San Francisco to Santa Cruz, California

January 6, 2013

We headed west across San Francisco, using Divisadero Street. The steepness of this road is insane, and trucks are warned off the slope and off the crest at the top. We ignored that and made it. After that it was flat as we approached the beaches on the west side of the peninsula.

A street in the Laurel Heights section of San Francisco

Around Daly City and Pacifica the houses are packed onto the hillsides very tightly. They are small, squarish, and multi-coloured, the exact houses made out of ticky tacky referred to in the song "Little Boxes".

The road then ascends into a series of cliff faces, where the plants seem strangely tropical and the rock strata are exposed and canted at odd angles.

Beyond the cliffs the road opens up and follows the water, past a series of beaches and finally the Pigeon Point lighthouse. At the lighthouse is a hostel that we know because we slept outside it last year, in our van. We checked to see that it was open now (it is) and what the cost is. It's $29.50 per person in a dorm or $73 for a small private room.

Just as we got to Pigeon Point we caught a glimpse of two fully loaded cyclists, headed south. They were already on their way, and we didn't try to bug them, though they were the first of our " own kind" we have seen since we left home.

Rare cyclists head south from Pigeon Point

North of Santa Cruz, local fruits, although greenhouse grown.

With the truck, we were then in Santa Cruz very quickly. This is where we were supposed to drop the truck at U-Haul. When we got to the branch, we were informed that U-Haul had unilaterally changed the drop point to a place 10 km away, in the middle of nowhere. We actually tried to accommodate but could not find a motel at the nowhere place, and eventually had to insist that U-Haul honour our contract. People who know us can image that this was not a pleasant experience for the U-Haul man.

We then booked in to a quite run down place near what we hope is our bike route South. It does have a balcony, which overlooks the Santa Cruz boardwalk. We picked up the room phone toorder a pizza and could not get it to work. The front desk then seemed to explain that they needed a $20 deposit to make the phone work. I asked if they had a charge for local calls, and they again requested $20. Apparently it would take $20 to buy all the local calls I cared to make. And I thought my cell phone company was greedy!

The $20 may not be the only shady deal going down at our motel. When three police cruisers appeared in the parking lot, Dodie was not amused. She asked one of the officers if this was a motel we should be staying with. "No", he replied. Well, we have our door well barricaded and will be on the road at first light.

Dodie wants to know what these cruisers are doing in her yard.

We are eager to get back on the bikes tomorrow. The truck gave us a good boost, but with it it was so hard to stop or to really take photos. Overall, cycling is the way to go. But then we all know that, of course!

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