Day 6: Along Highway 1

Finally making progress: Today I was able to sleep until 5 o'clock. 5 o'clock! If it continues at this pace, my sleep rhythm will normalize by the time I take my return flight to Germany, only to be reset to 0 again by the next jet lag. I'm looking forward to it.

But I had enough time to tackle the Operation Filter Coffee. If you have your own coffee machine in your room, you have to take advantage of it. Coffee powder is there, machine is there, water is there, but I couldn't find a filter anywhere. Should something that much too big tissue made of weird material that doesn't even resemble the filter material I know from Germany be a filter? No way it will work, but the coffee addiction won. So, I somehow put this cloth into the small machine, with 10 cm hanging over on each side, pressed the start button, and hoped that I didn't create a new, instantly deadly element. But it actually worked. I have never been so proud to have brewed a coffee. I can officially call myself a barista now.

Proudly, I checked out of the hotel and embarked on today's stage of 390 km from Monterey to Santa Barbara.

The highlight of today's day is the Highway 1. The Highway 1 runs along the Pacific coast, all the way through California. The most beautiful section of this route lies between the cities of Carmel and San Simeon and is called Big Sur. These nearly 180 kilometers are characterized by huge cliffs, many small coves, and beautiful beaches. In the midst of this natural wonder, the single-lane Highway 1 winds its way. Apart from nature, it is incredibly fun to drive this route, especially with an automatic car, because of the many curves and changes in elevation. Since the road is mostly far away from civilization, there is virtually no internet reception. But since I (as you know, well-prepared) knew this in advance, I invested over 5 GB of my phone's memory in offline maps from Google Maps in Germany. This should ensure navigation throughout this whole trip.

My first stop on the route came after only 25 km. There awaited me the Bixby Creek Bridge, built in 1932. It is perhaps the most famous photo motif on the route.

As with the 17 Mile Drive yesterday, there are very regular park pullouts along the side of the road, and after what felt like 1000 photo breaks in the first 50 kilometers, I had to force myself to drive for a longer stretch. I was only half successful, everything is just too beautiful.

I made a slightly longer stop at the McWay Falls. A short hike led to a beautiful viewpoint of a cute bay with an even cuter waterfall.

Then the Big Sur ended and the landscape flattened significantly. But the next beach followed soon and it had something special to offer: more than 50 manatees sunbathing in the sand. I don't want to leave out the sounds and especially the smell.

The remaining 200 kilometers were increasingly dominated by the typical green-brown California hill landscapes. The temperature also rose significantly. But I have to get used to it, because from now on, the hot section of this trip begins.

At this point, I want to interrupt the report briefly to introduce a new recurring feature:

Driving in the USA. Here, I want to present existing peculiarities of driving that are based on previous research, tips from experienced US travelers, and of course, experiences I have already collected.

Topic today: 4-way stops.

There are many intersections where instead of a traffic light, there is a stop sign in each direction with the addition of 4-Way. The German driver would probably intuitively apply the right-of-way rule after a short confusion. That is of course wrong, it would be too easy. Instead, the rule is: first come, first served. What sounds like a toss of a coin between success and a tragic accident actually works pretty well in practice. If there is any uncertainty, hand signals are used, hardly any American will insist on their right-of-way, come what may.

That was driving in the USA for today. Also introduce cool outro music at this point.

Finally, I arrived in Santa Barbara and checked into my motel for today. At first glance, the room made a good impression, it's probably the nicest so far. But the big disappointment followed immediately: no ironing board and iron and no coffee machine for chemical experiments. In addition, the worst Wi-Fi so far. My mood immediately sank, and only 20 Chicken McNuggets could improve it again.

To end the day, I went to refuel again, because, being overly cautious as I am, I can't risk having less than 50% of fuel in my tank. After the overly demanding gas pump once again refused my inferior German credit card, I had to go to the cashier again.

That's it for today. Tomorrow, finally off to LA.

Leart