Day 69 - 11/30/16 - Oceanside to Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA

Despite the cozy motel room a block from the beach, sleep did not find me easily.  Train tracks run perpendicular to the street the Beachwood Motel sits on, busy train tracks, in fact, maybe every 20 minutes.  I find it comforting, and also kind of funny, how close the Amtrak route has been to my bike route over the last couple of weeks.  

I think when I finally board the train to go home I’ll find myself backtracking quite a bit, seeing all I’ve seen from a train window, back through Oceanside and over the bridge at Gaviota State Beach, being one with the noise that as disturbed or prevented sleep while making my way down So. Cal.  I left the motel early, before 9:00am so I could see Stephanie before she went to work.  I did not make it, I was on pace but, I blame my Canadian friends, Brandon, Brendan and Kane.  

I met them at the end of October, rode with them almost all the way to San Fran.  Then another month went by, hundred of miles down the road and we stopped to smoke a joint just like old times.  We caught up briefly but, once on the road we split up fairly quickly without a proper goodbye.  It’s very possible I’ll see them again.  I’ve known Stephanie since 6th grade.  Her last name is Brown, mine is Brenton.  Folks that are close to you in the alphabet usually stay close throughout school.  Since I missed her before she left for work, I didn’t see her til after 10:00.  

I did what I usually do, eat food then smoke down by the pier and watch the sunset.  It’s fun seeing people from home in places you’d never expect.  Part of the fun of traveling is seeing all new people but, it’s also kind of special when you encounter someone from home out on the road, even if you’re not the tightest of friends, having a shared background is a unique way to relate.  We talked a little about home, mostly getting away from it, it makes you appreciate it more once you actually go back from an extended stay elsewhere.  

I don’t know from personal experience but, I already feel a longing to see familiar streets and people and places, to know where I’m going, to be able to look at something and know how it’s changed.

Day 61 - 11/22/16 Oceano, CA to Gaviota, SP

I remember it wasn’t until Ohio that I stayed at a campground where there were actually other people there.  That was a nice change of pace, nice to have people to talk to and hang out with (that’s also the first time I ran into raccoon issues).  Here at Gaviota State Park, the campground is actually closed, only open to cyclists.  The sites are scattered about the parking lot and past everything is the beach, framed by a tall railroad bridge that spans the length of the 2 cliffs that bookend the little slice of sand.  

And it’s just me here to enjoy it.  There were a few folks poking around to watch the sun set but, now it is dark, windy but, also very peaceful.  I met a girl the other day at San Simeon but have not seen her since.  The campground situation in Oceano last night was a bit screwy and I thought I ended up at a different campground than her, maybe I did.  But I expected to see her here today but, that’s not the case.  She was good company, for sure.  A Wyoming native –I told her all the ridiculous shit that happened to me there and she just laughed.  It was a peaceful ride through lots of farmland today, warm and sunny.  Whenever the road veers inland into farm territory I’m always excited when it brings me back to the coast.  It looks like that’s where I’ll be for the next couple of days.  

I still don’t know what I’m doing for Thanksgiving, if I’ll ride or if I’ll sit still, if anyone will be where I am or what I’ll eat –probably some vegetarian chili.  I wish I could’ve gone out on the pier here to watch the sunset but, it’s closed for construction and I was also too hungry to sit and wait for the sun to go down.  I did take a little stroll on the beach but, I feel compelled to get everything set up so I can crawl in my tent right away when it starts to get cold.  As I was finishing washing my dishes, I walked out of the bathroom to the sight and sound of an Amtrak train riding across the sky; most of the windows were lit up enough to see people inside, some walking around, opening this and that, others sitting by the window in their own little space watching the world whip on by or maybe lost in a good book.  

I’m planning on taking the Amtrak back to Boston once the time comes to head home.  I might’ve taken this site as a sign to head home if that train had been heading North but, sure enough it was barreling down the tracks, Southbound to cacti, more palm trees and more adventures in unknown places.