Ventura Beach to Santa Barbara
And sleep I did -- a little longer than I had hoped, it was nearly noon by the time I got going, perhaps I had taken one of my NyQuil pills to help me sleep. Downstairs I printed maps from the CCT website -- this was before I had received the PDFs of the guidebooks from 1DollarScan, around Santa Barbara.
And sleep I did -- a little longer than I had hoped, it was nearly noon by the time I got going, perhaps I had taken one of my NyQuil pills to help me sleep. Downstairs I printed maps from the CCT website -- this was before I had received the PDFs of the guidebooks from 1DollarScan, around Santa Barbara.
There was a breakfast buffet, but it cost $12... I decided to go for it, I would take in a day's worth of calories at breakfast to save money. The bagels tasted homemade. I had fruit, decadent oatmeal, and coffee.
I have in my notes that part of the trail was closed for the California Seal Sanctuary, so I took a trail next to the beach, as the women who did the trail last year had done.
Around Carpentaria the trail headed inland and I stopped at a convenience store for a protein cookie and coconut water -- breakfast hadn't lasted me all day! After a few turns on city streets the route led to an open field with a gate in the distance. Luckily, behind the gate I found a thin trail next to train tracks, the CCT path on the map. I ran down the trail, I remember being filled with energy during this section.
Earlier I had called a hostel in Santa Barbara, about thirty miles away (although it was hard to calculate exactly with the trail's twists and turns, this was before I had the PDF to look at for exact mileage on each segment), the hostel said they would be open until 10pm and that I did not need a reservation, I could just show up. I had made it my goal to reach the hostel by 10pm that night, I was determined despite my late start. I reasoned that if I headed out at noon I only needed to do three miles an hour for ten hours and I would have my thirty miles by 10pm.
As it turned out, my burst of energy perhaps saved my life, just as I left the path near the train tracks for the beach a train came barreling down the tracks.
The beautiful beach in the setting sun gave me even more energy and I ran with zeal. I think I even saw a man take my photo. Continuing on my runner's high I didn't notice the waves were coming in. Before long the beach had turned to a thin sliver. The waves ahead were lapping at the private railing of a residence's porch. This was scary. I needed to get away from the ocean, and fast. I headed for the nearest exit, a set of private stairs and again hoped I would be able to exit to the street. I found myself climbing among the weeds under a house, and got to the front yard only through a break in a wire mesh fence. At least I had made it to a street. I ran to where Google Maps showed me the exit was, but there was a locked gate. Distraught, I ran back, looking for a resident who could open the door. I saw a parked car in a driveway with illuminated headlights and knocked on the window. I think I startled the woman inside, who appeared to be hired help at the house. She said I should follow her out of the gate. Luckily this worked out, and I was back on the road. With high tide, my only recourse was to take the CCT's alternate/bike route as I moved north.
I ran on into the night, making a half mile detour to arrive at the hostel, at 9:45, just before the 10pm deadline. To my distress, they said that since I did not have a foreign passport and was not a student they could not accommodate me! All of the other rooms were sold out. They had a list of nearby hotels and I began looking at maps to see how close each was to my current location. After fifteen minutes of this the owner walked in, I introduced myself, and he said he would allow me to stay in the foreign and student dorm that night. I was relieved.
I plugged in my phone, then took a shower. When I returned, I noticed that someone had unplugged my phone.. a little disconcerting. The man who had showed me the room said I was welcome to either the top or bottom bunk, and I noticed that the bottom bunk hid a set of four outlets. I moved my bag to the bottom bunk and plugged all my devices in with abandon.
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