Day one, in words and maps…

Memories of the first day:

• Being barely awake and needing caffeine badly (5:00 AM on a Saturday, madness!) — but having the wind in my hair and the sun coming up over the East Bay hills as I drove across the Bay Bridge. All was right with the world.
• Discovering the little doughnut shop in my neighborhood is open at 5:30 AM on a Saturday. Who knew? Why?
• Being surprised yet again, even after all these years, to discover just how rural it can seem and just how beautiful it can be only a few miles from “civilization” around here. (The trip to get my iPhone fixed was a blessing after all…)
• 85 degrees and sunny inland followed by 55, cloudy, foggy, and windy on the coast. Northern California’s coast is so beautiful, but, boy, it sure isn’t what people think of when they think of California beaches…
• Duarte’s, in Pescadero, CA. (Open since 1894!) Thanks to an excellent recommendation from a friend, lunch there was amazing. Half-artichoke, half-chili soup (really, it’s terrific), grilled cheese, fresh, hot bread, and olallieberry pie with ice cream…no, I didn’t eat the rest of the day.
• Watching kitesurfers in Santa Cruz. I have no idea how hard this is, but, if it’s doable, it looks like a ridiculous amount of fun. These guys were jumping waves and going twenty feet in the air.
• Big Sur. As amazing as ever. I am having an internal debate whether there are places that it is simply impossible to capture in pictures — if there are, Big Sur is my nomination #1. Not a single photo I’ve ever taken there has even come close. My 12-24mm Sigma at the wide end begins to get a little bit of it, but it’s still so, so far from what it’s actually like to be there…
• Watching deer munch on vegetation not fifteen feet from Highway 1, where thousands of cars flew past at 60 MPH. It was only coincidence I even saw them at an impromptu stop I made. Also, watching cattle much the same way, although they’re a bit harder to miss…
• Deciding to go inland to look for a hotel, and suddenly finding myself up in remote hills, watching the sun go down amidst a sea of clouds below me. Unbelievably beautiful.
• Not even caring that it was a smoking room or that it was thirty miles away in Lompoc, CA — I was just so happy to finally find a hotel to stop at. (Note to self: when in a part of the country with few campgrounds, beware Friday and Saturday nights. All the hotels are booked.)
• Finally getting to bed…happy…

Day 1: (Saturday, August 4, 2007) San Francisco to Lompoc.
Miles: 468.9. Current distance from home: 285 miles.
Photos: 394 (5.31 GB).
Next up: California beaches, the infinite expanse of Los Angeles, and…Joshua Tree. The beginnings of the real desert adventure.