Once again, the sound of the space shuttle prodded me awake. That was after some kind of tarp flapping followed by rain incident before daylight - the general vicinity of Team Tim and Cindie’s tent. The large birds in the trees were beginning to stir, competing for airspace with the pair of owls that had worked the campsite all night long. Elke must have slept well, she bounded out of the tent in full-on play mode, knowing perfectly well that I don’t play for the first five minutes of near consciousness. Being a smart girl, she went after the team instead.

I packed up fairly early. Along the way, I went over to a campsite to give away the book I had just finished. That way I could save some loaded weight. I met Lisa and Nemeta and talked to them for a few minutes before I finished my packing. Loading the bike without a kickstand is tricky, and I was just starting to get the hang of it after 4 days. I was hoping that San Luis Osbispo (SLO) would have a bike shop. College towns generally have several.

Elke and I made it down the road first, but hadn’t gotten very far before Tim and Cindie ran us down. It was good that they did since I had cleverly missed my turn, probably while daydreaming about food. We compared maps and worked out the next best thing, and within a couple of miles, ended up on a road that all the maps could agree on. Los Osos Valley road was working it’s way up a farming and ranching landscape, toward the turn into SLO. I had fallen back, and was talking to my new cycling friend, Eric, when I caught the team waiting on the roadside. We decided to go into SLO and have lunch together.

We made the turn and followed another valley into San Luis Obispo. It was a nice, clean college town with all the usual amenities; tanning booths, bars every block and a half, but no bike shops, at least not yet. We stopped at a Mexican place, and Cinide and I ordered some giant burritos, while Tim watched the bikes like some kind of secret agent. Finally found someone more paranoid than me…

We ate and talked for the last time (probably), and then followed my map through the heart of town. It started to rain a bit and when I pulled over to zip up Elke’s rain cover, we said goodbye again. Cindie gave me a hug and Tim shook my hand. Within a couple of blocks, we parted ways for real, because I had finally spotted a real bike shop. I circled back to check it out.

Good luck and safe travels, Tim and Cindie.

Art’s Cyclery was a big, clean, beautiful shop. Shawn showed me their selection of kickstands. They had exactly one option, and it was exactly the same as my old one. Interesting point though. Art’s charged me $4.99 for it, installed. A huge bargain. The original cost $20, if I remember correctly. I head the Big Dummy up, while Shawn installed the new kickstand. Ahhh, much better. Then, they gave me a free patch kit and a sticker for the Big Dummy cargo deck. If I’m ever back in SLO, looking for a bike shop, I’m going back to Art’s.

Nobody in the shop knew anything about the motel situation in my direction of travel, so I just kept going. I think the reason nobody knew was that there were no places to stay on that side of town. I decided to head for Pismo Beach, and worked my way down 227. I let Elke out for a little walk when David rode up. He asked me if I was ok, and we talked for a bit until his high powered legs needed to run. He wished me well, and took off like a shot. I lost sight of him less than a minute later. I turned down Price Canyon Road, and the hills sheltered me from the headwind. I finally built up some momentum, and found myself cruising along. I rolled down the hill into Pismo Beach about 40 minutes later. I saw a sing for the Chamber Tourist Information, and went in to find a dog friendly motel for the night.

I was blogging with a pizza on the way 30 minutes later.

I picked a good night for a a room, because it rained all night, and thanks to the madness of daylight savings time, I get an extra hour to milk this morning. Yay. Thanks for reading.