The day before (Sea Otter Classic part 2)

Even though Sea Otter Classic days are Thursday to Sunday, I flew out to California on Tuesday night. I did this in order to get to Monterey (2.5 hours south of San Francisco) on Wednesday afternoon. As it turned out it was a very smart move because I didn't prepare for the camping at all. Wednesday morning came and I saw that a client is looking for me. 1 phone call later and that client was satisfied with me resolving the problem (I don't know why, but I like solving things when I'm away). Back in the hostel I was introduced to H. from Germany that like me was heading down to the bicycle festival. But unlike me didn't have a car (I rented a minivan the night before at the airport). So I offered to share the ride. I told H that I'll be leaving around 2 because I have some errands to do. He said fine. Not to waist time I took the car and drove down to the Silicon Valley to a specific camping gear shop (recommended by a friend) to buy a tent and sleeping bag. I was dressed in the clothes I wore hiking in spain (all top notch outdoor gear). In the store I asked for the cheapest tent and sleeping bag while dressed in the best (and very expensive) clothes. I'm sure the salesman was buffled by the conflict. I was amused by it, but didn't care.
From there I drove to a computer and electronics warehouse to buy car power supplies for my laptop and cell phone (can't afford to be disconnected :-(). Went to eat at my favorite Borritto joint from my days in the Silicon Valley 10 years ago and got disappointed from the quality for the borritto :-( As a last thing before driving to Monterey I decided to pay a visit to S. I haven't seen her in over half a year and since I fell inlove with her it was high time to satisfy my emotions :-) So I drove to her work place. I surprised her and she was more than happy by the surprise. She didn't have much time because she was about to walk into a meeting so she kept apologizing (she didn't have to because I knew that she wouldn't have the time for a lengthy visit). I was so happy to meet her and even though I tried to contain myself was a little too pushy in my questions and display of affection (I hope that not enough to make her uncomfortable). After visiting S. I went back to the hostel to pickup H. and drive down to Monterey. I arrived at the hostel at 2 PM as agreed. Driving to Monteray was uneventful as it can get and getting to camping ground, pitching the tent was so striaght forward that I was worried for a while ... (can't shake my polish side).
All in all, Wednesday was a very productive and successful day with a cherry (meeting S.) on the top to make it perfect.
6 months ago I expirienced a perfect Tuesday. This time it was a perfect Wednesday. I can't wait for the perfect Thursday. I just hope I won't have to wait 6 months more for it.

Camping out (Sea Otter Classic part 1)

It's been a long time since I last wrote. Why? I got into the routine of life that didn't include blogging. What changed? A few things with the subject being the majority of the change. So on with the blog ...
Sea Otter Classic is the biggest bicycle event (I think) that starts the bicycle event season in the US. About a month ago I saw online that the festival dates are April 12th to the 15th of . After an initial check with the office I signed myself and made the arangements (flight, hotels, camping registration) to get myself to Laguna Seca (just outside of Monterey) California. As the date got closer even my bosses at work said I deserved the time off (I'll be away for 6 days, of which 4 are working days). The last item in the arangements list is what makes it completely different: Camping??? The last time I campped out was 10 years ago and even then I tagged along. This time I took the initiative and decided to camp out the 4 days of the festival.
As a little kid I remember we (my family) went out on a lot of camping trips. After my younger brother was born everything stopped and we didn't do anything anymore. I missed that a lot and always dreamed about one day doing it myself, but since I never really learned what it means to camp out and having high expectaions and low demands garantees the feeling and taste of personal failure.
This time it was almost the same. I was sick most of last week so I didn't buy the camping gear needed to camp. So today before I drove from San Francisco to Monterey I went and bought a tent and a sleeping bag. I bought the simplest tent and sleeping bag. Knowing the target I didn't want to just buy best and not use it. Obviously these are only the 2 basics for camping, but since I don't know what it means to camp out I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt to learn to camp while trying.
Stay tuned for more updates from Laguna Seca :-)