Day 2 Santa Cruz to Lucia - 102 miles

Blowing over the Bixby Bridge.

The shot was copied from a video taken from my digital camera mounted on the handlebars.

Up again and on the road at 7:00 AM sharp after a lovely breakfast of bananas and mini-muffins from the 7-11 on the corner, plus the in-room coffee. From Santa Cruz south on the ACA route, you barely catch sight of the ocean for the next 50 miles. The route takes you inland through the farmlands of Aptos, Watsonville, and Moss Landing. The route re-joins highway 1 briefly before connecting with a nice bikepath that goes all the way to Monterey. I made only 2 stops for food/water on this leg and that was first at a Whole Foods in a shopping center in Monterey right before taking a left on Soledad. Got a nice turkey sandwich and stocked up on water and bananas. The next stop was at a market somewhere in Big Sur for a couple of candy bars and some Gatorade. Part of the reason I didn't stop was that there just wasn't anything convenient, like a 7-11, on my side of the road and plus I had gotten some extra bananas and a turkey sandwich at the Santa Cruz 7-11 and stuck it in my jersey pocket for the long ride thru the farmland knowing that the only food available was about 16 gazillion artichokes as far as the eye could see.

From Monterey, it's over Carmel Highlands and then you finally see the water. A couple of good-sized hills, the first outside of Carmel and the second when you head inland at Big Sur. Once you get back to the ocean after Big Sur, there are about 72 miles of highway 1 that cling to the cliffs on the ocean down to Ragged Point. Around every turn there was another picture postcard.

The Big Creek Bridge south of Lucia.

Between Big Sur and San Simeon, there is very little lodging choices of the motel kind. I checked around and could not find anything around the area where I expected to finish up on day 2 except the Lucia Lodge so I made the reservation. A bit overpriced for a basic room with no TV or phone.

The Lucia Lodge. Note the "no vacancy" sign. I think I got the last room available.

The view from the Lucia Lodge. From the Lucia Lodge parking lot, not my room.

My view was of the parking lot.