Summer 2004

After some 5,000 feet of climbing up and down Big Sur, on day #17, we were really ready to ride up to the door of the inn 6 miles south of the Hearst Castle, in Cambria. We had changed the reservation around 9 days prior to arriving. Upon checking with the receptionist, she said there were no rooms, that they forgot to write the change down, and very sorry. She sent us outside and called the owner.

After a whiIe we found they had not only found us a nice place in San Simeon (6 miles back), but the owner personaily paid the difference. She apologized and offered their best wine and champagne, then insisted that we not bike another foot after Big Sur, so she put all of our stuff on the back of her pick-up and drove us back to San Simeon! She must have thanked us a dozen times for not getting mad at them, and since she thought we were patient (tired?) she shared all her troubles and problems. It was sweet for her to confide in us and we never expected such hospitality. It really reinforced our impression that there really are a lot of very nice people in this country.

Here is an interesting item: upon arriving at the Big Sur Campground, we noticed our protective side flag was missIng, and we figured somewhere it blew off. When we mentioned it to the camp personnel, they said "Oh, you just came through Hurricane Point and it probably blew off there." Dave then vividly recalled steering left to go right with the high winds battering us from one side and then the other. There were cliffs on our left and Sheer drop-off on the right so the wind would slam against the rock face, and hit us on the left, which continued to come from the right. Fortunately there were no campers right along side of us! We nearly had to walk the bike at that point.

Sincerely yours.
Dave and Joanne