We left Van Damm State Park and headed for Elk, about 14 miles away.  Several people have told us about a cafe called Queenie’s Roadhouse.  Excellent food, excellent atmosphere.  We ran into a woman there that wanted to offer us a place to stay at her solar home.  She told us about a website www.warmshowers.org where people can offer their homes to cycletourists and cyclists can look for places to stay.

Just outside of Elk was the steepest, winding hill climb on the entire trip.  It is comparable to the hill headin west on 28th in Eugene where it meets Chambers, which I had to walk the last time I attempted to ride up it.  Later, the Germans told us they had to walk the hill on their tandem, recumbant, hybrid.  I took one voluntary break because I didn’t need to inflict such discomfort on myself.

The day was pretty uneventful, but beautiful.  Amazing scenic beauty through miles of undeveloped oceanfront.  It was very perfectly warm and we rode through rolling hills, Eucalyptus trees and nastrium covered farmhouses and fields.  I wondered if Australia was anything like this.  Deter said that it was much like New Zealand.

We got to the campsite early at Manchester State Beach.  This had the poorest excuse for a hike/bike campgroud.  We made due.  We went for a walk on the beach.  The dunes were covered with succulents.  The ocean was swelling!  The waves were sooooooo big and seemed sooooooooo powerful.  It was intimidating.  We watched the waves toss around a burl and we watched the seals play in the surf.  Bullwhip seaweed covered the beach.  We were pleased.

We rode down to the market for dinner and bought happy hour fixings.  We had happy hour with the germans at the campsite.  Great coversations about history, American and German culture as well as post WWII Germany.  Nadya and Deter live in the town Nurnberg where the Nurnberg Trials were held.  The funniest part of the evening was the campfire.  The metal barrel for the fire was so deep into the ground that when I bent over into the barrell to place the wood, half of my body disappeared.   Once we got the fire going we could’t really enjoy the warmth because the fire was set so far into the ground.  Even so, the sky was clear and we could see every feature of space.