Joseph the seal

I just swam in the ocean and went running on the beach. The ocean dip made me the cleanest I've been in four days. Before the icy swim, I felt like a frog with a slimy coat of sunscreen, sweat and dirt keeping me moist like a mucous film. On the run, I taught Samir to pop kelp air chambers. So much fun!





Big Sur coast. Tensions within the group were high, but we are all big boys and got over each other.

Someone told us that Big Sur was the face of the earth as God intended it to look. I'm not sure if he was saying that God goofed on the rest of the world. In reality, the coast was somewhat underwhelming after all the anticipation. It looked like most of the coast we have seen so far. Still, it was beautiful.


Our campground last night was at Kirk Creek. We were right on the water, so the camping was worth the 75 miles through mountainous terrain. Sometime during the night, raccoons unzipped Lukas' strung up food bag and ate all of his trail mix.

When we left camp, we had to stop as I fixed my dérailleur. It wasn't shifting out of the lowest gear, and I had to practically reinstall it. I love chances to do repairs on the bike, it lets you enjoy a different side of the bike trip.


Elephant seals! This loner is named Joseph. We saw him at Piedras Blancas and ate lunch there to keep him company. Lukas then proceeded to walk toward Joe, to see how close he could get before Joe woke up. Despite our warnings, Lukas touched Joe the seal! Lukas turned and ran like mad, while Joe barely looked over his shoulder before falling back into a torpor.


The males come onto the beach this time of year to molt. Even though breeding season is long over, several fights broke out as we watched them lounge. Adult males can be 5000 pounds! Yum!

Once we reached Hearst Castle, a strong tailwind blew us to our campsite at San Simeon. Here we have hung out with Kyle, a young speech pathologist biker we met in Oregon. He is pretty cool, and it is the best to reconnect with friends we have made on the road.