Despite the high pitched chirp of our cell phone waking us up from our deep and wonderful sleep at 8am this morning and the clattering percussion of persistent rain smashing against windows, gutters, patio chairs & tables and all other sorts of external paraphernalia; today was a good day!
Known for its promotion of an alternate style of living, Downtown Santa Cruz was a very relaxing place for us to have a rest day. However in typical fashion we had a lot of stuff to do and ‘rest’ was not on the list. Eventually stepping out of our very stylish hotel (Pacific Blue Inn) and armed with a Laundry bag full of wet and muddy cycling gear, we made our way through the hoards of ‘New Age Travellers’, who would often stop to ask if we had a spare cigarette or some spare Crack Cocaine “…yeah sure thing buddy, here you go. Take this spare 2g’s we’re carry around, and go knock yourself out”, and found a nearby Laundromat with a good selection of washing machines. We chose to use the drum style washing machine rather than the top loading type. It actually cleans better due to the increased centripetal force applied by the sides of the drum forcing the clothes to following a curved path, thus applying a reactive centrifugal force to the dirty water in the clothes …job done!
With a fist full of unused quarters and a bag full of clean & dry clothes, we avoided the numerous requests for intoxicating substances, dumped our clean linen in our hotel room then gingerly went back outside to find a place to eat …obviously. Lunch was very good and very filling. So filling in fact that when planning what we were going to have for dinner whilst eating our lunch we decided that we were more than likely to be too full to eat another meal in 4 hours. Instead we opted to visit the in-house cake shop, and loaded ourselves with Blondies (like Brownies), Coconut Macaroons, Cinnamon Swirls, Scones and a bottle of cheap Californian fizz.
Returning to the Hotel we worked off lunch …by doing some bike maintenance, performing various landlord duties and planning the Northern Tier/Yellowstone National Park stage of the trip. The feeling of having empty stomachs didn’t last long as we now speak with you feeling slightly nauseous after eating too many yummy things.
Before we sign off for the night we’d just like to say a big hello to Jon Royer, the man responsible for this morning’s early wake up call, to say hello and ask how we were getting on. Jon is the great guy we met in Round Top, TX and ate in his gorgeous restaurant famous for its pies. And another big shout to Tracey and Jonathan who we met in Gorda, CA a couple of days ago. Tracey and Jonathan have recently donated $250 to the US Multiple Sclerosis Society through our site. We’re trying to hook up with them in San Francisco this week.
Happy Birthday Julia (Anthony’s sister), we’re thinking of you.
Back on the road tomorrow.
Us x
No comments:
Post a Comment