by Philip

Day’s mileage : 68

Running total : 1,830

We had an early start this morning as it’s a (planned) 67 mile day to Lompoc. We had a breakfast of strawberries and then scones and pastries provided by our host. We were away just after 9, and headed out of Los Osos on a grey morning to start our day of mainly inland travel.

The road took us along the Los Osos valley – much narrower than the valley with King City the other day – but agricultural again with smaller fields, and with vines, lemon trees in full fruit, possibly (they were a long way away) avocados, and various unidentified green crops. We saw a hawk sitting on a post, a kestrel on a power cable, and a heron in a field with a beak full of straw. We’ve commented before on the relative lack of roadkill we’ve seen in our nearly 1,800 miles – but in one mile this morning I saw skunk, stoat, opossum and banana on the shoulder. One amusement was the repairs to cracks in the shoulder – done by pouring tar by the looks of it – but the workers occasionally became more creative, painting initials in a heart, a smiley face, and the name of a supported football team. We were accompanied at times by the scuttling ground squirrels in the verge. As we entered San Luis Obispo, the end point for Liz’s inspiring ride in 1987, it turned out her abiding memory was of her hunger and devouring a McDonald’s egg McMuffin.

We rode through Pismo beach and Shell beach, the road taking us parallel to the coast but about 100 yards away and 100’ above sea level. It is mizzling slightly as we stop for a quick break. 

At the end of Pismo Bay, back on highway 1, we turned back into agricultural land, with fields on both sides of the road, pretty dunes on our right and hills on our left. We climbed out of the valley through a eucalyptus grove and saw a sign for a specific area where Monarch butterflies congregate in the winter. The road is gentle and not too busy – the 101 is not far away and carries more traffic here – and the mizzle has stopped although the sun is still hiding. We stopped for a snack in a lay-by next to a nursery with lots of flowering roses. 

Over the hill we came into another vast plain, all agricultural, but different to further north. There are raised beds all encased in plastic, and we saw workers on hands and knees planting crops – we think strawberries – presumably for a later or second harvest. In other fields cabbages were being picked, and then acres of root vegetables and broccoli were being watered. The road was straight for many miles, with huge areas under plastic of one kind or another. We saw all stages of cultivation – ploughing, sowing, irrigation and picking, and overall it’s given us a greater appreciation of what happens to get veg to our plate.

Passing through the one-street town of Guadelupe, which could have been a Western movie set, we turned south and enjoyed a tailwind for the next stretch before a very late lunch in the town of Orcutt – the place to come if you need sewing supplies, it would seem.

From Orcutt we went through some residential roads and then had 3 delightful miles of gentle ascent with virtually no traffic, following alongside highway 135. Then a Komoot special made us cross and then join the highway before heading up the Harris Grade Road. Here we saw a team picking lettuce, a slick affair with fascinating equipment showing how they were picked, outer leaves removed, packed in bags, stacked in boxes and the boxes loaded onto a trailer – all with much laughter audible to us up the hill and watching through binoculars. We climbed to 970’ on a winding road through the hills and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the valley with Lompoc below, much more forested this time. A three mile descent to the town was welcome, and we came into the town past a dilapidated drive in movie theatre which reminded us of our childhoods in Barbados and Malawi. Stopping to buy food we wended our way through the town to tonight’s AirBnB.

Our accommodation is a tiny apartment on one side of a Victorian house which has a stunning formal garden and various rental and AirBnB properties within the grounds. I’m finishing this blog post as Liz does battle with the microwave and teeny tiny oven – it looks like a feast is coming!