Today started out in Campbell, CA, right around the corner from Magento. After all, this trip got its start because of Magento. We headed over to Magento HQ and had a wonderful breakfast with the team there. A smorgasbord of fruit, scrambled eggs, yogurt, granola, and bacon….did I say bacon? What in life is not made a little better with bacon!?
Mark Lavelle, Magento CEO, gave us a tour of the office and talked about the future of the platform. I think we’re all in for some exciting new developments and surprises at this year’s Imagine! Let’s accelerate to the rest of the day.
"Accelerate" safely, Gents, and thanks for stopping by on your #RoadToImagine https://t.co/2BenbY1cLh
— Mark Lavelle (@mklave1) April 8, 2016
Who were those masked men that just blew through MagentoHQ riding jacked-up road bikes on the #RoadToImagine ??? pic.twitter.com/O0dadjhTDN
— Mark Lavelle (@mklave1) April 8, 2016
We were a little concerned about the weather, as the forecast said rain all day along our route. We headed out south on 17 towards the coast. Magento sent Adi and Josh, from Buzzlab, along for the ride to better document our happenings.
We were fortunate that the rain was holding off. We enjoyed some fun twisties on our way down to Santa Cruz. At Santa Cruz, we were able to connect to PCH 1 and start the beautiful ride along the California coast.
Once we hit the coast, it started sprinkling rain, but we pressed on. The scenery of PCH 1 is absolutely phenomenal when overcast. Fog rolling in, the surf crashing below, and the sun trying hard to pierce through the clouds above.
The winding PCH 1 has a lot of elevation gain and loss, along with some tight, hairpin turns. Fortunately, we were able to view the scenery today without any mishaps or bike laydowns.
We were starting to get low on fuel so we stopped at Ragged Point, an obvious tourist trap for fuel prices. We paid in excess of $5/gallon for fuel. We also fueled up our bodies with energy bars and bananas.
One theme of this trip has been no eating of meals throughout the day. It seems we get a solid breakfast, then snack throughout the day, leaving us hankering for a hearty dinner.
And our arrival to Santa Barbara greeted us with the best dinner of the trip. Brendan’s Aunt and Uncle live in Santa Barbara on a beautiful parcel that overlooks the bay. They had the heartiest meal for us…a traditional Santa Maria BBQ. A classic meal for local California Ranchers.
We devoured tri-tip steak, cooked to perfection, succulent BBQ chicken, a family recipe Pink Bean salad, homemade salsa and more. Eating out on the patio and enjoying some local brews, we couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome to Santa Barbara, or Southern California for that matter.
Today was an amazing route that took us on some of the most beautiful coastline in all of America. And we ended it perfectly with Brendan’s extended family.