Morro Bay to Avila

Last night’s sleep was probably the coldest we have had yet. We pulled bike shorts on while shivering, reluctant to crawl out of our warm sleeping bags and change out of fleece pants. The warm tea beckoned and we were compelled to wake up and pedal.

Today the group split. and because of the small group at Montessori Children’s School, half of us visited the School while some ran errands to acquire produce donated by various grocers in San Luis Obispo (a big thank you to Frontier Groceries!) and others biked around Montagne De Oro, a nearby scenic spot. A few volunteers were even able to take advantage of the early morning surf and hit up the nearby surf spot in Morro Bay before we headed off on our bicycles.

Whitney, Danny, Stuart, Meagan, Kamron, Jacob & myself had a nice and easy ride to the school with time to spare before getting started on our projects. We were welcomed by Carolyn, Kit, Andy, and Eric, who were delighted to see us and were full of activity ideas to do with students in the garden.

We started off our visit with a slideshow hosted by Danny who introduced the objective of our outreach, complete with how humans impact the environment. Following the slideshow, we broke up into groups with the students & started our garden projects. Jacob, Danny & I worked in the back garden sifting composted soil, planting lettuce, broccoli, & celery, and helped start a new worm compost bin. Meagan, Stuart & Kamron worked in the front garden-planting natives.

The students and staff were a joy to work with and so enthusiastic and appreciative. As a ‘thank you,’ they fed us a fantastic lunch and we left the school feeling accomplished, welcomed & full. After riding a flat 5 miles to ‘The Avila Hot Springs’ some of us had reservations about our accommodation situation when we realized we would be resting our heads off highway 101 & sleeping on a more gravel ground. We soon focused on other things after realizing we would probably be so tired and relaxed from riding (our bikes) and soaking (in the springs) we would not have any trouble sleeping after all and we headed into the beach town of Avila.

At around 5pm we all met at the campsite and relaxed in the hot springs which was much needed & well deserved for our muscles. In the words of Whitney, it was ‘sulfertastic!!’

Tonight we are all hoping to get a good nights sleep for our 60 mile ride tomorrow to Los Olivos.

Miles traveled today: 22
Flats: Kyla, 1
Written By 1st time bike-tripper: Marguerite Nesteruk