| Date: October 14 &15, 2003 | | Location California Fall Bicycle Tour - Day 1 & 2 | | Where: Salem to San Luis Obispo via AMTRAK | In 1999 when Jeanette & I rode the coast from Canada to Mexico, some of our favorite areas were sections of California, several of which we hoped we would come back to and take more time to further explore. Pedaling under the pressure to complete the coast route from border to border, we often did not take the time to explore an area's unique features and opportunities. Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo were a couple of those places. With a little checking, I found that it's an overnight trip aboard AMTRAK from Salem to San Luis Obispo with a convenient afternoon arrival, which would make for a great way to transport our bikes and us to start a bike tour. Reservations were made; along with two nights say at Hostel Obispo, which was just two blocks from the AMTRAK station.
|  | | Salem AMTRAK Station We rode our bikes the few blocks from our house to the AMTRAK Station, where we boxed up our bikes before boarding the 3:37 train. On board I was surprised and pleased to find complimentary wine and cheese tasting in progress. We settled down to enjoy our train trip and Jeanette enjoyed some time to play games on her Palm Pilot.
|  | | aboard AMTRAK Jim tastes cheese & wine, Jeanette plays games Dinner, sleep, breakfast & lunch aboard AMTRAK as we passed through Davis, Oakland and Salinas, arriving in San Luis Obispo at 5:00, 1 1/2 hours behind schedule.
|  | | San Luis Obispo AMTRAK Station We unboxed the bikes assembled them, put on the panniers and coasted down the street two blocks to Hostel Obispo where we had reserved the couples room for $45.00. Leaving our bikes at the hostel, we walked downtown to try our host's recomendation for dinner, Big Sky Cafe, which had been voted "Best SLO Restaurant 2002". We were quick to notice that most locals use "SLO" instead of the longer San Luis Obispo.
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