Tag Archives: Pacific Coast Hwy

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 24: Doheny State Beach to San Elijo (Part 2)

Previous post: Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 24, Part 1

[continued, Part 2]

Our mood light, we left Carlsbad and started pedaling toward Whole Foods in Encinitas where we planned to buy dinner groceries. We spent most of the ride from Carlsbad to Encinitas talking about food and what we all wanted for dinner on our last night of camping. We settled on some kind of BBQ, thinking we’d cook on the fire. We pulled up to Whole Foods and leaned the heavy gear laden bikes just outside the store entrance. The boys went in the store to shop while the girls stayed outside with the bikes. Tim had been talking about Cocchi all day and was looking forward to some cocktails at the campground that evening. Unfortunately, unlike our local Whole Foods in Seattle, this one didn’t carry it. So he settled for a nice dry rose instead.IMG_1943

Tim sent a series of texts while he shopped. Carne Asada? I replied, Yes! Grilled peppers? Yum! Baguette and chevre? This is getting better. Cherry Pie? Why not? Even though Tim doesn’t eat pie or bread, he’s always thinking about the bread and sweet eaters in the family. He finally emerged from the store almost an hour later, carrying multiple bags for our celebratory feast. Continue reading

Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 21: Carpinteria to Leo Carrillo State Park

previous post: Pacific Coast Bike Tour Day 20: El Capitan State Beach to Carpinteria

Day 21: Carpinteria to Leo Carrillo State Park

We woke in the gopher site at 6:00 AM to a blaring car alarm followed by the horns of a passing freight train. With tracks running less than 50 feet from the campsite, we were woken several times during the night by trains. The car alarm topped off a bad night’s sleep and we figured we might as well just get up and start the day.

As we ate breakfast and drank coffee in the shade at a picnic table next to the gopher site, I checked the maps again and determined our next campsite, Leo Carrillo State Beach, was a little over 47 miles away. With stops, we average about 10 miles and hour, so I figured 47 miles would take us about 5 hours. Since it was so early, we had the luxury of a slow roll out. We said goodbye to Henry and Danielle before they packed up and left, they were headed to town for breakfast. They planned to camp at Leo Carrillo too so we knew we’d see them again.

Carpinteria to Leo Carrillo

We eventually packed up and got on the road. And after a brief stop in town for second breakfast  and coffee, we started pedaling toward our destination. The bike route meandered through town and eventually joined busy Hwy 1. It was Sunday, in the middle of a heat wave and by the time we got rolling, beach traffic was hopping: lots of cars and large trucks towing RVs and not a lot of space for bikes on the shoulder. Continue reading