We had a great day today beginning with our 8:45 am departure, our earliest start so far. On our way out of town, we rode a couple miles west to see the Lompoc flower fields. Unfortunately, except for a few marigold fields, all of the flowers had been harvested already. But the early morning sun and crisp air was a good way to start our ride today.
Leaving Lompoc we faced the toughest climb on our central California coast route. But the climb was very gradual so was 
actually kind of easy. The descent, however, was steep and long. What a blast! We broke for lunch at a rest stop north of Gaviota State Beach, just inland from where the 101 starts heading south along the coast. After lunch, our route took us 
through Santa Barbara, Summerland, then Carpenteria. Just south of Carpinteria we were on the 101 for a few miles. The shoulders were wide and smooth, but the traffic was just too heavy to make it a comfortable bike ride. At Seacliff we were back on HWY1. After that we rode through Ventura, Oxnard and ended the day in Port Hueneme, where we stayed in a hotel. Today's mileage was 102 miles.
We picked up Chinese takeout from The Mandarin House restaurant, just a short walk away from our hotel. It was our goal to put in 100 miles today. We knew we could pull off a century ride if we got an early
enough start and if the route didn't have a lot of climbing. So we were pretty satisfied. If only the front desk clerk would have informed us that our inn had a pool and jacuzzi.
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