Things That Go Bump In The Night

My wild camping experience last night went well but not entirely without incident. The incident wasn’t severe – at least not here – but it was definitely a bit odd. I don’t know if the incident woke me or if I just happened to be awake when the incident occurred. I’m leaning towards the former. Technically, the incident was an earthquake. At first I thought I was imagining things but clearly it was real. It was also VERY minor. So minor in fact that had I not been sleeping right on the ground I suspect I wouldn’t have noticed it.

I later found out about the earthquake in Chile. I can’t help but think there was some sort of connection between the two. Fortunately, no tsunami followed the quake – although, there was a tsunami watch issued for the California coast. My first tsunami watch passed with little more than a few waves washing up along the shore.

The sun had yet to rise, but it wasn’t long after the tremor that I officially woke up and started to pack up my gear. As mentioned in yesterday’s update, last night’s camping spot was slightly on the illegal side and also in a frequently visited area. I figured once the sun came up the area would start to come alive with joggers, surfers, and general beach goers. I figured correctly. By 6:30, the sun was up and I was gone. Leaving no trace I was ever there – except for maybe a few dozen dead ants.

The UPS Store didn’t open until 9:00 so I had some time to fill. That time was filled taking advantage of some free WiFi while sitting outside a nearby McDonald’s. When 9:00 came around I headed straight for The UPS Store. Knowing that my tire wasn’t guaranteed to be there until noon, I was pretty confident it wouldn’t be there when the store opened. And it wasn’t.

With some more free time on my side, I decided not to leave The UPS Store and instead plugged in my various devices and did some work from there. They didn’t seem to mind. There wasn’t WiFi access but I really didn’t need it at the time. At 10:00, the store’s co-owner, Tom, had a far too familiar update for me. My tire would not be arriving today. I’d like to say that I was surprised but that would be a lie. What DID surprise me was the reason for the delay.

To recap, after missing its delivery guarantee on Tuesday, UPS was contacted to have the package forwarded down the road. Now, one might think that this would be done as soon as possible to make up for missing their guaranteed delivery schedule. But no. The original package was sent 2nd Day Air Mail. When the package was forwarded they opted to send it again 2nd Day Air Mail. I guess their logic was, “If it’s going be one day late it might as well be three days late.”

Fortunately, Tom was at least a little bit sympathetic to my cause and, rather than have me deal with UPS on the phone, he said he would take care of forwarding the package once it arrived. Under the circumstances, that was about as good as it was going to get. All I had to do was figure out where to have it sent next. With the weekend coming up, it’s far too soon to predict where I might be in five days. That said, I want to give them as much notice as possible as I really don’t want to have to go through this again.

With nothing left to do in Goleta, I got on my bike and began the day’s ride. By this time it was after 11:00. Still plenty of time to get to Ventura. In actual fact, I likely could’ve planned to go further but I was in no rush so I opted for a leisurely ride. That said, I ended making one more impromptu stop before officially hitting the road for the day.

The UPS Store was in a busy area full of strip malls. As I pedalled my through the parking lot of the strip malls I happened to pass a Costco. I really wish I had a membership as I could’ve stocked up on CLIF Bars. Sadly, I don’t have a membership. On the flip side, a membership isn’t required to visit their food concession window. I won’t lie, a 1/4 pound hot dog and strawberry sundae for under $4 is a pretty good deal. And the sundae was big! Although, I guess that shouldn’t have surprised me – it’s Costco after all.

Filled up for my ride, I was finally on the road by noon. And it was a beautiful day for a ride. The road was relatively flat, the shoulders were wide, the sun was shining, the wind was behind me, and the temperature was bordering on hot. And the scenery was pretty nice too. No, I haven’t gotten tired of coastal riding yet.

I pedalled my way through Santa Barbara and I could definitely see why people like it there so much. Especially if you enjoy the beach. It’s more than a little beautiful there. Plus, there’s a fantastic bike/pedestrian path along the beach so you don’t have to deal with traffic at all. Riding in traffic has never really bothered me much but I’m certainly enjoying the coastal bike paths when they’re available. Apparently the one leading to Ventura is pretty new. A few years ago I would’ve been riding on the freeway.

Despite my somewhat late start to the day, I arrived in Ventura by 4:00. And I did so pretty effortlessly. I probably could’ve gone further but I had already arranged a Warm Showers stay for tonight. Plus, Ventura to Los Angeles should be easily doable tomorrow so there was no need to push on any further.

My Warm Showers host for the night was a bit different than previous stays. Not in a bad way. Just different. The place was actually a coffee shop. Sandbox Coffeehouse, to be exact. There was a gated patio area out front and that’s where I would be sleeping tonight. Todd, my host, was very friendly and welcoming. We chatted for a bit before I left him to do his Coffeehouse tasks while I went off to see a little bit of Ventura. Given the weather, I wasn’t expecting to use my tent tonight but I also couldn’t unload my bike and get settled until after the Coffeehouse closed. It just made sense to go for a ride.

The ride in question was pretty uneventful. Scenic. But uneventful. I’m not saying if you’ve seen one beach you’ve seen them all, but my ride pretty much consisted of pedalling along the coastal path for a few kilometres. Something I’d spent most of the day doing. On the upside, my ride led me to a Wendy’s so I was able to end my day with a chocolate Frosty. As has been noted before, ending a day with ice cream is always a good plan.

I returned to the Sandbox Coffeehouse shortly after 6:00 – just in time for their Open Mic night. No, I wasn’t performing. But it made for an enjoyable evening as I listened to live music and worked on the endless backlog of updates.

By 8:30, the evening was officially over. The Coffeehouse was closed and everyone had moved on leaving the place to myself. The downside to this particular location was I wouldn’t have access to power outlets or washrooms through the night. Neither was a big issue but not having power obviously limited how long I could work on my updates. As such, I did what I could before calling it a night. With the coffee shop opening at 6:00 tomorrow morning, I knew I was going to have to get up early again so going to bed before midnight was probably for the best anyway.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 77.81 km
Ride time: 4:02:47
Average speed: 19.23 km/h
Maximum speed: 44.16 km/h