Monthly Archives: April 2017

Carpinteria State Beach Park, CA

On The Road,
UCSB
Wait, where am I?
breakfast wrap, potatoes, and OJ
A student-sized (=BIG) breakfast for about $7.
bike path
There was a lot of bike path today. Not too exciting.
sewage warning
But don’t drink the water in the creek.
Santa Barbara was too boutique for me. One place I did stop was State Street Coffee, where I met “Christian,” a cyclist out for a shorter ride. Originally from New York and Hollywood, he said exercise makes him feel better mentally.
big yellow house
This is a landmark I generally only see from the freeway.
public restroom
Carpinteria (accent on the last syllable) was more my kind of town.  Especially since there were public restrooms.

I spent a couple hours at the local library recharging and blogging. There, I met Elizabeth (English accent?) and Denise (grew up in Oxnard). Denise warned about all the crime in Oxnard.

Chase bank
But big enough to have a branch where I could replenish cash.
The campground was only a couple miles away, so I could get more than my normal food at the local Albertson’s (Safeway), and just strap the bag to my rear rack.

King’s Hawaiian Bread rolls were on sale for 88 cents a pack. Hopefully those would work better than bagels as trail starch. I got two pastries from the bakery, a half-dozen chicken wings – I like the ones that have been under a heat lamp for a long time. Not only are they better well-done, they’re lighter – and a wedge salad plus kale and other items from the salad bar. I ate the salad on the spot.

Not only was the campground nearby, but the hike and bike area was right near the entrance. Lots of people staying there, and I was not entirely sure that they had all paid.

Raccoon warnings, so I put my food in the locker. Also left a card there.
Matt Guzman
This is Matt, a cyclist going the exact opposite way from me.

Matt’s channel on YouTube is “Matt Guz”. Check out his videos. He’s from Texas, and started from Arizona, crossing the desert, then headed north along the Pacific Coast Trail. He had a lot of good advice on the road ahead. Matt is 50 days into his semi-nomadic trek. He finds work for a few weeks, gets some money, then moves on. His next gig is working at a hostel in SLO. He’s traveling heavy by my standards. His goal was to get to Lompoc the next day, something that took me 2 days.

Kent and Alesha were wandering on their last “hippie-cation” before settling down, possibly around San Luis Obispo.

While talking to Alesha and Kent, I noticed a small pocket Bible on the table. They said they were both Christians like me, and that they prayed a lot, and would pray for me. I will return the favor. Alesha: I sent the full resolution picture to your email.

I also met Porter, a man from Missouri visiting this area for 10 days. No picture of him, sorry. He said that his tent got stolen in Malibu, and he replaced it with a cheap one.

There were more people I met at the campground, and I’ll talk about them in the next post.

Gopher holes were abundant. I pitched my tent on ground with a natural depression in the middle, for a more comfortable sleep.

Miles for the day, just 38.6