June 19th

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Another motel room for the night.

Travelled across the valley on busy duel carriageway in high winds. The terrain starts to change as one starts to climb up over the hills before you reach the coast. Initially I thought the hills were large sand dunes, but realised as I got nearer that it was just brown grass! As we rose over the first few I realised, yet again, that my perspective was way off, and the ocean no where to be seen. Not much fun on those roads, being blasted by the winds and rocked by the large lorries going by, but made it to Monterey. A very hip, trendy and expensive town which we drove pretty well straight through and onto highway 1.

Highway 1 is pretty well as portrayed, but it was a windy day and the road surface is not that good. We didn't have the dreaded mist though, and it is lovely. Stopped at Big Sur for a lovely late lunch in the sun, with a realisation that finding somewhere for the night was not going to be easy, its very busy. Kept going, with lots of photo stops along the way (including a group of elephant seals). Asked at one lodge for a price for the night and rejected the $150 plus tax price tag, kept going. Saw Hearst Castle up on the ridge, quite fancy checking that out...maybe tomorrow. Eventually came across a group of affordable looking motels, just outside Cambria, and now have a very smart room with ocean views.

I think we've crossed the 5 thousand mile barrier. We've by passed San Francisco, too much traffic and with our loss of a few days waiting for the bike to be fixed, something had to give. We do need a laundromat too, another job for tomorrow.

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