Davenport to Marina: Today has been brought to you by the letter A (for artichoke) and the letter S (for strawberry)

April 21, 2012

Ah, did it again and over reached.

I didn't really want to get to Monterey, as the Vets Memorial hiker/biker site has a reputation for being quite rowdy. I'm about 10 miles short staying at the Motel 6. They only had smoking rooms left and I'm nicotined out after only 15 minutes in the room... yurk.

Arrived in Santa Cruz in no time (only about 10 miles from Davenport)- again got passed by hundreds of cyclist out for the day - singles, doubles, small groups and swarming peletons. It is nice to see so many people on bikes. In Santa Cruz I passed (going the other way - me and Turtle don't pass people going our way) a guy wearing giant butterfly wings. I know what my next cycling outfit will be.

After Santa Cruz you end up on the back roads, pasing by field after field of market gardens. Today's images are of Artichokes and Strawberries and Mexican farm workers. People wouldn't eat in this state if it weren't for the Mexican labourers.

My sister showed up at my motel room: she and her partner decided to surprise me with an unscheduled visit. After pedalling away on a bike for a couple of days, it's amazingly disconcerting how fast and far people can travel in a car. Nice surprise though: we had a great dinner at the Fish House in Monetrey (highly recommended). Next day they drove on to San Simeon.

Got to plan tomorrow more carefully - left knee is still not happy.

Got more compliments about the bike today - maybe it's the big shiny brass bell?

Field after field of artichokes and strawberries today. You can smell the rich California loam soil as you ride - it's a buzz. And Celery - almost knocked off my bike by the smell of fresh Celery.

Artichokes a la derecha, Strawberries a la izquierda. After Santa Cruz, a lot of today's ride was down the back roads.

Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 150 miles (241 km)

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