June 17, day 45 San Diego to Austin

June 17, day 45 San Diego to Austin

Lucky D's hostel, San Diego

I ride the bike with the bags over to the fedx store and have them
packed and shipped home. The take the bike to a nearby bike shop to
have it boxed, then carry the box over to the ceded store to have it
shipped, than a taxi to the airport.
The bike is only mildly mangled by the bike shop, bending the rear
rack to fit into the box, and losing some fender parts. I figure it
will take about six hours to get it properly back together, after I
order replacement fender parts from velo orange. I won't mention the
extra frame dents, scratches and possible damage to the lights. I am
going to have an extra bike box to ship to my endpoint next time.
Maybe someday I'll have the s&s couplers put into the frame.
After it's all shipped I wander around for a few minutes, then decide
I ought to head for the airport. Snagging a cab I get to the airport
and check in, but the flight leaves from the commuter terminal since
the first leg takes me to LA.
There is only 30 minutes in LA before the Austin flight is to leave,
and we leave late!
Arriving on LA, I quickly zip to the proper gate, and my flight isn't
even listed!
After a little while it turns out that United's computers are down,
and they are not letting flights take off. It turns out that it's not
just their computers in LA, it's nation-wide and their Internet site
too!
After about an hour, they let my flight go, I have no idea why, but I
arrive home only 1/2 hour late!

June 16, day 44 San Ysrdo to San Diego

June 16, day 44 San Ysrdo to San Diego
Starting odo 8136
I get up and start the clothes washing, then we head to Starbucks for
wifi, but eat breakfast first, then after some wifi poaching we go
into the under armour store, where I succumb to a clearance rack
technical tshirt.

See, I made it to the border, it says "Mexico"!

Leaving the motel, we go the 1/4 mile or so to the border and take pictures.

Good Pasta, a very pleasant stop!

Heading back to San Diego we decide to stop for lunch at a little
place that had caught my eye the previous day: K*Pasta. We had a great
lunch with fresh pasta! The setting was very pleasant, and we learned
from Kevin (the owner) they had just opened two weeks ago.

you never know what might buzz up to the beach!

We continue on to the Coronado post office where Shyam was to pick up
some tires he had ordered a few days ago. The tires are not there, and
we spend a bit of time trying to figure out where they might be.
Now it's late, and we ride into San Diego via the ferry since bikes
aren't allowed on the bridge, and get a room at the Lucky D's hostel.
This runs about $72 a night for a two person room. My overall
impression of the place is that it's like going back into the 60's,
which I like!

June 15, day 43 San Elijo State Beach to border

June 15, day 43 San Elijo State Beach to border
Starting odo 8077

Woke up on a bad mood. Somehow the cumulative impressions had
solidified overnight into a thought: in southern California you are
not a "real" person unless you have a car... Or perhaps an expensive
RV.
So, welcome to the world of the homeless! An overstatement, of course,
but this is the vibe from many people here.
I hate to say negative things about southern California because we
keep meeting really nice and wonderful people here - but we also
encounter those little negative vibes... Like riding on a very lightly
trafficked four lane highway where there are no shoulders and the cars
not only don't move to the other lane (which is empty as far as the
eye can see), they don't change their position in the right lane,
pretending we are not here.
This is an example of the homeless principle, which is to pretend you
don't see them and they'll go away.  I fantasize about flipping my
water bottle into the middle of the lane as they go past so that it
hits the windshield, or better, a nice sized rock.
An example of another subtle hint: the hiker biker spots in the
campsite must be vacated by 9am, but if you are a car tenter or RVer I
believe it's about noon.
Another campground we were considering allows RV camping, but you must
get advance permission to tent camp.  We found this out as a resident
of Coronado was trying to help us find a campsite for the night. He
says, oh yeah, the boy scouts camp at this park, so I know you can
tent camp there. He calls the park service and finds out that RVers
can just go there, but tenters must get advance permission.

as far as I could go on the offical route, there are only a couple of hundred yards beyond this point

so, you know, its Mexico across that fence

We get going, winding our way through San Diego, and stop for lunch at a fish place that was recommended, then to the nearby public library, where I make some posts, and keep falling asleep in the comfy chairs.

About 4pm, I'm getting antsy, because I want to finish today, luckily conditions are good, roads are flat, and the wind is not bad.  I start pushing a bit, and by about 7:30 we make it to the end of the route.  I take a couple of pics, and we head back towards San Diego.

After about 5 miles, we are going by a suitable looking motel so we check its rates - $79, too high.  Shyam locates a motel 6 about 6km from us, and we head for it as nightfall hits us.  The 6km feels like 6 miles to me.

June 14, day 42 San Clemente to Cardiff (San Elijo State Beach)

June 14, day 42 San Clemente to Cardiff (San Elijo State Beach)
Starting odo 8035

Got up and did laundry before going to the Pipe shop for breakfast.
They gave us huge plates of scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, peppers,
onions, and potatoes. This is the kind of breakfast we needed when we
were climbing all those hills, but now, and neither of us can finish
them!

frontal area comparison

Pacific Coast Cycles

We set off, winding our way through a maze of bike paths, weird turns,
and Camp Pendelton Marine base until we get to Seaside, where Pacific Coast Cycles snags us. It is a classic shop with stuff everywhere, including
a collection of classic bikes, such as a LeJeune , Masi, and many
others. He even has a Raleigh International of the same vintage as
mine! While we are there some people who are doing the RAAM as a 4-man
team come in.  They are from eastern Europe, and seem more amazed by
what we are doing than we are about what they are doing!  The RAAM
started  from Seaside only a few hours before we got there! There are
several other RAAM rider categories that will start in the next few
days.
We move on to the park we expect to stay at, but there is no hiker
biker area there, so we go an extra 8 miles to the next park.
Shortly after we arrive at the campsite, the two women arrive, and
they are camping there too! I kid them about taking the last places
yesterday

June 13, day 41 Long Beach to San Clemente

June 13, day 41  Long Beach to San Clemente
Starting odo 7987


The motel is next door to an IHOP, so we have breakfast there - they
have the calories listed for each of the menu items. It is amazing how
many calories are in some of the items, 1500-1800 calorie breakfasts!
I cannot imagine normal people needing so much!
Shyam tries to order some tires but the place seems to think there is
some problem with his billing address, so we will stop by a US Bank to
sort it all out.
On the way there, I hit something and get my first flat, a pinch flat.
The rear tire has a few things embedded in it but looks ok otherwise.
As I fix it, a couple of women tourists ride by waving to us.
After the bank, and a grocery stop, we hit the road, electing not to
use the beach bike path as the park we are headed to is a good way
down the road and it's already about one.

Progress is good until we hit the Tesla store where we talk to the
sales lady and take pictures of ourselves sitting in the car!
Finally, we arrive at the state park but thy say the hiker/biker spots
are full after those two girls who came in right before you.  The park
guy says that if they make an exception for us, then the homeless will
take advantage. So we are invited to camp on the highway like all the
rest of the homeless people.

Declining, we move on to a budget inn in San Clemente.
We eat at a Mexican restaurant that has margaritas more expensive than
the food, but I'm pretty sloshed when I finish, glad I only have to
walk across the street!
I don't know what the answer to the homeless situation is, but making
things inhospitable doesn't seem like the enlightened answer.

June 12, day 40 Venice to Long Beach

June 12, day 40 Venice to Long Beach
Starting odo 7945

Breakfast at the 50s diner, where I have a double chocolate shake in
addition to the usual stuff.

June 11, day 39 Ventura to Venice

June 11, day 39 Ventura to Venice
Starting odo 7876

Today it's nice and flat, no wind and overcast, about 60 degrees.
Since, like all people I must complain about something, I wish there
was some blue sky and a little warmth!
I stop at a spudnuts store and consult the map, I need a new taillight
since one of mine broke yesterday, and there should be a bike shop
nearby, but it's not actually near so I decide to go on.
I am wondering what there is to say about southern California. On the
negatives, it's not as pretty as Oregon, it's a dessert, and there are
way too many people. On the positive side, some of those people are
very pretty. Also, the terrain is flatter and the wind is with us.
Others have said that after Santa Barbara, the rest of the ride is not
so nice.
We have long stretches riding on the beach, so I'm hoping that will be
entertaining, even though  I'm sure progress will be slow.
I do like these bushes blooming here - they smell just like marijuana,
and they grow everywhere!
As I'm going thru Malibu I see a small motel, and I wonder it it's
reasonable, but I don't have much hope that it is, so I keep riding.
There are no more places to camp listed on the map, and there don't
seem to be any more motels either, so I turn around to go back.
After a minute or so I see Shyam coming so I turn around and ride with
him. He and Mike are headed for a hostel in Santa Monica.
We eventually end up in a motel in Venice