“You’ll go down this big hill and you’ll be in SoCal.”

A fellow cyclist, who was traveling north, advised us that we were coming upon SoCal: “you” go down this big hill and you’ll be in SoCal.” As we rode south his words made sense. After riding the inland roads for over a day, we went downhill for 2.5 miles and came upon the coast again at Gaviota State Park. The sand here burned our feet and the water was good for swimming.

The rest of the ride was everything that you would imagine SoCal to be: the ocean was peppered with surfers. It was pleasantly warm and devastatingly sunny. Swimsuits counted as clothes in most places. I biked in my sandals because–do whatever you want!