Steph’s boat was not the best place to spend the night, but it beat sneaking onto a beach and worrying about rangers and landowners. I overslept my alarm and was just getting up when Steph came to work. He was preparing to take a group of birders out for the day. After being chewed out for talking too much I tried saying the minimum "good morning" and leaving him to do his work while I moved my gear to the parking lot. Over coffee I got chatty again and told Steph that Konstantin agrees with his assessment that I talk too much. Steph said "Yeah, but you are learning," and then added "you also laugh too much". I responded with a definite "NO! I completely disagree with that statement"! His only response was "No time to talk, I have work to do". When my gear was moved off the boat I tracked down Steph to thank him. I told him that I had an hour or two to kill and would offer to help out, but I could tell that… He interrupted me with a gesture to ward off unwanted help and "No! No! No! That’s unnecessary"!
I went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast and came back just as Konstantin arrived. We had arranged this meeting to shuttle the cars. We drove back up to Half Moon Bay (1.5 hours) to get my car, drove both of them back to Monterey (2 hours) continued on to San Simeon (3 more hours) to drop my car off. We talked to "Doc" at California Kayaks Company about our need to leave a car somewhere. He called a friend and arranged to have us leave the car at the nearby San Simeon Bar and Grill. The bar is open until 1:00 am and is next to a hotel so nobody will notice an extra car for five days. Then we drove back up to Monterey (4 hours with traffic) and checked into the Youth Hostel there. I re-packed my food and we went shopping for a few extra items. We ate out and then collapsed into bed. Almost 11 hours of driving for me and over 15 for poor Konstantin in one day!
