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Day Five, Pismo Beach to Lompoc - 56 miles

Route: Generally easy riding with some C/D hills leaving Oceano and a class A hill up Harris Grade Road. Follow the Adventure Cycling route, south on Dolliver Road which turns into Cienega St. Left on Valley Road, right on Los Berros, right on El Campo Rd, right on Halcyon Drive, and left onto Hwy. 1. Once back on Hwy 1, continue on through Guadalupe and merge with Hwy. 135. Continue on 135 where it leaves Hwy. 1, and then turn right on Harris Grade Road. Ride over the top of Harris Grade Road and rejoin Hwy. 1, as it enters Lompoc.

    When we awoke, it was still raining. The TV weatherman predicted rain through the morning, clearing in the afternoon. We packed our gear and went to breakfast at Perko's, a block away from the motel. When we finished and went outside, we found that the rain had stopped, at least temporarily. I had brought my single touring bike along. We decided that I should ride the single and Jeanette would drive the van as sag wagon if the riding became impossible. An additional incentive was that the hotel we had been staying at was at least three miles from the Amtrak station in Oceano and we would have had to find some place safe to park the van for four days close to the station, something we didn't have the time or inclination to do.

    I rode south on 4th Street and after a few miles turned left on Dolliver Street, putting myself back on the Adventure Cycling route. As I left the urban areas and entered the agricultural areas I began to have problems with the sticky mud that had been dragged onto the street by farm worker's vehicles parked on the shoulders of the road. The mud stuck to the tires and carried up and into the forks and brakes as well as building up along the down tube of the frame. My clothes were becoming spattered with mud as I rode along but the sky was clearing and I was soon riding in a mix of clouds and sunshine.

    I followed the route directions and turned left onto Valley Road and then right onto Los Berros to avoid the steep hill on Hwy. 1. I missed the next turn though and ended up riding an extra eight miles to the 101 freeway. Once there and realizing my mistake, I backtracked and turned onto El Campo Road and then right on Halcyon Drive, finally rejoining Hwy. 1, and turning south again.

    The entire route had been somewhat hilly and Hwy. 1, south was a continuation of the rollers. In addition to the mud on the road, I had passed numerous "flooded" signs along the low spots although the water had drained off by this time. In addition, I also passed a number of newly sawn tree limbs stacked neatly along side the road close to where they had fallen onto the roadway only to be cleared by highway crews. 

    The road had very little shoulder and I had to share it with some moderate traffic including agricultural trucks and trailers. The rollers ended with a big downhill into Guadalupe but the narrow shoulder continued along with swirls of mud out on the main road surface. I picked my way through the worst of it and met up with Jeanette In Guadalupe.

    It was too early for lunch so Jeanette said she'd continue on to the Harris Grade Road and meet me there. I continued along Hwy. 1, dodging the mud until the road became a divided highway. Riding became better as far as road conditions but traffic increased. As I was riding along, I saw two touring bikes, one a diamond frame, and one a recumbent, parked on the shoulder up ahead. I stopped when I reached them and found two ladies picnicking by the side of the road. The two, in their early 30's, told me that they were traveling from Monterey to Santa Barbara. We compared routes and then I asked if they had cycled the day before in the storm. They said they had until the girl on the diamond frame had been blown off her bike TWICE.

    The highway split a short way farther on with Hwy.1, heading towards Vandenburg Air Force Base and Hwy. 135, heading east. I followed 135, a desolate road with little traffic and little else, along its route. After 40 miles of riding I reached Harris Grade Road and turned right to climb it to the pass and then coast into Lompoc. The road has at least three solid miles of steep up-hill grade. I took it in stages with a rest between efforts. Once at the top, I had to ride my brakes for a good portion of the way down since the downhill was steep and the turns sharp.

    The road straightened into a long fast 30 mph plus ride towards Lompoc. I turned off on Rucker Road since that route would take me to the La Purisima Mission. The ride along Rucker was almost as fast as the ride down the hill and at 55 miles, I turned left towards the mission on La Purisima Road.

    I met Jeanette in the parking lot. We spent at least two hours touring the facility, now a state park. The main church was being re-roofed and was not open to the public. Many of the other rooms of the mission were outfitted as they would have been during the mission period. In addition to the mission buildings, some livestock is kept at the mission including chickens, turkeys, cows and pigs. We looked in all the rooms and read the various posted explanations as we wandered through the property and then spent some time walking the grounds themselves. We encountered a small herd of deer, a buck, three or four does and at least two fawns. They were eating the fruit that was being knocked off a crabapple tree by a flock of feeding birds. 

    The path, once known as the famed El Camino Real, took us back to the parking lot. Since our motel was close by, I loaded the bike into the van and rode with Jeanette the final mile or so to the hotel on Ocean Avenue. The hotel, a Super 8, features an indoor hot tub. We changed into our suits and were soon lazing around in the foaming water. The owners, an Indian family, recommended a Mexican Restaurant downtown. After laying around for a while in the room, we drove into town and ordered and ate way too much food. The day had turned out better than either of us had expected. 

Recommended:

Hotel Super 8
1020 E. Ocean Avenue
Lompoc, CA 93436
805-735-6444

The hotel rate is not a real bargain at $50, but the hotel does have enough amenities that make it worth staying at including a laundry and a hot tub as well as in room refrigerator and microwave. A decent continental breakfast is offered as well. The management state they will give cyclists that ask a 5% discount.

Day Six, Lompoc to Solvang - 24.2 miles