And yet another train

 March 9, 2023

Lompoc to Santa Barbara to Simmi Valley 60 miles or 100 km

Last night we spent 3 hours searching for a place we could stay. A bad storm is arriving on Thursday evening and will last till Saturday morning. Not good to stay in our tents. Several requests to Warm Shower Hosts were send out but no responses. We searched for cheap hotels but were unsuccessful. We even thought to rent a van but very pricey. We finally decided to go to sleep and see if the morning would give us a solution. And sure enough, an SOS call on fb resulted in Barb from Simmi Valley to offer us a place for the night. A 2.5 hrs train ride from Santa Barabara.

Today's ride was challenging. 3 hours of climbing but we made it to the top. The scenery was so beautiful.  It reminded me of Switzerland.  Many shades of green, a blue sky and black cows grazing in the fields. Picture perfect. This is why I ride. Just being present in the moment, taking it all in and feeling privileged to experience such beauty.

Down hill we flew. As Cliff was saying:" It is all downhill from now on". Hmm... as you get older you don't want to hear this but it's OK when cycling I guess.  

We arrived at Amtrak Station in Santa Barbara 2 hours early where we were told that we had to load and unload the bikes on and off the train ourselves. Shocked but also "we can do this" sort of attitude pushed us into planning mode. And we were able to get the job done. Feeling pretty good that we licked this job.

We arrived in Simmi Valley at 9 pm. Bob and Betty were waiting for us and carried all our gear into their van. We biked 25 minutes to their home where a shower and bed were waiting.  Bob used to be an electrical engineer and Barb is a musician. They are great hosts and we are so happy they responded to our call.

Twee dames die wild van hart zijn! (Cliff).