Update #17 - April 09th, 2003
Paso Robles, CA - 2,469.1 miles (3,950.6 kms.)

The five days that I had in Santa Maria were okay. I had hoped to speak at a local church but the plans were not completed in time to do so when I arrived. I spent most of the time resting and getting ready to start my trip northward. I did have one small problem with getting the bike put back together and that was a spoke on the rear wheel was broken during the bus trip. It only took ten minutes at a bike shop to get it fixed. I was quite pleased with myself that I was able to tune the bike up without the use of a bikestand. I got the bike packed up Sunday night.

Monday morning, I was anxious to get started. I woke up around 5 a.m. To me this was late because my body and bioclock is still on Eastern Standard Time and that would make it 8 a.m. in Georgia. Nobody was up when I pulled the bike out of the garage at 7 a.m. with the sun coming up. I walked through downtown Santa Maria since there was some road construction.

Once passed the road construction it was a smooth ride to Guadalupe and CA 1. Along the way, I rode passed large fields of Romaine Lettuce that was being harvested and put into boxes. I stopped for a while to watch the crews of migrant workers.

Once in Guadalupe, I turned my bike northward on CA 1. The trip north had started and I couldn't travel any more west since the ocean was less than a mile from me. I hadn't ridden this section of highway since 2000 and I was looking forward to it. The recumbent made it over most of the hills and I didn't have to get off to walk. I decided to make it a short day around noon and stop at the Oceano State Beach. A Hiker/Biker campsite only cost $2. There were a lot of ducks and geese at the park. This was the end for a good day.

I did get some sleep and I had the bike loaded up and ready to go by 8 a.m. the next morning. I walked through the park to limber up my legs. I was planning to ride to San Luis Obispo to possibly stay with some friends. The ride was okay but I got turned around a little bit because some of the Pacific Coast Bikeway signs were missing. I did correct my mistake and rode along a great paved bike path through a private golf course. Once on the right road, I stopped at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant visitor center and I got to share a little bit with the lady at the front desk.

When I got to my friends' house in San Luis Obispo, they were surprised to see me. They hadn't checked their phone messages and they had plans to go out for the evening. My friend, Jodi, called her minister but he didn't have any idea for me to stay for the night. I had wanted to stay in San Luis Obispo because I needed to make connections with a student at Cal Poly.

Since I didn't really have any other ideas, I called up a friend of mine in nearby Paso Robles to see if he knew of any contacts in the S.L.O. area. I had met Mike during my last trip through California in 2000. Mike offered to come and get me and I'll be staying with him for a couple of nights. While waiting for Mike to pick me up, I got to share with the young guy who was the gas station attendant where I waited for the ride. Mike will take me back to S.L.O. tomorrow so I can connect with my friend at Cal Poly.

After that, I'll be taking my time enjoying the ride up the CA coast and then on to Seattle, WA. I have about 800 miles to ride in CA. I'm looking forward to ride through the Big Sur area in a couple of days. My only concern is how good the recumbent will handle on all of the tight turns and hills.

I'll try to post an update as often as I can if there are any changes in my plans.