Santa Barbara Santa Barbara
In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino sailed in the Santa Barbara channel, called a channel because outside the coast of Santa Barbara there are 4 huge islands, called the Channel Islands. On a Spanish voyage of exploration he gave the area its current name because that day was the Roman Catholic feast day of Saint Barbara.
As I was doing my last climb, Sunday, on the steep Gibraltar Rd., a pro rider in training exclaims as he passes me, "another beautiful day in paradise," and so it was. Ever since the rain stopped the temperature has been around 70 near our casita and even warmer, in the eighties during our visit, with Margee's childhood friend Cindy, at the Ojai resort.
Cindy, her daughter Carrie, and Carrie's friend Steve arrived on Wednesday evening to stay at Fess Parker's resort hotel on Channel drive. Cindy's room had a large balcony overlooking the ocean. This was nice, because Carrie came down with the flu and ended up spending most of her time in the room and balcony - with Steve and Cindy in attendance!
On Thursday, Margee and Cindy (friends since age three) went to lunch at Jeannine's American Bakery and shopping on Coast Road in Montecito. The three of us had dinner that night on State Street (taking in the monthly art gallery walk) at Opal. On Friday night we ate at the Harbor Restaurant on Stearns Wharf and it was delightful. Dominic missed an opportunity to take a photo of the spectacular sunset because he forgot to replace the battery in his camera. We will just have to go there again sometime! On Saturday morning Cindy, Margee and Dominic drove up to Ojai and ate lunch al fresco at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. Cindy and Margee loved the Spa Shop and bought candles, lotions, clothes and jewelry there. Dinner Saturday evening was pizza at Rusty's, Santa Barbara's oldest pizza place. On Sunday Margee visited the Santa Barbara Art Museum to see the special exhibit: "Everyday Luxury: Chinese Silks of the Qing Dynasty" - what fascinating and beautiful garments! Cindy picked Margee up at the museum and they met Dominic for a farewell dinner at the Fess Parker. On Monday morning Cindy and Carrie drove down to Santa Monica to rendezvous with Steve and spend a final night in LA before they flew back to Detroit. Margee and Cindy hope to return to Ojai for a spa weekend sometime and also plan to meet again next winter in Florida!
It is now time to move to La Quinta CA. in the desert near Indian Wells. The house there is a lot more upscale with 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, swimming pool and hot tub. The biking will not be as good but the living conditions will improve a lot. See future reports on the La Quinta page.
After a week of heavy rain and wind the sun has finally returned. California was stuck with a low pressure in the Pacific bringing a large quantity of ocean moisture in the form of rain near the coast and snow at an altitude of only 1500 feet at night and about 4000 feet during the day. During the rainy week Margee's cousin Jane and husband Ron came to our casita for the weekend. We started out their visit with dinner at Louie's, a restaurant three blocks from our cottage on De La Vina. The next day we visited Los Olivos, where each couple bought a case of wine and enjoyed lunch at Nick's. In the late afternoon we walked down Santa Barbara's State Street and selected an Argentine restaurant, Cafe Buenos Aires, for dinner with a couple of bottles of fine Malbec. Malbec is a varietal that does well in the sun drenched climate of Argentina. It has a dense red color with flavors like plum and black berries. Jane and Ron's visit was way too short, as they left early Sunday morning! Lucy fell in love with Ron and has been moping around ever since!
After the monsoon the sun came out and the temperature warmed up so that I could resume my bike rides. Bad luck struck the first 2 days with two flat tires and Margee had to pick me up again. Since then I decided to carry a spare and have not had any flats since. The mountain rides are fabulous with many magnificent views. The most grueling ride was 30 miles from sea level to 4300 ft. and back. The climb was 18 miles. The pro riders training for the tour of California passed me like I was standing still. And these riders are not even the good international riders. My legs had nothing left after that ride.
Some interesting statistics from the GPS. Overall avg. speed 58.3 mph, moving avg. 66.0 mph, max speed 91.8mph. Total miles traveled 2476, total moving travel time 37.51 hours.
You know you are in Santa Barbara when all the teenagers walk around in sandals. The weather has been above 60 degrees the first week of our arrival with a warm sun, so sandals seem appropriate. The second day here I got the bike ready to ride, searched the internet for bike routes and stopped at the bike shop to ask for the best mountain rides and pick up a bike map. Santa Barbara is biking heaven with many mountain routes and professional teams training here for the tour of California. The tour is the largest bike race in the US with many international teams participating. The tour will be from Feb. 17-24 and riders will travel 650 miles from northern to southern California. Those who follow bike racing will recognize some of the top riders participating including; Paolo Bettini of Italy, Olympic champion, 2006 and 2007 world champion; Tom Boonen of Belgium, former world champion; and American Levi Leipheimer, last year's winner of the California Tour and third place finisher in the Tour de France. Team Rabobank from Netherlands, winner of the 2007 Vuelta a Espana, will also participate. The team bike is Colnago same as mine.
So far I have attempted 3 mountain rides traveling from sea level to 2300 feet. The climbs I attempted are 6 to 7 miles long with the grade between 6 and 14 degrees. This is nothing like I am used to in Wisconsin where it's mostly flat and the longest hills are less than a mile. As I build up my stamina I will attempt longer mountain rides in the weeks ahead. Unfortunately the riding is on hold at present because of the heavy rain. Yes it does rain in southern California. The prediction is that the rain will last for 5 days.
Monday was my last ride before the rain put a damper on riding. That day I tried a different mountain route. Unfortunately the rear tire started going flat as I was heading back down the mountain. Knowing that Margaret was afraid to drive up the narrow road I tried to ride as far down as possible on a deflating tire standing on the pedals and leaning as far forward as possible to put most of my weight on the front tire. I have never pedaled so hard going down hill. It's incredible how much a deflating tire will slow you down. Even so on the steeper sections of the mountain the speed is still very high. Riding the way I was going down hill is very tricky. With the many hairpin turns brake application is critical. The rear brake was useless because of the flat tire and lack of weight. The wheel would just lock up and spin you out. Also with most of the weight on the front wheel and leaning forward as much as possible, applying the brakes to hard could flip you over the handlebars. As the commercials say. " Do not attempt this at home. Professional riders only."
Said good by to the family, sent Andy back to school and drove away for our trip West.
It was a dreary and gray day as we prepared to leave. When we reached the end of the driveway the car beeped warning us that the temperature was under 37 degrees and there might be ice on the road. Even the car knows it's cold in Wisconsin.
First stop Bloomington, IL for lunch at the Central Station Cafe. In 1900 Bloomington burned to the ground. After the fire was put out, the city fathers decided to purchase the best and biggest hook and ladder team they could find. Realizing it did not fit in the bay doors, they built a bigger fire station. Later the old fire station was remodeled as a restaurant. Lunch was good and below you can see a photo of Margee and Lucy in front of the building.
The stop for the night was St. Louis. As we reached the bridge crossing the Mississippi we got stuck in a one hour traffic stop as a car flipped on the bridge about 100 yards in front of us destroying the guard rail. The occupants were fortunate not to fall into the river.
Our second night was spent in Oklahoma City, the land of the "Sooners". In 1800 a parcel of land that was not given to the Indian tribes, the Unassigned Lands, was given to homesteaders. In 1889 about 50,000 homesteaders invaded the boundaries to stake their claims on April 22nd. Some people sneaked over during the night, hiding from the army, to stake prime land. These people were known as "Sooners."
As the weather got warmer through Oklahoma we soon started climbing toward Santa Fe, about 7,000 feet above sea level, with snow and colder temperatures. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in North America and the oldest European community west of the Mississippi. It was settled in 1610 and became the seat of power for the Spanish Empire north of the Rio Grande. We stayed in Santa Fe 2 nights to visit Margee's cousin, Patty, and her husband Terry. They live in a beautiful house that they designed and built in the foothills southeast of town. We were both impressed by the lovely architecture and splendid views from every room - if they decide to start working again, Margaret thinks they should become residential building consultants. Lucy enjoyed meeting their two dogs. See the photos below. Thank you to Patty for the delicious lunch and to Terry for his home tour.
Last stop in our trip west was in Kingman, Arizona near the California border. Spaniards searching for gold explored this area in early 1500. Lewis Kingman surveyed a railroad route between New Mexico and California. The settlement along the track was named "Kingman." In 1926 the highway that paralleled the railroad was officially named US 66 and extended from Chicago to California.
We finally arrived in Santa Barbara, California one day before Margee's birthday. We celebrated with a terrific dinner at Olio and Limone, obviously an Italian restaurant, with a wonderful bottle of Barbera from Piemonte Italy. The wine had a dark red velvet color with a taste of ripe blueberry and a hint of strawberry.
The cottage is tiny (900 square feet), but perfectly located a few blocks from State Street. Every morning Dominic sets out on his bicycle for a grueling session in the mountains - something he seems to enjoy. Margee has yet to venture forth on her Trek as she is worried about her limited ability to handle the hills! She is looking forward to a visit from her cousins Jane and Ron and her childhood friend Cindy in a few weeks.
Since global warming refuses to cooperate in Wisconsin and the Midwest, we are temporarily moving to California. As long as people are blamed for causing global warming we might as well go there since California has the largest population of any state. Hopefully it will be nice and toasty there. The pictures below explain better than words why we must escape Wisconsin for the next 3 months. It's so cold even the Turkeys are leaving.
We will be driving from Milwaukee to Santa Barbara with our bulldog Lucy, taking the southern route to avoid bad weather in the Rockies. After a month in Santa Barbara we will move to a larger house in La Quinta, near Palm Springs.
By the way we will not offset our carbon footprint driving across the country. The Midwest needs all the help it can get.