It's How We Roll

I am going to keep this post short, because in just a few short hours, we'll be heading back to sea. This time, we have our sites set on Santa Barbara. The weather looks good for our passage south, with somewhat light winds, and relatively calm seas. The trip should take us roughly 2 days, and if we time it right, we should be pulling into Santa Barbara shortly after sunrise on Friday morning.

I don't care how many times we head to sea, every time seems to be a big deal. We go through a pre-departure checklist to make sure the boat is in tip-top shape, we strap everything down so we have no flying through the air surprises, and we stock the fridge and cupboards with ready to eat meals.

The night before we leave, we never sleep well. Last night we weren't helped by the sea lions that moved onto the dock next door, barking and snorting all night long, but even without our noisy neighbors, anticipation usually keeps us up. I'm not sure if it's nervous anticipation just because we are going to be at sea for a couple of days, and that's never easy, or if it's because we are excited to get to someplace new.

I also don't know if we are exactly ready to leave Monterey yet. It's beautiful here. The shoreline is as pretty of a place as I have ever seen. It's been warm, there are great bike trails all over the area for us to ride our new folding bikes, and the sandy beaches are what dreams are made of. The only down side I can see to this place is that the water isn't warm enough to swim in without a wetsuit. If the water was warmer, I could see this being a place that would be hard to leave, even for us, who have a constant need to move on.

The big reason we are moving on before we have had our fill of Monterey is the fact that there is a huge weather system moving into the area in a couple of days. And the forming gale looks like it's going to linger around for quite a while. As far out as the forecasts go, the gale will be occupying a vast stretch of the southern California coastline. So, in the interest of moving on before we get stuck here waiting for a storm to dissapate, off we go.

We will most likely be stuck in Santa Barbara for a bit longer than we would like, due the gale, but at least we will be farther south, one step closer to Mexico, and in a new to us spot when the weather hits. And someplace new is what we love.

Getting to a new spot is thrilling for us. Figuring out where the grocery store is, finding a spot where we can steal some wifi, and just roaming around aimlessly in a new town is incredibly fun for us. And now that we have our new bikes, the amount of area we can cover is immense.


In Monterey, we have ridden these teeny bikes nearly 50 miles in search of fun and adventure. We even formed a rough and tumble folding biker gang with our good friends on sailing vessel Danika (let's ride!). Yes, the Rainbow Rollers biker gang is scary, so if you see us riding through your town, look out, clear a path, and prepare for a fight. We like to do burnouts, pop-a-wheelies, get in bar fights, and cause general mayhem. It's how we roll.

The Rainbow Rollers causing general mayhem at our favorite tough guy store...REI.  This picture was taken right before the cops came and threw us out for causing so much trouble.  Yep, we are pretty tough.  Especially the girl with the orange bike.  Watch out for that one, she's sneaky.
Taste the Rainbow.  We have to lock up our sweet rides while we are getting in bar fights.

Peace out Monterey.  You'll be missed.

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