Day 29: Kirk Creek Campground to Morro Bay (Birthday special!)
WOO HOO! What a way to remember your 28th birthday, I thought, as I woke up to a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. Today will be great, I thought, as I got ready to embrace another beautiful oceanside pedal. As long as I can contact my friends and family who I dearly miss, I couldn't wait to enjoy every minute of the day.
All I needed was an internet connection.
A connection on my phone that would allow me to Whatsapp my family, to Factime my girlfriend Caroline, to read any messages via email or Facebook that anyone had sent me. And how hard could it be to get an internet connection - we'd found them easily everyday so far within an hours cycling.
My excitement quickly turned to disappointment, as hour after hour of cycling we could not find anywhere that had wifi access. Each cafe we stopped in yielded nothing. Cycling becomes a lot more mentally challenging when you are keen, or desperate to get to your destination. And so we pedalled, through the intense heat of the day for hours while I sunk deeper and deeper in to an internet-free frenzy of anger. If I couldn't get it soon, it would be too late to contact my friends and family! To her credit, Jenny tried her best to help me see the funny side of it, and while I tried, it was becoming increasingly difficult. Until we came across our old friend, Best Western. By now, I knew that all Best Western's had free internet, so as we sat down to enjoy a break (Apple pie for Jenny, Internet for me) I was able to finally receive and send messages. Relief!
Communications sent and a happy birthday boy later, we set off to reach our destination for the evening, Cayucos. It turned out to be a hard cycle, with a strong headwind making each pedal harder than the last. We were relieved to finally arrive, especially as we decided to get accommodation for the evening as a birthday treat. Or at least that was the plan. 13 hotel and B&Bs later, we were forced to leave the town. Due to a local University graduation ceremony there was no accommodation available. Nightmare! We hadn't encountered this once on our trip so hadn't planned for such a contingency. We'd have to cycle on to Morro Bay. The only problem was that it was already getting dark and the cycle was another 15 miles away.
As we cycled in to Morro Bay, some homeless cyclists joined us, briefly muttering to Jenny something about murder. We decided to leave them to it. After enquiring at about 10 hotels, we finally found the only room in the city available. A room that cost over double anything we'd paid anywhere. Still it would allow us to finish the cycle in almost the complete dark and head for dinner.
I must call out Jenny's awesome attitude and help she gave me this day to keep my morale up and to bring us through the day as a team. I would have really struggled without her support and we ended up having an awesome meal that night (with a couple of drinks) to celebrate. Thanks Jenny!