A day of two halves today. It started in fog and cold, and ended in glorious sunshine and a fair wind. Let me show you…
Lunch at Trinidad was made more interesting by sitting next to the palm-reading Mary at the diner bar. She reminded me of one of those elderly matrons beloved of Gary Larson’s Far Side – diamanté studded glasses and pink fingernails. She was in turns blithely rude and then flattering. She read my palm for free(!) and got some things right and some things wrong. There’s a surprise. And apparently I have some Japanese in my background!? Mother?
After lunch it was all sunshine and fair winds until I stopped in Eureka for the night. I wouldn’t bother with Eureka. Bit of a dump.
Here’s what the afternoon looked like.
Elk it would appear are bothered by The Honker.
That looks like a pretty interested elk, if you ask me.
And whilst you can’t see their expressions from this photo, the seals on this rock certainly answered back when I honked. They must have been thinking there’s the Chris Bonnington of the seal world at the top of that cliff and we must salute him.
Love
Pete
Patagonia Pete 
That’s got to be the most startled elk I’ve ever seen. Are you sure it was the honker and not just the way you honked it that caused this fascinating specimen of a picqued elk?
Speaking of wildlife, what have you done with family of small furry animals that were growing on your chin? Didn’t they make it across the US border?
I only needed the beard to protect me from mozzies in Alaska. And I was starting to scare people!
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Tut tut, no helmet!? Bridget, tell him!
The movies are working well, i like the way the wind makes it sound like you’re doing 1000mph.
Signed up today for a 115m bike ride in sept starting at Herne Hill velodrome, down to box hill, out to Windsor and Eton and back again. Not sure of the full details of the entire route yet but will be looking out for the pole dancing mittens that you wear. Should I train for it do you think or is my 20mile daily commute enough?
Palm reading Mary may have got to the bottom of where your cousin Ming Chow Fu came from!
And I always wondered why Mr Sakamoto, our village kendo sensei, said hello every time me and my brother went for origami lessons.
Wouldn’t bother with any other training. Just do what you’re doing now, just faster and more aggressively. With more Lycra.
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Pete, loving the blog and hearing about how well you’re doing.
On seeing your 10 cycling tips, it got me thinking about the panniers, and the packing and unpacking of said luggage. How’s that going? Did you pack the correct items; have you had to purchase items that you now class as essentials?
As your now in California, are you planning to head onto the pacific coast road and take in the delights of Carmel, and Monterey, or sample some of the wine? Thankfully you won’t have to meet the charming people of Pahrump, or witness the scenes in the bar in Mariposa, where the guys grab their gals for a hoedown! However I think you’ll have some chip monks to look out for to add to your list of animals to honk at, what other critters are you keeping your beady eyes open for?
Xx
Wotcha As far as unneeded items are concerned, I’ve packed up about 6kg of stuff into a USPS box and I keep forwarding it about three days ahead of me. It’s got cooking stuff, water treatment stuff, a spare tyre and chain and a few other bits and bobs in it. The packing is as follows; left rear pannier – clothing and electricals Right rear pannier – sleeping stuff and bathroom things Top rear bag – tent, pump, waterproof coat and spare water bottle. Front left pannier – lock, medical kit, sunscreen bits and bobs Front right pannier – spare parts, a bit of food and more bits and bobs. Bar bag – all the stuff I need to hand – wallet, phone, iPod, camera, chocolate, lube! Good question. I may put that up as a blog entry.
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Ah, that must be when Great-great-great Grandmama fell for that samurai warrior – bother, we thought we’d buried that skeleton. Please don’t tell anyone. And you’d better go back and kill Diamante Mary.
Hai-so
Mum