Part 16: Ocean, Sky, Freedom: West Coast Bicycle Adventure—Canada to Mexico—Monterey Aquarium

By Frosty Wooldridge

“Riding a bicycle flat out brings joy throughout a person’s mind, body and spirit.  Pedaling scintillates every cell in one’s body toward some kind of nirvana, state of grace and/or total bliss.  It might be deemed something like the ancients equate to enlightenment.  Whatever you call it, the feelings ring from the rafters of your mind.”  FHW, on tour

The ride along the coast south of San Francisco features a strange “house” perched upon a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  It resembles a bunker to defend the coast during WWII.  Nevertheless, it remains as a strange relic of humanity’s need to build something where beauty once dominated.

(Lone touring cyclist headed southbound on Route 101 of the Pacific Coast Highway.)Photography by Frosty Wooldridge

The road crossed over fields of crops such as strawberries, celery and cauliflower.  I passed lots of fruit stands along the route.

At Marina, I met a fellow cyclist who pulled a two wheeled bugger cart behind him.  He hauled more junk than a big city bagman pushing a grocery cart.  He pedaled a lonely highway on his singular journey.  I’ve met such travelers in my journeys around the planet.  They live solitary lives, much like bicycling hobos that ride the trains.  I’m not sure what causes such a life, but I’m thankful for my lottery ticket in life.  But for the grace of the universe and my dumb luck, I enjoy my adventures—and then go home to hearth and friends.

Upon reaching Monterey, the focal point stands around statues in Cannery Row. That’s where they first began canning sardines.  John Steinbeck earned a Nobel Prize in literature for his novels such as Grapes of Wrath, but also wrote touching travel stories like Travels With Charlie.  Most folks remember his famous quote about travel:

“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship’s whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder, the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, once a bum always a bum. I fear this disease is incurable. I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself…. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

I snapped a few pictures of the statues of Steinbeck and his friends in Cannery Row.  Monterey Bay, replete with mesmerizing blue waters, stretched into the Pacific Ocean.  Kayakers, sailboats, wharf posts and seaweed decorated the waters. Seagulls glided on updrafts.  Piers, which house tourist businesses of every kind, jutted out from shore.

(John Steinbeck atop this rock accompanied by his friends in Cannery Row. Monterey Bay offers tourists everything from sea aquarium to Pebble Beach golf.)  Photography by Frosty Wooldridge

At the end of the street, I locked Condor to a flagpole and walked up to the booth for the Monterey Aquarium.  They charged a dear price at $39.00 for admission, yet hundreds lined up to see the show.

As a lifelong scuba diver, I love everything under the surface.  It’s magic down there with all the sea creatures of the world.  Everything moves in slow motion.  Everything works in balance.

Inside that aquarium, we enjoyed hammerhead sharks, reef sharks, tuna, sea otters, jellyfish, boxfish and dozens of other sea creatures.  They featured a “wave room” where simulated waves crashed over the guests.  They offered a penguin colony. 

Additionally, they featured a marvelous movie about the oceans.  The showed how we are destroying the oceans and marine life with discarded plastics and poisons.  Several artists created birds and sharks from plastic debris.  Sickening actually!

One exhibit showed how our fossil fuel burning carbon exhaust warms the oceans and creates acidity, which destroys marine habitat and kills untold numbers of creatures.

On a lighter note, they featured inventions founded on the shapes and techniques that birds and fish utilize to stay alive. 

(Rather large octopus looks visitors in the eyes as if he were asking, “Why did you take me out of my ocean home and stick me behind this glass?”)  Photography by Frosty Wooldridge

A King fisher’s beak and body dive into the water without a splash.  They utilized the exact same shape for the nose of high-speed trains in Europe to stop the explosion created when they entered and exited tunnels at 200 miles per hour. 

A shark never suffers barnacles, but a whale grows them like flowers on its skin.  Scientists found out that sharks’ skin consists of “shingles” that don’t allow barnacles to gain a grip.  Thus, all ships today enjoy the same concept to stop barnacles and reduce drag, which saves billions of dollars and gives greater fuel efficiency.

All in all, I enjoyed a fabulous morning with octopus exhibits, whales and dolphins.

(Jellyfish create astoundingly intricate patterns and movement at the Monterey Aquarium. You can’t help asking yourself, “Why did nature and how did nature create something like this creature…and what for?”)  Photography by Frosty Wooldridge

I pedaled out of Monterey along the famous golf course at Pebble Beach.  Man oh man, talk about filthy rich folks living in multi-million dollar homes!  Money drips from every Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari and Lamborghini that passed by me.

The path led to the 17 Mile Drive, which featured endless wealthy homes on the ocean.    I couldn’t help wondering “how” those people gained such incredible wealth.  How do they do it?  Do they work like the rest of us?  How do they live?  What makes them different from 95 percent of Americans struggling to pay their mortgages?  Then, when I think of the billions living wretched lives planet-wide, it’s all the more disheartening.  Fact remains: life isn’t fair.

That night, I camped out in a wooded area just before entering Big Sur, the legendary road that snakes along high cliffs to give a cyclist spectacular views of coastline.  I’m told that a cyclist cannot pedal slowly enough to absorb all the beauty.

(Standing on a cliff before pedaling onto Big Sur, California for an amazing two days of astounding ocean beauty and a few surprises.) Photography by Frosty Wooldridge

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