We headed to the car and hit the road. It was pretty easy going once we got a little out of the hills it was pretty flat and straight. We've gone from twisty up and down hair pin bend roads over cliffs back to flat as a pancake straight as an arrow stretching into the distance.
We stopped for some lunch at a McDonald's and changed drivers then off we went again. As we were going we noticed a big plume of smoke on the horizon. As it got bigger it became clearer we were headed straight for it. It turned out to be a pretty big fire blazing across the hillsides. We could see planes and helicopters dumping water on the blaze. It turned out to be right next to the highway possibly initiated by a burnt out car we could see.
The whole area round here is dry as a bone and the fire risk in the whole area is very high. Any source of ignition will set off quite a blaze. The traffic inched past the fire in a single lane and we could see the firemen working the fire.
We headed past the fire and towards Gilroy that had a lot of various vegetable and fruit growing and regular stores selling stuff. There was also an incredible smell of garlic so I guess they grow that around the area too.
Pretty soon we arrived at Monterey and our hotel Casa Munras. We had a few issues finding the place but with some GPS magic we located it in the end.
Interestingly the place has no air-conditioning only windows, considering earlier in the day it was 106 degrees Fahrenheit of 41.1 C this seemed a little odd but I guess on the coast with the sea air it's cool enough for only windows. It also seems to be full of noisy teenagers and since to keep the temperature good the windows are open this is something of an issue.
Tomorrow we plan on driving around Big Sur and maybe taking in the aquarium should be good fun.
