2: A slight change of plans

Rob and Evelyn, of Palmdale

The toughness of day one, and the soft comfortable bed of our Warm Showers hosts, led to a revision for our second day on the road.  Roger had anticipated that we would go over the mountains toward Santa Maria and stay near Cuyama, which if not NO WHERE is at least within spitting distance of it.  Our hosts recommended instead that we take the Elizabeth Lake Road, and then come down San Francisquito Canyon, and it was indeed a splendid ride. They even rode out to the crossroads with us!

There were some pretty good pitches on the road before we began to descend.  At one point it was reading 11 percent.  That is a tough climb on a fully loaded tandem!

San Francisquito Canyon was beautiful, even as the sky threatened

Mark Friis, if you are reading this, you may want to plan a ride out here some day.  It was splendid! Along the valley road we passed lots of farms - here's a shot of onions as far as the eye can see.

 And then, as we approached civilization again, I was reminded of that Bob Seeger song, "Little Boxes" - and they're "all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same."

We were hoping to connect with another Warm Showers host in Fillmore, a young man who is an organic farmer, but he must have been out in the fields because we never heard from him.

So Best Western it was!  I was okay with that.  Plenty of nights for sleeping on the ground await us.