After stopping to see the seals I continued north of the Pacific Coast Highway, knowing that because of a major mudslide last spring that I’d only be able to get so far.
As I started to climb the hill and was seeing signs indicating how soon I’d have to turn around, I saw this sign:
Terrific.
I continued my ascent, getting a mild case of “High Anxiety,” and kept saying to myself “Please don’t have an earthquake, please don’t have an earthquake, please don’t have an earthquake…”
And finally reached the closure:
I had a nice conversation with the lady manning the traffic cones (letting the trucks carrying rock to repair the roadway in and out) – she is sitting behind the orange sign, about my options for getting over to the north side of the closure on Friday when I drive up to Monterey. The California Department of Transportation tells people to take “The 101” all the way up to Monterey and backtrack on Route 1 (the PCH) but I thought I had found a better (and much shorter) alternative. She confirmed that I could take the route I saw and I will tell that story in tomorrow’s posts.