DAY 112 (9/30/05): Monterrey, CA 35.1 mi.  We began our semi-rest day in Monter
rey by exploring Cannery Row (the neighborhood immortalized by John Steinbeck i
n the novel of that title).  It has certainly changed a lot since he wrote abou
t it, though.  Rather than a gritty, smelly, noisy area where sardines were can
ned, it is now full of boutiques and outlet stores.  The original architecture 
remains, though, with buildings on the bay side of the street being connected t
o those on the land side by elevated passages over the road.  Since there wasn'
t much of interest in Cannery Row, we rode on to do a tour of 17 Mile Drive, ho
me to the Pebble Beach golf course and lots of big luxurious homes.  Although t
he day had been sunny in the morning, some fog rolled in and we were treated to
the sight of some"hard core" golfers who continued to play despite the chill a
nd decreasing visibility.  We also spotted the occassional mule deer grazing co
ntentedly on the lush golf course grass.  Somewhere in there, I crossed the
7000 mi mark for this trip.  Because the we
ather was no longer favorable for an afternoon at the beach, we went instead to
the Monterrey Bay aquarium, which is excellent.  We learned about all the inha
bitants of the kelp forests off of California's coast, and looked at displays o
f all sorts of creature, including sea otters and all sorts of jellyfish.  Afte
r the aquarium, we slogged it back up the hill to our campsite for another nigh
t of listening to the sealions talk politics.

DAY 113 (10/1/05): Monterrey to Lucia, CA 63.7 mi.  As we headed south this mor
ning we encountered more of the really steep ups and downs that characterized t
he northern part of the CA coast.  True to form, there was also some fog, altho
ugh that was mostly confined to a few dense pockets here and there.  We had a v
ery substantial climb into Big Sur which, although it is a town of 500 or so, w
as abuzz with activity due to the running of the annual Big Sur marathon, which
must be a pretty brutal race.  After coming down out of Big Sur and back to th
e coast, we stopped at a state park to see a post-card perfect little bay with 
a small waterfall tumbling into it from about 30 ft up.  It looked almost fake,
although I think it was the real deal.  We camped on a bluff directly overlook
ing the ocean, with the surf crashing constantly below.  After the sun went dow
n the temperature plummeted, so Ihad to wear my fleece shirt and wool hat durin
g dinner.

DAY 114 (10/2/05): Lucia to Morro Bay, CA 77.7 mi.  This morning everything we 
had was completely soaked by dew, and it was still too cold and wet for things 
to dry much in the morning.  So, we packed up our wet gear and continued south 
along a pretty rugged section on coast on our first entirely fog-free day.  We 
passed through the town of San Simeon and saw the famous elephant seals there s
unning themselves on the beach, as well as the old mission church and associate
d buildings.  We stopped at a public park and dried our tents in the sun and th
en rode into the town of Cayucas, which we really liked.  Although it was situa
ted right on a beautiful beach, it still had the unpretentious small town feel 
of somany of the places I've seen this summer.  Tobias liked it too, and so jus
t for kicks we stopped at a realestate office to discover that behind those unp
retentious facades lay some very fancy prices!  We then rode into Morro Bay, wh
ich looks like an expensive beach town, made (locally) famous by the huge rock
that sits just off shore.  At low tide, 
you can of course drive out to it in your trusty SUV.  There is a very nice sta
te park there wjere we camped in a eucalyptus grove and went for a walk through
the nearby super plush neighborhoods.