April 16th--Monterey to Parks Valley

A gorgeous day, all-in-all. After having breakfast with Adrienne at the Monterey Marriott, i still had some work to do in packing and fixing Adrienne's flat (the patch hadn't held previously). I then headed east out of town and stopped at the Safeway at the edge of Del Rey Oaks. While there, i got some olive oil, peanut butter, honey, Italian herbs, tiny ziplock bags and carrots. To save space and weight, i resolved to put the herbs into one of the little baggies, and then put what olive oil would fit into the herb container. Unfortunately the herb container did not seem particularly secure, so i also put that in a baggie. I then took a coule large swigs of olive oil, which i later determined was a bad choice, as i was burping up astringent olive oil for a good deal of the rest of the day. I set the remainder of the olive oil and half of the box of baggies by the trash, hoping someone (namely, the guy who was then going through the trash) would find them useful.

I packed up and finally set out at about 11:30am. I rode out Canyon del Rey and met up with Hwy 68. It was a gentle climb to about 500', cresting around Laguna Seca, where the Sea Otter Classic had just been taking place. Along the way were grassy hillsides, made a vibrant green thanks to the recent rains. At one point, right near the Marina Farmer's Market location, a group of people had gathered with their Suburus, umbrellas and easles at the side of the road, painting the hillside, which had turned purple with the blooming Lupine.

Near the intersection of Hwy 68 and River Rd., 68 turns into a freeway, so i was obliged to get off and take a side road to River Rd. River Rd. was a pleasure, with relatively little--and waning--traffic and a decent tail wind. The road was lined with agricultural fields in full production and a few vineyards. The contrast between row crops of greens and vegetables on the one hand and wine vineyards on the other was quite remarkable. The former was distinguishable by run-down old buildings and the latter by newly-built warehouses, newly-painted signs (almost invariably in an ornate, curly script of some sort), newly-paved parking lots and newly-planted, green vineyards. Farmworkers waved wherever i went, however.

After some 35 or 40 miles, i crossed the Salinas river into Gonzales, stopping for water at the local "Farmers Market", which was more of a regular supermarket grocery catering to local farmers, and got some water. The two square blocks that served as the town's downtown core bore evidence of the wealth of the town, with a new town sign, fairly new or refurbished post office, brick crosswalks and signs reading "no bicycling, skateboarding or skating on sidewalks," despite the relative lack of foot traffic to impede. In short, it bore all of the signs of modern American downtown civil engineering with hardly any actual people to populate it.

I took my leave of downtown and cycled a few blocks to the local park, which also served as the playing field for the nearby school. Thankfully, it had port-a-potties. I sat underneat a tree and ate some of my carrots with peanut butter. Across the street was a new skate park. It was only about 2:30pm, which may have explained why it was empty.

I left town after this little lunch and headed south to La Gloria Rd. At the bottom of La Gloria Rd., was a sign indicating that one could find the Monterey County Swiss Gun Club 6 miles up the road. The tailwinds had turned to side-winds with my change of direction and continued so ways up La Gloria Rd. Here was mostly pasture land and some vineyards. One i found of note had cactii at its entrance gate. I can only assume that broccoli, or whatever had been there before, was no longer as profitable as California wine.

It was a gradual incline for the first 4.5mi or so, climbing to 700' in that distance, and then became increasingly steep. I stopped at around 5mi, 800', shortly after the road turned to dirt, and changed gears, front and rear. Parts of the rifle range could be seen below. After changing gears, which took quite a long time, the climb became fairly easy (because of the gearing), but evenutally became difficult even in this low gear (39x17, for those who care about such things). I stopped on numerous occasions to take pictures and to catch my breath. The views were gorgeous. The frequent stopping reminded me of riding the Big Sur coast the previous spring, but this time, the lack of traffic made the experience much more pleasant, though the views were not quite as striking. A made a few calls to Adrienne on my way up, as i would soon be going out of range for some time. The reception was sketchy, but it worked out. Right near the top, at about 9mi., 2300', i called Quentin to thank him for his help in getting me rolling after the issues with my frame. The crest was at the 9-mile milepost at 2333', and on the other side was the beautiful sight of Williams Valley, a valley of cattle ranches and vernal ponds and small streams and oak woodlands.

I carried on for several miles, increasingly on the lookout for a good place to camp. I eventually came upon a ranch road, blocked by a rickety old gate, and running into an area surrounded by rusted barbed wire. The road was mostly grown over and did not seem well-traveled, so i went for it, hoisting my bike over the barded wire and stepping over the gap at the entrance of the gate. I went about a 1/4mi. in and then went off the road, following a shallow wash into a stand of trees, stepping over numerous dessicated cow patties. I made camp in the stand of trees and then walked around a bit, taking pictures of hills and trees and flowers (Indian Paintbrush, Stream Orchid, Lomatium). I was pretty tired, so i ate some more carrots with peanut butter and went to sleep. I napped for an hour or so and then lay still, watching the sunset. I made a wish on the first star. It had been quite some time since i'd last slept under the stars. Before dark, i saw a beetle fly by that looked like a lightning bug, so i was disappointed when i didn't see any after dark. I did, however, see a rabbit, with its ears silhouetted against the fading sky.