We set up camp, after talking with the Chief of the local Fire Station. He was a bicyclist himself and made sure to be friendly to other cyclists. I picked up on the fact that some of the rank and file firemen did not share his views but nobody was rude to us. According to my notes, we went to a local place called Elmer's. Apparently, we played pool and had a good time. Thankfully I took some notes because I don't remember much about that venture. Suffice it to say, we had a great afternoon, evening, and night in Orcutt. The townspeople we met were all friendly and hospitable.

Today's ride: 182 miles (293 km)
Total: 182 miles (293 km)

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