Wandering Wheels - 7 January 1991

The word for today is awesome. I'm feeling absolutely great. Exhausted, but great. After a restful sleep at the church (a thousand times better than the bus), we got up and had a light breakfast. Then we headed down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was wonderfully fascinating. The aquarium is one of the best in the world. It focuses only on the marine life in Monterey Bay. The most interesting exhibit was the kelp forest, the only place where kelp is found inside. The aquarium is filled with water right from the Bay, brought in through pumps that used to be used for the cannery there. It was great to see the sea life that we'll be gong by on our ride. And it even came in handy today, the first day of biking.

After the tour of the aquarium and all the "critters," we met together and prepared for our riding by going over the rules of etiquette and some safety precautions. Then we split up into seven groups. My group, which I personally feel is the best, is Randy Cronk, group leader, Dennis Bailey, Tim Pressler, Chip Wall, Scott Jones and Ed Hardnett. We started from the church and rode around Pebble Beach to Carmel. In between was some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. We saw gorgeous shorelines, beautiful sunsets and breathtaking mountains. At one of our many stops, we saw a rock covered with sea lions. On shore the body of a sea lion (dead) washed up on shore. Once again I was able to see man's works against God's and God one hands down. Gorgeous houses and scenic golf courses (and houses with golf course on their front yards) and fancy cars galore.

But the coast and the life and the beauty of nature are what I'll remember always. All the scenery alone would have made the trip fantastic, but the group I rode with made it awesome (yeah!). Dr. Cronk stopped often enough so we could get pictures and make sure we took in everything (no, I'm not brown-nosing, thank you). The rest of the guys were helpful and hilarious and helped make the trip great (hey, a little alliteration never hurt anyone).

We stopped by the Carmel Mission when we got in town, but it was closed. Hopefully, we'll get to go tomorrow. Tonight we're staying in a youth center. Class was great tonight. Again, it wasn't so much the lesson but the getting together and sharing. I'll never look at mushrooms the same again. I really haven't seen much of Mike and Laurie today, but for some reason it's not bothering me as much. The only problems now are that I haven't written my friends back home (I can't find stamps) and that I'm beat. We start at 9:00 AM tomorrow and go 35-40 miles. Well, time for bed! More tomorrow (if I survive!) Æ

Tunes: king's x - we are finding who we are (live)