What a confusing title - what a confusing day!
To be fair, I had a good day most of the day. I completed errands, including shopping for supplies, getting a haircut, and finishing a "pile" of school "paperworks" on the computer. Sean and I also had yummy Chinese food for lunch at the 99 Ranch plaza by Cisco.
Even a little after 4 pm when Sean drove me up to Half Moon Bay, things were still going well. But then things quickly changed...
I originally had two plans. 1.) I could stay at Sean's for an extra night and bike from Sean's to Santa Cruz via Highway 17 the next morning. Or 2.) Sean could drop me off at Half Moon Bay where I would camp before restarting my trip the next day. I chose the latter. I should have chosen the former.
When we arrived at Half Moon Bay State Park, the park ranger told us that the campgrounds were closed for the season! They were undergoing some kind of renovation. The park ranger told us to try the R.V. Park down Highway 1.
"They may take some tents if they have extra space."
"How far down is it?
"A few miles...you can't miss it," he said.
After a couple of runs and not finding anything, we decided to drive down toward Santa Cruz and stop by the first camp ground we find. As it turned out, there were no other campgrounds - public or private - between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz! Further, when we got to New Brighton State Park just south of Santa Cruz, it was closed, too! The park ranger told us to try the KOA a couple of miles down. We dropped instead by Seacliff State Park (R.V. only camp just across the KOA) hoping to steal an unoccupied spot. No such luck because the camp was full. However, the ranger there did encourage us to go a couple of miles further south to Sunset Beach, which he assured us took tents and was open. When we finally got there, it was after seven. I felt really bad not only because I had bypassed many more mile than I had planned but also because I had made Sean drive all around for nothing when he still had things to finish up at work that night...
I have not been this stressed since my bus trip up to Vancouver. In the end, I bypassed over 140 miles of biking in the Bay Area (around 70 miles from Point Reyes to Half Moon Bay and 70 miles from Half Moon Bay to Sunset Beach). This is one of my great regrets of this trip - the other being my losing Sis' pictures.
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