Day 36 – Solvang, CA. 115 km
This day was intended to be a big mileage gainer, but we ran out of steam and daylight 15 miles short of our intended campground and stayed over in Solvang, a picturesque Danish-themed town in the Santa Ynez Valley. We took a motel for the night and it was perfect – at half the price of our very basic room in Big Sur. Ahead of us tomorrow is a four-mile climb up through San Marcos Pass (2,225 feet elevation) and then a roller-coaster descent down to Santa Barbara. It’s hot here right now, so we’re not thrilled by the climb. However, after that it’s all just small hillocks and dips in the road for the rest of the way to Mexico.
Twenty miles from Pismo Beach, Guadalupe was the first town we came to. It’s our routine to stop for coffee at such places but this town is unlike any other we’ve seen. It’s in the middle of a vast agricultural area and seems to be a service centre for Mexican farm workers. We could not find any kind of coffee shop, or a regular store of any kind. I asked a woman on the street about where to get a cup of coffee and she told me I could buy coffee all over town. I hadn’t seen any obvious places, so I asked if there was anywhere we could sit and drink coffee and perhaps eat something. “Oh!” she says, “you want to sit and drink coffee.” Uhh, yes. She directed us to a candy store that may be the only place in Guadalupe that serves coffee and provides seating.