The temptation was overwhelming and I succumbed to staying at a Quality Inn here in King City rather than the planned tent route at the San Lorenzo Camp Ground. What made me do it? After 15.9 miles of light mist all day with my jacket, I was nearing my destination when I struggled to stay off of the King's Highway (101), but suddenly found myself in unbelievable mud from irrigating the fields. My pace fell off a cliff--it took me an hour to go through three sections each maybe 100 yards long. To keep from falling in the mud I used the barbed wire to steady myself--mantra: what a mess! Then I dead ended at a couple of arroyo secos that caused me to detour a half mile each. All this made me succumb to the Quality Inn! Beside which, tomorrow is definitely camp-out night. I have to return to a subject from yesterday: the poor dead beans. Well, it was all meant to be. They weren't green string beans, but rather beans drying in the field a few days--really yummy with sausage, the field hands told me. Most of the day was actually walking through vineyards, but the scarecrow cannons sounded less and less as I approached King City. They were quite regular and loud yesterday--I had grown accustomed to them. Also shown are two pics of the last mile, the bike path over the Salinas River: left at end of bridge to camp ground, right to, well, you know what!
