Today was a surprisingly nice day. I didn't really know what to expect of Malibu with its reputation for having lots of rich people and surfing, but I liked it. I spent the day resting even though I wasn't too tired, but I needed to reserve a plane ticket and hotels for LA and San Diego.
It's pretty much impossible to sleep in for me when I'm camping. The sun rises early in the morning, shines on my yellow and blue tent, and wakes me up at the same time every day. So even on my rest day I woke up at 7:00. No worries.
The day started out with a very casual ride to Malibu averaging about 10mph (pretty slow). Well I didn't ride all the way to Malibu. I just went to the western edge of Malibu since the entire city is 27 miles long. I stopped at the Starbucks in town and used their internet for several hours. Pretty sure I spent 4 hours in there. It was the most productive 4 hours I've had on my tour though. 1 plane ticket bought, 1 hotel in LA reserved, 2 nights at a hostel in San Diego Reserved, and directions to all these places copied into my notebook. To boot, I had a good conversation with Jessica, a girl who was in the big group I had met the previous day at the Orcutt Starbucks. She teaches middle school at a private school somewhere in the LA area, so I might be picking her brain if I'm ever confronted with the choice between public and private (and if I am ever possessed to consider teaching middle schoolers...shudder).
Since I was in Malibu, I figured I should check out the beach. It was just like any other beach I've been to actually. Lots of sand, lots of people, and saltwater. No surfers. I ate my very big lunch of 3 bagels, half a square of cream cheese, 2 bananas, and maybe something else that I can't remember.
I was craving ice cream, which happens daily, and I also felt like going to watch the surfers at the Leo Carrillo State Beach where I was staying. So I stopped by the store and rode the 6 miles back to the campground. Before heading down to the beach I met Maggie and McGee, two smart ladies. They planned to do something like a week long tour, but after their first day riding up to this campground from LA they realized that they weren't physically prepared for a week long tour and decided to turn back the next day. Before my ice cream melted completely I went down to the beach and watched the surfers for a while.
It looked like a pretty sweet place to surf and I even witnessed someone "hang heel," which I didn't even realize was a trick. I thought hang 10 was pretty cool.
Back at the campground I met an older man who looked like he was in his 60s. It was kind of hard to tell whether he was homeless or touring. He was riding some longer distances, but got to LA and just decided to stick around here for a while. He told me he usually sleeps on the beach since it's legal without pitching a tent, but he'll occasionally treat himself to a night at the campground for a shower.
It was a nice relaxing day in Malibu.
No comments:
Post a Comment