I was supposed to end up at Gaviota State Park after visiting the nearby hot springs, but after bumbling around and not finding the springs and after seeing the unimpressive campsites, I decided to bike an extra 10 miles to Refugio.
I am glad I did. Refugio offers a much nicer campsite. The beach, people, and palm trees seemed to welcome me back to Southern California. And the park has showers (unlike Gaviota)!
Today's ride was a little challenging though. I started out sleepy (that's always a bad sign) and ran into long sections of "boring" flat or slightly rolling terrains. The farms here are very large scale, but I found I didn't quite enjoy biking across miles miles of the same vegetables as much as I did the coastlines. The climbs were also a bit dull, most of it over dry, brushy terrain.
After getting lunch and picking up my "care packet" at Lompoc, I embarked on a long, slow 1000 ft. climb. While that climb was was not physically demanding, it was mentally draining. I'm glad it's done and over with...
Since I am a little ahead of schedule, I am thinking about taking a trip to Santa Cruz Island tomorrow. I need to look into the price and schedule of the ferries before I finally decide though.
Trip Home