Day 7 (June 17)-San Antonio to San Miguel



Hills in the Salinas Valley between
San Antonio and San Miguel

We drove from Keefer's Inn in King City to the Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation, where Mission San Antonio is located. Carolyn dropped me and my trusty Cannondale off for the ride to our next mission--San Miguel (in the town by the same name). This was one of my shorter riding days, taking a little less than 3 hours. The oak-studded, rounded, golden hills which were interspersed with vineyards every few miles provided a peaceful venue on this still isolated road for the first 20 miles.

At Highway 101, I re-encountered civilization, or at least I thought.  After a mile on the highway, I exited to go through the town of Bradley, taking a road less traveled.  Bradley is as close to a ghost town as I've seen so far on the trip.  There were these very old-style gas pumps--the red and white Texaco kind--that I remember from childhood.  They were still in their original position, in front of what seemed to be an abandoned store.  Only two or three cars were encountered for the next six miles until I reconnected with Highway 101.  The quiet ride was a bit eerie and peaceful at the same time.
 

Because another military base, Camp Roberts, makes its home directly on my intended route, I had to ride on the shoulder of the highway for a few miles.  OH MY!  There were so many ruts, ridges and potholes that I could hardly stay on the bike, even at slow speed.  My arms, back, neck and gluteus maximus took quite a beating for about 15 minutes.  Finally, there it was, the Mission Road exit!  And a bike lane to boot.  In just a few miles, standing large on the street, was Mission San Miguel.



 Establlished as the 16th mission in the chain in 1797, San Miguel prospered at the confluence of Estrella Creek and the Salinas River.  Only San Juan Capistrano was more prosperous than San Miguel.  As with San Antonio, one can imagine life as it went on here.  A self-guided tour took us through rooms that contained original art and artifacts from the mission.  The rooms where the resident padres lived seemed very crude, but probably realistic for the time.
 
As in San Antonio, the curators have done an excellent job of labeling items of interest and importance, helping the novice to understand the ins and outs of the mission.  This was the first church that we'd been in where the actual statues, icons and paintings were explained.  Below is Carolyn's photo of the inside of the church.  Notice particularly the large orangish painting on the left wall, that kind of looks like peacock feathers.  It is, in fact, a huge painting of a shell.  Shells were very important in the native culture, and the Franciscan missionaries incorporated shells into their teaching.  At San Miguel, the baptismal and new life was represented by the sea shell.  The "crown" of the pulpit on the right wall actually served as a "sounding board" for the preacher, amplifying his voice to the congregation.



Interior of the church at Mission San Miguel



The front and center courtyards were not as ornate as some other missions, yet at the same time had their own special appeal.  Notice the arches behind Carolyn, who stands next to the front fountain.  They start small at either end, and increase in size to the center, giving the visual impression of the hallway getting bigger in the middle.  I was very impressed with the care given to the details of the mission, and the way these seemingly small considerations resulted in such an aesthetic appeal to a quite rudimentary building.

The mission cemetary was fascinating.  It contained graves from very early in the mission's history to fairly recent burials.  People from Nova Scotia, Ireland, Mexico and Spain, along with about 2,000 Native Americans, are interned here.

Bell tower on north wall at San Miguel

Each mission has it's signature campanario, or bell system, mounted on an espadana, or bell wall.  One of the ways to identify a mission is by their bell tower.  At San Miguel, there were two bell towers.  One is located on the north wall of the mission.  The other is a stand alone bell wall, placed at the south end of the mission.  This south bell wall can actually be seen from Highway 101.  One source said that Mission San Miguel is the mission that more people have been a stone's throw from but have not visited.




Bell wall at south end of San Miguel

All the missions but two, we discovered, are still active churches.  Carolyn enjoyed reading the activites for the month highlighted on a bulletin board right outside the church that was first built 200 years ago!  Mission San Antonio is utilized as a retreat center for the Diocese of Monterey, and San Miguel houses students training for the priesthood.  We witnessed the church friar, a jolly man in the traditional brown robe with a cord tied around his middle, come out to greet a couple that were on a pilgrimage and to show them the rooms they would inhabite during their stay.

From San Miguel, we drove to Morro Bay, where we will "settle in" for a few nights.  Tomorrow morning Carolyn will drop me off back here at San Miguel, and I'll make my way through Paso Robles and Atascaderso, over Cuesta Pass, to Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.

San Antonio to San Miguel:  35 miles
Missions visited to date:  11
Total Miles Cycled this trip:  418