sm to slo bike tour, day 3

Day 3: Left Carmel 10:00, arrived Big Sur 12:45.

Day 3 was planned as a short 35 mile day, so we lounged around at the hotel in Carmel before leaving. In retrospect, we should have lounged around downtown Carmel until 3pm and then headed out to Big Sur. Live and learn.

This was our first real day of the "scary" part of Hwy 1, ocean to the right of us, single lane, scary cars. In fact, it wasn't scary. True, the fog was so thick that we had only 40 foot visibility (I could hear the ocean the whole time but not see it). But the cars were very cautious, we had a bike lane in most cases, and the shoulder/guard-rail was sufficient-looking in most places.

There were lots of gently rolling hills. The ride was entirely too easy. We thought we'd be tired by day three, but even had we been (we were not) we could easily have handled a much longer ride, and reaped the benefits, as well -- our stay in Big Sur was boring, and we could have missed a lot of boredom by riding further on day 3.

Shortly after Carmel, we met Ward and Jackie, two amazing bike tourists who've been at it for 3 years now. We traded some stories, and loaded up on inspiration, we went on. We'd see Ward and Jackie pass us on the road after we'd pulled in to the inn at Ragged Point, but we never caught up to them, despite their claim of being slow. We're much slower.

Occasionally, through the fog, we'd catch glimpses of gorgeous scenery. Even without much scenery, this was the first day that I felt like I was on tour - or at least, the first day I was on the tour I wanted to be on. I was on the central coast! And the fog and the sounds and the trees were all central coast-y and just what I'd hoped for. It was a truly wonderful ride -- and it was too short, and ended at a crummy hotel.

The Big Sur River Inn is a mystery to me -- I can't understand why anyone would be tempted to stay there. It's in the middle of nowhere, close by car to Carmel to the north, or San Simeon to the south. There didn't seem to be much to do while there, certainly not on foot, and even by car, it seemed like you'd just take a trip to Carmel or San Simeon -- so why not stay in Carmel or San Simeon?

The room was $100 and that included a voucher for breakfast -- with a mandatory 18% gratuity! Breakfast wasn't served until 8am and we really didn't want to stick around that long. The room was tiny, dirty-ish, with a joke of a shower that was too small for actually washing anything, and, worst of all, no television.

We had a burrito at their new burrito bar, and it was the worst burrit I've ever had, without exception or exaggeration. Microwaved parts, unmarinated beef -- it was a flavorless experience that I'd not wish on anyone. We ate our tasteless burritos on wooden chairs set in the Big Sur River. The water was refreshing and hops and I explored upriver a bit, avoiding slippery rocks an poison oak. It didn't really get particularly scenic or nice, the water was muddy and had garbage in it (some of it, dangerous).

We finally managed to kill enough time to have dinner at the inn's restaurant. The restaurant was not bad, but there weren't many choices. The food was decent, overpriced, pretentious, and the apple pie was not good (though they claimed it was "famous", of course). The power went out overnight. There were a ton of smokers.

Lessons learned: bring a book, bring more cell phone games, plan better for boredom. Pack less.

At 7:00, we were disappointed to find the restaurant didn't open till 8am. The "burrito bar" opened at 7:30 -- but doesn't start serving burritos until 8! The dude made us an exception and we managed to have a worthless breakfast (microwaved breakfast bagel sandwich) by 7:45, affording us time for a relatively early start at 8:45. Obviously, I couldn't wait to be out of there and on the road -- a feeling that didn't go away each morning until we returned to San Mateo.