Bike Tour in the USA (2007), Part 22

Sunday, Sep. 16, 2007

Beaches and Missions

Oceano Dunes → Morro Rock

Distance: 84.20 km, Time: 5:50:36 hrs, Total: 710.62 km

On the small wooden hut at the entrance of the Morro Bay State Park a kind Ranger invited me to register myself, my bike and my small tent at the Hiker & Biker. The way to the campground is located within a forest and frankly spoken, for a man-made campground it does not get much more 'natural' than that. As a kid I enjoyed the smell of trees and especially pinewood with moist needles on the ground; the whole campground's scent let me travel back in time. 

On the Hiker & Biker I had an unexpected surprise in the form of the first fellow biker and was looking forward to a nice evening. He introduced himself as Peter, an American travel biker. He cycled from the north to visit a friend in the south of the USA. Contrary to me he was a comfort camper with a 4-men tent so large that he parked his bike in it. My small one man tent seemed to be lost beside his; he meant that I ‘travel light’. I put mine beside his tent and both were at the edge of the forest not far away from a free range golf course.

Before it got dark I’ve tried to find in the proximity of the State Park something to eat. Leaving the park I had a good view on the Morro Rock, a volcanic plug in the Morro Bay. It is a 581 foot (177 m) lava dome and mostly compost of dacite, an igneous, volcanic rock, and partially of petrified bird feces (solid or semisolid remains of the food that could not be digested), which have compacted into the plug over the year (wikipedia). 

I cycled northbound through a clean neighborhood but beside beautiful houses I could neither find a supermarket nor a restaurant. So I had to stick with the salad for dinner.

During the dinner me and Peter sat together and he told me about his cycling adventure. I asked especially about San Francisco and he only answered: “I arrived with a $1000 bike and returned with a $600 bike!” This meant that this original bike got stolen and he had to get a new one. He warned me to be very careful in the city of 'flower power' San Francisco!

After the sunset we watched a group of deer moving on the edge of the forest on the golf course and eating the grass there in the twilight. What a natural and peaceful sight on this late evening! I took this feeling in my small tent and had a great night!

Monday, Sep. 17, 2007

Friendly America

Morro Rock - San Simeon State Park

Distance: 72.35 km, Time: 5:09:21 hrs, Total: 782.97km

After I peeled myself out of the sleeping bag and the tent at 8:00 in the morning my friend Peter left already. I personally was not in a hurry and wanted to take my time. As I did not take a shower for the last 4 days (!) I took the chance to do it in this nice environment. After I felt clean and fresh I packed my things so slowly that I have to admit that I did not want to leave this comfortable campground at all.

The Ranger at the entrance was also not there but instead of turning right to the north I turned left. Yesterday I discovered a small harbor so I parked my bike there and walked around to have a look. The sun did not rise too long ago so I took a photo in this early morning of the ships fixed by ropes on the harbor. 

Finally I went back to my bike and cruised north to the City of Morro as it is known officially. It is still in San Luis Obispo County and has around 10.000 citizens. The 1st Europeans explored the coast near Morro Bay on Sep. 08, 1769; the Franciscan missionary and expedition member Juan Crespi noted in his diary that “we saw a great rock in the form of a round morro”. The term 'morro' is common to the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian languages, and part of place names where there is a distinctive and prominent hill-shaped rock formation (wikipedia).

(to be continued)