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Day Three, Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo -  18.5 miles

Route: Mostly easy riding with a few C class hills. Adventure Cycling route. South on Main Street through Morro Bay and around park perimeter road to right on South Bay Blvd. From South Bay Blvd. left on Turri Road, left on Los Osos Valley Road, left on Foothill Blvd, right on Chorro Street to the mission at Chorro and Higuera.

    The ride to San Luis Obispo was going to be a short one. We slept in and turned on the TV for the weather report. The predictions were for rain. Although the skies were dark, the streets were dry. We headed over to the office for the free continental breakfast and dallied waiting for the weather to make up its mind. Not much seemed to change so we set off prepared for the worst and hoping for the best.

    The Adventure Cycling route took us south through town to the state park at town's end. By the time we reached the park the sun was shining. We continued on to Turri Road and left the coast riding inland. The wind was at our back as we rode up the hills and looked back at the coast. We stripped to our tee-shirts for the rest of the ride. Once over the crest we coasted down into farmlands and then turned down a long straightaway that took us within four miles of San Luis Obispo before turning left for a short climb up Foothill Road.

    We wanted to visit the mission and turned right on Chorro. About twelve blocks later we were downtown and at the mission. We chained the tandem to a railing in the park in front of the church and spent a couple of hours walking through the mission and the grounds. The San Luis Obispo  de Tolosa Mission, the fifth of the 21 missions in Alta California, was founded by Father Junipero Serra on September 1, 1772. It went through a cycle of use and disrepair similar to many of the missions before being repaired enough in 1868 to be used as a parish church. It was eventually restored to its earlier mission appearance in 1934. 

    When I had researched the trip I had called the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit office about getting public transportation back to my van which I had planned to leave in San Simeon. The lady I spoke to, Diane Forsman, offered to mail me a San Luis Obispo County Bicycle Map but we were leaving before the map would have arrived. We were close so I went up to the office at 1150 Osos Street, Rm. 206, said hello and picked one up.

    A tourer that posts on the PHRED touring list recommended that we stop in at the Firestone Grill for lunch. It was easy to find and we arrived just in time for Happy Hour. I ordered a cheeseburger and a basket of onion rings. I wasn't disappointed. I have no clue what Jeanette ordered, I was too busy with my burger! I washed it down with a large glass of Firestone draft.

    We were booked into the HI San Luis Obispo Hostel at the end of Santa Rosa Street. The hostel is close to downtown and we rode the few blocks after lunch. It was only 3:30 and the reception area wasn't open until 4:30 so we sat in the sun on the patio and wrote postcards. Once the reception desk opened, we dumped our stuff into the private room we had booked and changed into street clothes. 

    It was early enough that we could catch the 5:40 bus back to San Simeon to pick up the van and bring it to San Luis Obispo and since we had the time, that's exactly what we did. The cost of $2.25 each was a bargain. We were back in town early enough to do some more strolling through the downtown but still full from lunch. We figured we needed only a snack to fill us up and settled on some frozen yogurt desserts from a shop where you serve yourself and pay by the ounce when you've concocted your masterpiece.

   Our second day on the bike had come to an end and we had avoided the predicted rain. Things were going just fine!

Recommended:

SLO Regional Transit Authority
Diane Forsman
1150 Osos Street Suite 206
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
805-541-2277
dforsman@rideshare.org
Call for free San Luis Obispo County Bike Map, (really good with maps of both the county and the major communities)

Firestone Grill
1001 Higuera St
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 783-1001
A sports bar with about a dozen screens, great grilled food, ribs, 
and microbrew beer. Burgers from $3.99, dinners from $8.
A major hangout for the SLO college crowd.

Hostel Obispo
1617 Santa Rosa St.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Dormitory rooms from $18, private room @$45. Do it yourself pancake breakfast included. HI membership required.

Day Four, San Luis Obispo to Pismo Beach - 16 miles (0 by bike)

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