I just ingested enough grease to kill an elephant. I'm camping in the Sycamore Canyon campground of Point Mugu State Park just south of Ventura, California and the choice of places to eat within reasonable driving distance of the campground was limited. So, I ended up having dinner at Neptune's Net seafood; a cozy little fish and chips place just a stones throw from the ocean off of Hwy 1.
The California coastline redeemed itself today. Today was a much better day of riding. I'm not sure if the road was more sane than it was yesterday or if I was less so. Whatever the case, I was riding much more aggressively today and enjoying it. Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like crossing that double line to pass someone on a winding two lane coastal road. Is someone coming around that next corner? Maybe, Maybe Not.
Speaking of riding dangerously, I rode in between lanes of stopped traffic for the first time today. I've heard that it's legal in California to do that. I have my doubts that it's really legal; I think that it's just so commonly done that nobody cares. It also seems like it would be pretty tough to enforce a law against it.
I've passed through California before and seen other bikers splitting traffic but was always too chicken to do it myself. It's difficult enough for people to see bikers when they are using the same lanes as everyone else. But today I was just frustrated with the traffic in Santa Barbara and also felt a little silly sitting there in the car lane as half a dozen bikes pulled past me. So, I hopped in between the two lanes of cars and just started cruising. It felt great.
I think that part of what accounted for a better day of riding today was that I didn't spend the entire day on the road. I broke up the day by stopping in Monterey to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It wasn't the best aquarium that I've ever been to (The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is better in my opinion) but it was still a good diversion. I was disappointed that they didn't have dolphins or whales to see. However, the jellyfish and the giant octopus were pretty cool. I thought that it was interesting that the Monterey Bay Aquarium had a “petting” area where you could touch all of the various sea creatures from crabs to starfish to anenome to various types of snails and sea cucumbers. It just seemed weird that these animals' whole purpose in life was to be fondled by curious children. What a woeful existence.
It's funny how the price of staying in a campground is increasing as I travel South. I was paying $10 in Olympic National Park, $16 in Seal Rock, Oregon, $20 in Redwood National Park and now I am paying $25 to stay in Point Mugu State Park. The campground isn't even really all that nice. There is absolutely no privacy between sites. The site next to mine is about 6 feet away from my tent and separated only by about 6 ft. of grass. I suppose that I'm just grateful to have a place to camp. I'm glad not to have to a repeat of last night where I had to drive 50 miles in the dark and then pay $100 for a hotel room.
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