Day 17 Carmel Valley, CA to King City, CA. 55 miles and 3500 feet of climbing. Add another perfect day to this tour. Sunny and warm with another tail wind at the end of the day. We traveled inland today and did not see any of the ocean. Lots of climbing. Right out of the motel we began climbing and climbed for 20 miles. Once we reached the peak of the mountain 20 miles of very steep, curvey, technical descent followed. It was as wild as the climb was taxing. About halfway down a woman in our crew crashed. She was unconscious for 10 minutes. We were out of cell range so a member of our group raced downhill to an emergency call box. The operator sent the troops out i.e. fire trucks, police, an ambulance and a helicopter. After she regained consciousness a decision was made to put her in our van and transport her to the hospital. The van passed the emergency responder troops going down the mountain. At some point the van was stopped by the police so that the ambulance could check her out. The helicopter even landed. She refused ambulance or helicopter transport and the proceeded to the hospital. Rumor has it that she has a broken rib and collar bone. Once we got down the mountain we were in a valley and back in agricultural country. I continued to be amazed at the size of the fields. We traveled across the valley and then turned south, picked up a very brisk tail wind and flew along the base of the mountain to King City. It was, as I said, another perfect day.

 

You guessed correctly.  How could I pass this place up??

 

The road leading out of Carmel Valley and up the mountain.  20 miles of climbing.

 

 

Still climbing.

 

This is a tree that caught my attention.  It has a perfectly rectangular shape.  Odd.

 

On the down hill side of the mountain were 6 of these "cattle guards".  Believe me, going over them unexpectedly at 30 mph will wake you up!!

 

 

The views were incredible

 

 

Pic of fire truck and medivac helicopter.  We learned tonite at dinner that she was released from the hospital after a thorough going over.  She was lucky to get away with "just" a broken rib and should and is catching a flight home tonite.

 

 

 

This ice berg lettuce will be on your store shelves next week.

 

Red Leaf lettuce

 

 

Road into King City.  We raced along at 25 mph at the base of the mountain.  KR would agree that there is a lot of magic is this road!!