A quick, summer s24o under the shooting stars

Sometimes a Sub 24-hour overnight bike trip becomes much less than 24 hours.  Don and I wanted to observe the Perseid meteor shower, which peaked August12th.  So after long work days we rode the 8 miles and 1100 vertical feet to the top of San Marcos Road, an old stagecoach route in Santa Barbara, hard up against the Los Padres National Forest.  We arrived at 8:00 p.m., late dusk, but the ¾ moon provided plenty of light.

We laid down a Tyvek sheet and broke out Trader Joe’s delicacies - a sourdough baguette, smoked oysters, exotic cheeses and brandy.  I sat on a stump and Don reclined on a semi-trashed chaise longue that had been conveniently discarded and we toasted our good fortune.

It got darker and we skygazed for a while.  I saw only the heavens, but Don saw an excellent, Disney-esque shooting star. 

We laid out our sleeping bags on top of cheap plastic dropcloths.  We didn’t bring tents because we wanted to go light and we wanted to watch the meteors.  When the marine layer came ashore with its wet mist, we flipped the dropcloths over ourselves like a waterproof taco shell.

After a lot of talking and rambling, I fell asleep, and slept great.  My down bag was damp the next morning when the alarm sounded at 5:15.  It was still dark as we put on our warm clothes and loaded the bikes.  Our headlights cut miner’s-lamp shafts of light in the misty fog as we zipped down the 1,100 feet to a coffee shop for a cup of house blend.

Dawn was breaking as we hit our driveways, just as our families were getting up, and it was if it had all been a dream  [note from Don -- Great post Mark. The pictures didn't come out well, so I won't post any of this adventure].