DAY 110 (9/28/05): Palo Alto to Sunnyvale, CA 13.3 mi.  This morning, we droppe
d off our rental car and then bid a fond farewell to Jason and Angus, who were 
absolutely outstanding hosts.  As particular proof of this, many of you know th
at I pack my gear in zip-sealed plastic bags to keep it dry and organized.  As 
you might imagine, after a few months, some of the bags were quite tattered and
the zippers didn't work very well anymore.  Jason noticed this, and bought me 
some new ones.  Not only did he get me new ones, but he got me the exact same b
rand and size as I had before (Hefty One-zip gallon freezer bags, the best in m
y experience).  So, for those of you who know Jason, I definitely recommend vis
iting him soon.  Fortunately, Tobias and I didn't have far to go today and we w
ere headed to another excellent host, my friend Eric (with a 'c').  He works fo
r Apple and thus provided us with an opportunity to see Silicon Valley.  We dro
ve past Apple and Yahoo on our way to Hakame Gardens (a nice formal Japanese
garden complete with bamboo grove and koi 
pond).  Then, we alked around downtown Sunnyvale and went out for a nice dinner
at an Italian restaurant.  Finally, Eric treated us to his home-made chocolat-
hazelnut cheesecake, which was excellent.  Since Apple had just released the ne
w iPod Nano, I asked Eric what the buzz was about it at work.  My favorite comm
ent was from one of Eric's co-workers: "Not bad, but I'm holding out for the iP
od Molecule." 

DAY 111 (9/29/05): Sunnyvale to Monterrey, CA 85.5 mi.  After so many rest days
in a row, Tobias and I decided to get serious about touring again.  We got up 
bright and early and, after a home-made pancake breakfast, said goodbye to Eric
and headed off to the southwest.  In order to get back to the coast, we had to
go back across the same mountains that we crossed to get inland.  We did this 
all on really nice, almost completely car-free roads in the warm sunshine.  We 
popped out on the coast just south of Santa Cruz and then picked up the CA-1 co
rridor again.  We rode through lots and lots of farmland, mostly strawberries a
nd artichokes, both of which perfumed the air around their respective fields to
an astonishing degree.  After the farms, we got on a really nice coastal bike 
path that took us all the way to Monterrey, maybe 15 mi or so away.  By the tim
e we arrived in Monterrey, the visitor center was closed, but we managed to fig
ure out the location of the campground by combining information from my
guidebook with a partial map of the city that w
as printed on a column in the old downtown area.  The campground was at the top
of an outrageously steep hill and, as promised by the guidebook, we could hear
the sealions barking all night long from our perch up above the ocean.