Day 27

1st November 2016

Half moon to Sunset Beach State Park

A night of disturbed sleep, after Rose got woken to find we were being robbed. We both have a bag that attaches to our handlebars which we keep our snacks in, for easy eating whilst pedalling, as well as other important things like passports, money, and bum cream. These live next to us our tent, inside the door where we think they are pretty safe. Rose woke up to rustling, and after gathering courage to have a look outside the tent, found our bags gone. On close inspection (and by the light of an iPhone) she located them halfway between our tent and a big tree, with a raccoon tucking into our trail mix and bananas. She managed to retrieve the bags, although not the food, and then woke me up to share in the experience. I then spent the next 20 minutes googling whether raccoons could undo the zip on our tent and get inside, tempted by the hot chocolate sachets we had stashed, and the. Kill us with their little fingers and evil eyes. They can. So at 2am, we got out of the tent and began hiding our food in the raccoon cupboards dotted around the campsite. Lesson learnt. 

We set off in the morning, taking Garage-Forecourt Neil with us for company. We spent the morning cycling along the coast IN THE SUNSHINE until we reached the little collection of shop and cafe called Davenport. We had a very long lunch, enjoying the warmth and lack of sunshine and coffee refills. Good place to people spot, as we saw the Aussies, Canadian Ben and Brandon all go past us. 

We cycled on tot Santa Cruz, and stood watching the huge numbers of surfers catching waves in the sun. Loads of people on their bikes, some even set up with a way to carry their surfboards on the side, and great cycle paths through the city. 

Greg and Charm needed a bike shop for repairs, so we found somewhere in the centre who let us leave our bikes whilst Neil introduced us to the American institution of Trader Joes, potentially the best supermarket in the world. Cheap, organic, and full of delicious things like cookie dough spread, we bought super and snacks to replace the raccoon eaten ones. 

We left Santa Cruz pretty late in the day, and spent the afternoon chasing the sun, trying desperately to arrive before sunset and darkness. Rose and I have always had a rule that we would be off the road an hour before sunset, but it doesn’t seem such a problem when there are a few of us. Unfortunately, we still don’t really age Amy working lights between us (apart from Greg), so darkness and the hard shoulder isn’t a great combination for us.

We pedalled as fast as we could, and managed to get to camp just as the sun was setting, to see an amazing sunset over the beach. 

We set up camp, and made dinner surrounded by the glowing eyes of raccoons. Hundreds of them. Everywhere. 

We are now in the tent, with not a single scented or sugared item in our vicinity to hope for a quiet, raccoon free night. Wish us luck…