It was pretty close-quarters camping at Pinnacles. The group site I was assigned was being shared by three other groups, so we got to know each other some.
In the morning, one of the groups made a gourmet breakfast of bacon and eggs, while I made oatmeal, and another group forgot their pot. Lending them mine, we got to chatting, and I learned that Alison and Joy were nurses on their way to San Luis Obispo. Joy had recently moved to Reno and was heading back to see family and friends. Maybe I’ll run into them when I get there!
As we all packed up, I made my way to the camp store, and loaded up for the two-day trek south to the next bastion of civilization. Tuna and Clif bars for days!
I departed the park and headed south on CA-25 again, and almost immediately ran into another bastard hill that had me trudging up the highway pushing my bike. But it was worth it, as the next 3km were all downhill, all right!
The terrain continued, mostly uphill for the early afternoon. My real sign of progress was passing the turnoff for Coalinga. I had been planning to stop there for a bite to eat, but the road was downhill, so I rode that out to the tune of almost 40km/h (25mph).
As the road came to level, I started looking for a shady place to stop. That’s when I noticed a man working in the backyard of his house. I pulled in and shouted “Hello!” until he noticed me coming, and asked if I could take shelter under the tree in his front yard to have some lunch. He agreed, and I chowed down on a tortilla with pb&honey.
Afterwards, we chatted for a while and I learned that Doug and his wife Lynn were ranchers, and owned all the land for as far as the eye could see! Lynn’s family had owned the ranch since it had been originally settled! After some reminiscing about Doug’s days working in San Jose, they refilled me on water and suggested I try to camp with a friend of theirs up the road. What hospitality! Thank you both!
With that bit of forecast, I set out, crossing the Monterey county line, on the sweet downhills south.
Eventually, I got to the end of CA-25, reaching the junction of CA-198. Doug and Lynn’s friend lived just around the corner at the Peach Tree Ranch.
I pulled in and again yelled “Hello!” Only to be greeted by dogs and chickens! No one was home. Across the road I saw the far more palatial main farm house, and tried again. This time, success! I was greeted by one of the farmhands’ wives and her adorable daughter, Dakota. Seeing my bike, she had to have a race! We raced around the farm while we waited for the owner’s permission to stay the night.
Unfortunately, the owner had had trouble with another camper previously, and didn’t want to risk another. But they gave me directions to a little spot about 2km (1.5mi) up the road, out of the way to setup camp. In the dying light, I hustled to make it in time. I quickly got camp setup, ate a can of soup, some tortilla chips, a Clif bar and a clementine, before going to write this post and head to bed.
Today, 62km, tomorrow, it’s 59km to San Miguel!