Day 15 Thoughts

I  have one more rider to introduce (right, introduce at the end of the trip). 

This is TJ.  He was actually the first of the group I met.  We shared an Uber from the airport to the starting point.  He is from Indianapolis and great fun to be around.  He has been on many Adventure Cycling trips and is a very strong rider. We were also cooking buddies and it was fun for me to watch him cook.  He doesn't do it now, but has had experience cooking as a chef. He just makes it look easy.

I am in the airport now waiting for my flight to leave. It is one of those bitter, sweet feelings.  I am excited to get home and see my sweetheart.  In fact, today is our anniversary.  This isn't the first time I have been on a bicycle trip on our anniversary. Sweet, to get home and see her, bitter in that I love to ride the bicycle and see the world.  The last two weeks have flown by and I know that soon I will be dreaming of the next time to ride.  

All the gear seems to work as I had planned. It was a good experience to have the van support.  It does make the trip easier in that you are not carrying the gear with you.  The experience in the campground seems to be much the same, excepting having to shop.  I did find out that this shopping arrangement might not be used on all van supported trips.  It seems our tour leaders have just found that it seems to work better this way.  Chuck and Mark, our leaders were great.  For Chuck, this was his first experience.  One thing that I have really enjoyed is the door mat I found on the road and used as the entry into my tent.  It seemed to keep things more clean in the tent. I did get some rain gear I was going to try out on this trip and didn't get the chance.  That is a good thing.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  Well maybe a little less wind at times, but overall it was great.

I am grateful for Carey in allowing me to take trips such as this.  I know it is not easy for her to stay home alone.  She is a wonderful companion I get to experience this earth life with and love her so much.  I am grateful for those I work with.  They take care of many things for me while I am gone, and I couldn't have asked for better people to earn a living with.  I am grateful to our Heavenly Father.  He has created a beautiful place for us to live.  I always wish, we as His children would get along better here on the small globe.  I am grateful for His protection and blessings He has seen fit to provide.

One more bad selfie.

Well, until next time!!

Day 14 Carlsbad to Mexico Border-The Finish Line

Miles 54.37 (Total 667.40)

Climb 1,400 (Total 26,480)

What a nice ride to finish up the trip.  It was beautiful weather and our "predominantly" southern winds pulled through.  Do you remember me complaining about the winds blowing from the south? Well that day I was complaining was the last day that we struggled with those winds.  I think since then, we have had the winds in our favor.

If there was any drawback on today's ride (and the last few days for that matter) is cars parked along side the route we are riding. With the traffic, we have to ride quite close to the cars and I am always worried that someone will open the door right in front of me.  I am always looking to see if someone is in the car and then I am a little more careful around them.

It was mostly a day of traveling through cities. Of course, the big one being San Diego.

Still riding along the pacific.

Which way do we go?

To help get through San Diego, we took a ferry to Coronado and then rode a bike path from there to South San Diego to the Mexico border.  We didn't go to the border in which all the traffic goes and comes from Mexico, but to the most Southwest corner of the US by the sea.  There isn't many people at this monument, but it was interesting to see.

The ferry.

There are a lot of naval ships in the San Diego Bay.

This one was just coming in.

Pretty cool sight.

Coronado.  Pretty much a tourist trap.

I though this tree was interesting.

Last road to ride.  This road heads to the coast between US and Mexico.  It gets its name from a monument that we were not able to see that established the border between the two countries. It was established in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the two countries.

Tijuana, Mexico.  See the wall.

 

Finished. That stadium is the "bullring by the sea".

My good friend Bill.

 

Van loaded with bikes to head back to hostel in San Diego.

Beach at the border.  I didn't get a picture of it, but the fence actually goes out into the sea.

After loading things up, we had to deliver a few riders to hotels and then unload things at the hostel.  I had to take apart the bike and put things back in the box to ship home and then at 7:30, we met for our farewell dinner for the group.  We met at an Italian restaurant and had a nice evening talking about the last two weeks.  I have mentioned this before, one of the best things about trips as this is the people you meet and the friendships that are made. Something about bicycling together and helping each other out, you get to be close.

Day 13 Seal Beach to Carlsbad

Miles 74.31 (Total 613.03)

Actually 5 of the miles above were due to me getting lost in Camp Pendleton.  There was only one turn to negotiate in there and I got it wrong and after riding two and a half miles I started thinking, this is not the right direction.

It was a great day of riding today.  Again, it was mostly urban riding. We went through Sunset Beach, Hunnington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, Capistrano Beach, San Clemente, Camp Pendleton, Oceanside and Carlsbad. It is hard to believe that we only have 55 or so miles to get to the US/Mexico border. 

One of the highlights of the day was I met up with my brother Kevin in Laguna Beach and we just sat on the beach and caught up a bit. I don't ever see them enough.  It seems that he being in California, we just haven't seen each other as often as both of us would like.

I know you are getting tired of the beach and ocean scenes, but I guess that it what I am doing here, so here is a bit more that we saw today.

Laguna Beach homes.  Saw a few more Rolls Royces parked along the street as well.

San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant. The plant currently is not running and is being decommissioned due to faulty equipment that caused it to be shut down and the unpopularity of nuclear power keeping it from being restarted.

Nice bike paths again today.

 

An old road converted into a bike path.

At Camp Pendleton, the only road other than that through the Camp is I-5, so the Camp allows bicyclists to ride through if a prior request has been made.  We were told a month or so ago to get online and make the request.  Camp Pendleton is in a pretty desolate place.

I thought this was something that you will probably only see once. Had to take two pictures.

We ordered in pizza for the evening meal, so that we didn't have to cook, etc. The group has a certain budget for food and I think they realize they have some budget left, so they are using it.  Well, that's about it for the day.  Good night.

Day 12 Leo Carrilo State Park to Seal Beach

Miles 67.73 (Total 538.72)

Today was a day of negotiating through the cities.  We traveled through Malibu, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Manhatten Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson, Long Beach and Seal Beach. It was a very technical day and we really had to pay attention to the maps.  There were many in the group that got way of course and came in quite late.  I really did luck out.  Sometimes I was off course, but found myself ahead of where I thought I was.  That is a good problem to have.  All in all, I like the city riding.  It is challenging to get through and somewhat like a puzzle. We saw a lot of different things today and that was fun to experience.

In Malibu, we rode a street and saw more high end cars than I think I have seen in any one place.  There were Porches like you can't beleive, with a Ferarri or a Roles Royce thrown in.

 

I don't know if you can see, but this is a Rolls.

There were also many nice homes overlooking the Pacific.

One great thing about the ride today was all the bike paths that we were able to ride. Most of the beaches had paths that went on for miles.  I figure we rode 28 of our miles today on bike paths. It gave a great view of the beach and of course, didn't have all the traffic.  You do have to negotiate around skaters and other bicyclists and pedestrians, but it is nice.

This is a picture of the pier in Santa Monica.

It was kind of an overcast, gray day to start with and ended with blue skies this afternoon. Temperatures in the 60's and 70's.

Picture of the bike path along the Los Angeles river.

Houses on the other side.

The Queen Mary that you can actually book room to stay on at night in the Los Nageles harbor.  I would have liked to tour the ship, but wondered if I had the time.  I think it did turn out that I could have.

Along the Los Angeles river there were many homeless shelters.  The City was actually in there tearing these things apart and cleaning up the area.  I do hope they are able to help the people out somehow.

Los Angeles harbor.

It was a very nice ride today and we are staying in a hotel to boot. The rooms are very nice.  Probably the best place I have stayed on a bicycle trip.

It will be nice to sleep in a bed tonight.  I don't even have to share the room.  There have been three people that have quit the tour, so we have three rooms that someone can stay in alone and I won the lottery. We have 70 miles or so to ride again tomorrow, so I need to turn in.  Goodnight. 

Day 11 Santa Barbara to Leo Carrilo State Beach

Miles 48.77 (Total 470.99)

Climb 725

We went through Ventura and Oxnard today and had a great mix of scenery.  We had city travel, agriculture (saw many fields of the colored peppers you get in the store) and coast line today.  We also rode by a Naval/Air Base in Ventura.  It was a lot flatter than we have ridden in the past, as you can tell from the Climb number. The skies were overcast today, which makes some nice riding weather since it stays cool and you don't have to worry about sun screen as much, but I think it takes a lot of the color out of the ride.

I have found that I am getting tired of PB&J sandwiches for lunch and have been stopping to get something to eat at restaurants. Today I stopped at IHOP in Ventura and had a delicious breakfast. For dinner tonight, they cooked some steak, corn on the cob and salad, with apple pie for dessert. As far as dinners go, we eat very well.

Here are a couple other people we are riding with:

This is Mike from San Francisco.  He was one of our cooks for tonight.  He loves sports and is always talking about games and such that I know very little about. He spent 33 years of his life as a police officer in San Francisco.  He called it 33 years of serendipity.

Sandy fron Phillidelpia.  She has been on quite a few bicycle trips including riding across the US from San Diego to Jacksonville, FL. 

We had this great bike path along Highway 1 for about 7 miles today.

These type of bike lanes are very common on the trip.  We see these words often on the road. There are a lot of people that bike the pacific coast and the path is quite clearly marked in many areas.

With signs such as these.

For Kaitlin's benefit.  This is where her mission home was when she served her mission here.

The naval/air base.

Just a look at where we have been riding.

This is where we are camping tonight.  It was fun watching these kids surf.

Another beautiful sunset.  It sure is a glorious world or Heavenly Father has created for us.