3/25/2016, Santa Maria---Ventura, 106 miles, 10h30m, Sunny, 60°F
After 3 days of riding, I started to lose my morale. Should I keep on riding? The pain knees, sour muscles, heartburn, and dangerous route on the highway, and less attractive views—all kept me from riding to the next destination. But the 4th day is very different, there will be different view on the seaside, I will arrive the Pacific coast at last!
I had the banana and milk for breakfast, which made me feel better with the stomach. Then I was on the way at 7:30 am. The long day started. The road is flat for all the day, though with undulating terrains, the elevation is about sea level. My first stop was Buellton, where is famous for split bean soup, which I saw from the advertise board on the roadside. But I was there too early and no restaurant was open, so I only had some radishes at MI Pueblito market.
Then after some slight climbing, I was at Galviota, a scenery town on the coast, where the 101 highway turns at 90 degrees. It was very windy here and I was shaking on the bike. Then I began to enjoy the broad seaside view, seagulls, ships, beaches, bridges, and the Pacific rails. I was riding along the coast till the destination.
Around 2:00 pm I arrived at Goleta, a beautiful, quiet town on the seaside, with a state university campus there. I tried to locate a Subway for my lunch, but when I was there, everything was closed. So I went back to the main road and ate a Hamburg at the McDonald's. At 3:30 pm, I was on my way again, passing Santa Barbara, crowed at the beach for the good Friday. The sunset on the Pacific sea was terrific, and I enjoyed the riding along the coast, before another kind of boredom began, when at last I arrived the Pacific Inn Motel at Ventura before dark. After bath, I had my dinner at Hong Kong Inn, where there was a small party going on and some black musicians were playing flutes. I had sizzling combo of meat and vegetables, the best dish I had so far, and my stomach was recovering now.
