Southern California

Elephant seals get up to 5,000 pounds over their lifetime. Hard life, lying on the sand all day...

July 1, 2009

Happy Canada Day! Admittedly before this trip I knew very little about Canada or Canadians. And now I know more than I ever wanted to know…just kidding. I certainly didn’t know when Canada Day was, or for that matter, that it even existed. Breakfast this morning was conveniently located down the street in the American Legion Hall, decked out with Fourth of July decorations a few days early. Who knows if it’s like that year-round. An American breakfast as one could have hoped for, we had pancakes, scrambled eggs, [American] bacon, and coffee.
The way the accommodations worked out, the ride today, at 34 miles, was among the shortest of the trip, from Cambria to San Luis Obispo. Pod “America + Ben” actually researched the lay of the land the day before to know that San Luis Obispo is slightly inland, with no beach access. Morro Bay, twelve miles northwest, was the nearest public beach. Conveniently, it was along the way for us. Not wanting to pay for lunch, we persuaded Carly to bring the van with yesterday’s leftovers to us downtown before heading to the beach. After lunch, we biked down to the beach in our swimsuits, perhaps two miles away. It was my first time biking in flip-flops, and it gave me appreciation of how precise and art bike fitting is—I could barely reach the pedals!

I made good use of our time near the gargantuan rock in the shape of a rhinoceros, making a few rather extended calls. We had to rush on our way out and pedal hard for twelve miles in order to make it on-time for a 6:00 dinner at the Methodist Church in San Luis Obispo. We made good time overall, but we didn’t make it ultimately. Rachel, a mere mile from our destination, managed to get a bungee cord wrapped around her tire and hooked onto her rear brake cable so tightly that we needed a knife to get it off her tire. Leave it to Rachel. Anyway, Anna and Rachel did manage to get it off as soon as I had found a pair of sharp scissors at the church and was about to come bring it back to them. As it turns out, there was no dinner provided after all. Apparently there was a miscommunication and for whatever reason, we had to make our own dinner. We all had a nice discussion on the environment after dinner and although I don’t remember all the finer points, one major one is that food is a huge culprit of environmentally unfriendly and un-sustainable practices. The 100-mile diet, a way to combat our impact, in which one would only eat food produced within a 100-mile radius of one’s home, seemed intriguing to me, however impractical it might be for some who live in the middle of a desert. All the rest headed out to celebrate for Canada Day, but I’m in the church, manning the fort, and now headed to bed!

The gargantuan rhinoceros-shaped rock at Morro Bay

July 2, 2009

A nice day off indeed! After updating some journal entries in the morning for posterity, a group of four headed back to that beloved beach at Morro Bay for some frisbee and volleyball. There was a rather elaborate Farmer’s Market in S.L.O. as well, which they encouraged us all to attend, complete with food and live music. I bought two local blood oranges, which were great, as well as a bread bowl of clam chowder from a vendor for dinner. The monthly Critical Mass also happened to be today, much to our delight. Unlike the one in Vancouver, however, this one was at night, and the rules were much more stringent. First of all, it was illegal to ride without lights. Helmets in California are optional, but lights at night are a must. Second of all, unlike the one in Vancouver, traffic signals must be obeyed. The fine for running a traffic light in SLO is steep: $345 for a bike or a car. It was great—a car actually did run a light, and got ticketed by a policeman on a bicycle, much to the delight of all the bikers who did not run it. There were perhaps 600 of us in attendance, including four of our very own: Cody, Patrick, myself, and Ben (easily recognizable by his reflective vest and distinctive horn).

July 3, 2009

A hot but glorious day in southern California, indeed! The day got off to a late start as Jennie and Sars needed to book a flight home from San Diego at the public library in San Luis Obispo, which opened at 10:00 AM. We joined up with sweep to make a pod of four, since we were all leaving at the same time. Plus, somehow the sweep phone had been misplaced, so my cell phone became the corresponding force between the van and sweep for the ride into Lompoc.

The directions today seemed fairly straightforward, but I did not feel comfortable at all on this particular section of the US-101. Aside from being illegal for bikes to be on it, the cars were flying by, and there were lots of entrances and exits—too many for comfort, especially with a pod as large as four. We called the van before getting on the 101 to see what others before us had done, and they told us to get on it like everyone else had. Yet we decided that none of us felt safe, and that we should ask for an alternate route from a local. Graham headed into a nearby hotel, where they provided us with a map, which indicated that we could take the 627 (?), a few miles out of the way, and that it would eventually meet back up with the 101. Instead of listening to his advice, we devised a new plan: we would divide and conquer. Two and two is much better than four on the interstate. So Jennie and I were buddies, and Sars and Graham set off first, only to be kicked off the road by a highway patrol car the second they got on. Luckily, Graham possesses the ability to whistle loudly, so Jennie and I got off as well. The 627 didn’t seem that far out of the way, and was much safer.

The only other notable part of the morning was stopping for fruit at a local fruit stand. We got there just as a large group of fellow riders was leaving. Not only did we buy a lot of fruit (peaches, strawberries, and a mango), we also got free samples of cantaloupe and watermelon. The prices were unbeatable, and the quality was great.

Lunch was in Guadalupe (in Santa Barbara county!) next to a fireworks shop, which made me nervous. You could tell we were getting close to Mexico by the number of Mexican restaurants with owners who barely spoke English. The restroom I used didn’t even have a light! The last pod to arrive, our lunch was cut short because of a scheduled dinner at 5:30 in Lompoc. I led the pack virtually the entire afternoon, sometimes close, sometimes far away. I don’t know why, but sometimes I convince myself I should do something crazy and then there is no other option than to pursue it. Graham, Sars, and Jennie were good sports about it, trying to keep up with my lively pace.

At the top of a small hill, I decided I wanted to fly. Indeed, my 27th and hardest gear felt easy with the wind at my back, combined with the momentum I gained from the hill. Even several miles after the hill on the flats, I was still thriving off the momentum created minutes prior.
Before too long, we caught up with others and the pace inevitably slowed. But despite the heat, the afternoon passed very quickly. I got the chance to talk with Taryn for awhile, which was quite nice. The end of the day posed the biggest challenge: a sizeable hill. It was honestly not bad at all, and I’m happy I stopped for pictures along the way of fellow riders. Dinner and showers are great and well-timed. Until about an hour ago, I was playing the organ in the sanctuary—what a profound joy! Maybe someday I’ll be an organist, or, better yet, choir director of a church. Even Cody thought it was sweet. :) Tomorrow, a town north of Santa Barbara, then onto Oxnard the next day to see Kathy and meet her husband Clint!

July 4, 2009

Happy birthday, America! I woke up people this morning, even though I am not technically on wakeup crew, because I wanted to tickle the ivories in the sanctuary with some patriotic songs from the hymnal. We got off to a characteristically late start as a large pod, but eventually Adam and I broke off, never to reunite with Sars, Patrick, Graham, or Ben, though we did bump into Jennie a bit later. I took quite a lot of pictures before the schism, and despite having lots of fun doing it, not much actually came of it in terms of quality product. My methods were tried and true: biking ahead for several minutes, hopping off the bike at a picturesque spot, and snapping a few pictures before pedaling furiously to pass them and do it all over again. For whatever reason, the ones I have of Adam are always the best. ;)

Adam with his cape du jour, only worn for a limited time due to the heat

The morning was quite hot, to say the least. The worst part about it was that there was no shade from mountains, trees, or bushes. We were literally exposed. Plus, I later found out that we did a 12-mile slight incline without even knowing it, our longest of the trip so far. Lunch was at La Gaviota [meaning seagull] State Park on the beach. For some reason, I had no desire to go anywhere near the water today. Perhaps I just wanted to stay out of the hot sun. Luckily Adam didn’t want to linger too long either, so we left around 2:30 or so. Unlike this morning, the afternoon was mainly downhill, which was quite a nice change. We were also along the coast again, and could see the Pacific most of the time.

Tonight our accommodation consists of a soccer field behind a community center—the best we could do on a Fourth of July that fell on a Saturday. It’s officially our last night of camping! The curried vegetables and rice hit the spot. There were fireworks nearby, but they were much better heard than seen. Standing on top of a bench, one could see the occasional firework, but it was not the optimal viewing point, to say the least. My brothers are back from Colorado, apparently, safe and sound, and my parents head to Europe tomorrow!

July 5, 2009

Getting out in the morning is certainly not our group’s strong suit, especially after camping. It was especially vexing to me today, since I wanted to get an early start in order to see Kathy and Clint for as long as possible (they have the day off, and are just waiting for me to roll in!). I never actually look at my cell phone to see what time we roll out in the morning, but it’s always at least an hour after I’m ready to go.

Patrick drove the van yesterday because of a broken spoke on his bike. Our one and only stop before lunch in Carpinteria was in Santa Barbara—a town of incredible beauty and culture—at Barnes and Noble, where Eva lost her sleeves to Anna’s pristine cutting ability with dull borrowed scissors.

Anna performing the impromptu operation on Eva's sleeves in Santa Barbara

We entered the Oxnard city limit around 4:00, but it took us some time to locate the Rescue Mission Alliance east of downtown. I needed to take a shower (luckily they had them), because I smelled worse than I ever remember smelling this entire tour, despite the fact that I had a shower a mere two days before.

The three of us went out to dinner in Ventura at a quintessentially American restaurant. Apparently they go there somewhat frequently. Their wedding last year proved to be a hot topic, both at the restaurant and back at the house later, where I saw lots of pictures. Once in awhile I’d get them to talk about something else, but it was hard. Their house, in a much ritzier part of Oxnard [they were apparently scared for my life at the Rescue Mission Alliance that night], was quite nice. Three stories, it had all the makings of a young couple’s dream house. Located in a recent development complex, they had a view of the mountains out one window, and there will soon be a park just across the street. Hopefully I will see them before five more years pass!

July 6, 2009

One of our most adventurous days yet, we left this morning, once again, fearing that we would be homeless in Los Angeles. As you can imagine, we were quite slow to leave this morning, knowing only that lunch would be somewhere in the 27 miles of Malibu coastline. Angie and others had worked hard to try to secure a spot for us for tonight for the past few months, but to no avail. We did have fifteen computers with internet—a huge luxury—at which we could look up phone numbers in order to make calls. But we eventually gave up. It got to be 11:00, and we had to get rolling, accommodation or not. I’m sure that the Rescue Mission Alliance would have liked to house us for another night—perhaps they even offered—but we decided to move on.
Since my rather fast pod, consisting of Carly, Anna, Eva, and Rachel, cruised right along, we actually beat the van to downtown Malibu, many miles into the city. I tried to delay the inevitable by playing a little frisbee, but before I knew it, they called us over for a group meeting to devise a plan. We decided to divide and conquer in order to knock on as many doors as possible, making sure each group had at least a Canadian, if not an American, cell phone. If nobody could find anything for all of us, we were responsible for finding something for ourselves, whether in a home or a hotel or hostel. The only other crazy option that was thrown out was camping in the streets of downtown L.A., pretending to be crazy Michael Jackson fans, in light of his funeral in the morning.

Eva and Anna were the first to head out, and before I knew it, the van drove up behind us to let us know that they had found a place for us to stay: a dance studio in Santa Monica! Ryan, the hero of the day, was just driving along for his work as a real estate agent when he noticed two bikers with lots of gear and matching green outfits and starting talking to them for a minute to see where they were headed and from where they were coming. After answering his questions briefly, Eva was quick to ask if he knew a place we could stay the night. He pulled over to chat, and as it turns out, he is on the Board of Directors for a dance studio in which he told us we could stay on Electric Street. He contacted the president, who quickly enthusiastically accepted the idea. It all seemed rather random, but we were delighted to have a place to sleep. As there was a class that night until 10:00, we had about 5 hours to go nine miles. The owner also asked us to give a brief presentation at the end of a show in the adjacent theatre, which was quite a delight. About half the team hit the stage, along with a very special honored guest: Stella! They were quite enthusiastic about our presence and our mission, and had lots of questions both during and after the mini-presentation for us all.

July 7, 2009

Getting to Dana Point from Santa Monica was perhaps one of the worst experiences of the trip for me. The core of the problem was communication: we were not given directions, nor did we even know how far away Dana Point was. All we knew was that it was on the southern end of L.A. and that it was on the coast. They speculated it might be around 50 miles, but actually turned out to be 70+, more for Ben and I, who decided to hug the coast and climb a few extra hills for good measure. We really should have looked at a map first, because by the time we did, we had already committed to a much longer route. We also would have gone faster and stopped less, I suspect, had we known how the long the day would be. Our meals today were on our own, since saying “lunch is in L.A. today” would be a bit hard to coordinate, to say the least. So Ben and I stopped for Chinese at a hole-in-the-wall place for an hour. We had our first dinner a few hours later in Newport Beach at a diner—a double hamburger with potato salad and an ice cream sundae for dessert.

Another mistake: we thought we were in Huntington Beach when we were actually fifteen miles north of it. Not only that, but the sun was beginning to set. Either way, it was going to be pitch-black by the time we got to our destination. We put up a good fight, but even when traffic cleared up as we got more towards the outskirts of Los Angeles, we ended up taking an exit that we should not have taken, resulting in a 6-8 mile detour that put us on the end of a peninsula. Needless to say, we, along with three-quarters of the team, ended up getting picked up that day for the first time, around 11:15 pm. I was happy to jump in, since I was mentally and physically exhausted, with little energy left from the hamburger I ate three hours prior. Ben, however, wished he could have ridden the rest of the way, about 8-10 miles by the time they picked us up. We were treated to free hamburgers and fries at a local restaurant upon arrival a little before midnight, which was a welcomed second dinner for me.

July 8, 2009

The one negative aspect of this whole situation—that we were supposed to stay in Santa Monica for two nights—turned out to be a great blessing. It meant that we got to have a day off in the beautiful beach town known as Dana Point. And a beautiful day off it was, relaxing at the beach. Before heading there, Eva and I hit the laundromat so that we might have clean clothes for the morning’s ride. I was several days overdue…

Cody and Adam hitting the beach in Dana Point on our day off

Many people chose to go surfing, but I chose to do what I seem to always do at beaches—call people, and play frisbee. It was a relaxing day, followed by a great Mexican dinner, and then showers! Of all the accommodations, Dana Point was one to write home about. They got the whole community involved, truly, from the mayor on down to the community center staff. They even lit up the industrial lights on the softball field that night so we could have a competitive and fun game of softball. And then they sent us on our way with the bat and ball as a souvenir! What a great find for accommodation indeed.

Graham awaiting action under the bright lights at the community center in Dana Point