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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Double Birthday and the Italian Connection

Image
There is an interesting thing that happens on this side of the world. When we left Seattle, we crossed the international date line which puts us one whole day ahead of where we came from. Basically, we lost a day. Because we lost a day, Brenda turned the ripe old age of 40 one day sooner than she would have if we were in Seattle. On September the 12 th in Vanuatu, we got to celebrate her big day. But since she says her home is in Seattle, we also got to celebrate her 40 th birthday when September 12 th happened on that side of the world. Basically, she got the longest birthday known to mankind...2 big days long. There is another interesting thing that happens when you are cruising the world on a sailboat. You run into other cruisers that come from all parts of the world and all backgrounds. Where we are currently moored on Aore Island in Vanuatu, there are 4 boats that are from 4 different countries. It's an international coalition. Our newest neighbors jus
Read more

Balls Hot

Image
If you don't know by now, I'm from a little town called Seattle. You may have heard of the place - it's nice. But coming from Seattle, where 11 ½ months of the year has the city covered in a cool, thick layer of clouds, and the sunshine we receive is in liquid form (rain), I've never had to become accustomed to heat of any kind. Sure, the 2 weeks of summer we get are heavenly and worth the wait, but when the temperature reaches a whopping 60 degrees, everyone starts running around in shorts and flip-flops and turning their skin that has been covered for the past 11 ½ months a blistering shade of red. And a Seattle heat wave? That's about 75 degrees. It's also when everyone who was begging for summer for the last 11 ½ months starts complaining about the heat and wishing they would have sprung for an air conditioner. Before we came to Mexico, we had heard from other friends and sailors who had spent the summer in the Sea of Cortez, riding out hurrica
Read more

The Garnet Ghost Town

Image
For years before we left, I had always told people that we were going to sail around the world. Now that we've been out for a few years, I still tell people the same thing. It's a concept that makes sense to the average Joe – a circle around the globe. A start and an end. One complete lap. When a random stranger we meet on the road asks what we are doing, I still answer with, “we are sailing around the world.” But that explanation is and has always been just a quick way to put into words a concept that still doesn't make sense to most people. Because in reality, we aren't going to sail around the world. One big lap of the globe doesn't really have any appeal to us. Although we aren't realistically going to make a big giant loop – with a beginning and an end – we are doing our best to see the world, and we'll be doing it for as long as it takes. So, I think the proper way to explain what we are doing, is to just say that we are out here to see the
Read more