Monday, July 18, 2016

Day 23: Santa Monica to San Clemente. Trip total: 2743km

Another beautiful day for a ride. The intense heat was nicely balanced with the ocean breeze, so as long as I stayed hydrated, I was able to keep up a nice pace for the 130km needed to get to San Clemente.

My guidebook warned about possibly encountering issues at state parks in southern California because of problems with transients. I've now seen evidence of this, but not with actual transients, but rather with the policy of the parks. It's clear to me that San Clement state beach associates this issue with cyclists.

I arrived early and asked to book a site for two nights, which was available. They wouldn't let me book two nights in a row - they said it was their standard policy. I was told that I can check back in at 9am to see if my site is available for booking again tomorrow. She made the mistake of saying the person who had the site before me had it booked for the next two days but left this morning, so I should be okay. I said, "booked for three nights? I guess he wasn't on bike, right?"
No response.

Although clearly not inviting to cycling tourists, being at a campsite right on a killer beach is a nice way to finish off my day spent melting in the heat. I'm going to take tomorrow off to prepare for my final ride on Wednesday. Hopefully I'll get to spend it here and not get kicked out for being a 'transient'.


Surfers at Manhattan Beach

Lunch at Long Beach

Laguna Beach


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