More on our time in State College a bit later, but we just want our readers to know that Daisy successfully defended her dissertation today! She actually had a good time, and Jason made some absolutely delicious Nanimo bars for the event.
Success! Thanks to my adviser.
Nanaimo bar production
Beautiful mint bars!
On Palomar mountain
We are, quite literally, spinning our wheels here in San Diego. Ha! But really, we have too much time in San Diego while waiting for my (Daisy’s) defense date for finishing my PhD. After spending a few days resting and getting work done, we decided to hit the road again. We spent four riding days in the mountains around San Diego, getting very close to Mexico in the process, and we loved it. The coast has been good, but it is the mountains that we truly love. This was a great side trip, despite the fact that it was during a heat wave! This post is longer than usual because it was such a great four days. If you want, just scan the pictures and you will be convinced!
Sunrise in San Diego
We left San Diego well before dawn on our first day out, knowing that the heat would only get more intense later in the day. Even at 4:30 am, it was about 70 degrees. It was wonderful to ride on the empty streets and watch the stars get brighter as we moved away from the city. We stopped for `lunch’ in an orange orchard before 10am, when the temperature was already uncomfortable. Luckily, we were carrying a LOT of water, and we would need it.
Our route took us up a 4,500′ climb over less than 10 miles along a dirt road. You read that right: it was awesome! The road criss-crossed a steep hill overlooking a valley, eventually leading us into scattered trees and finally a full forest. It was hot, and steep. We stopped frequently for rest in every bit of shade we could find. Once it got really hot (95+) we laid down in the shade of a tree and slept for two hours. A passing thunderstorm woke us up, cooled us off, and got us back on the road.
Resting in any patch of shade available.
The view down from midway up the climb.
Jason on the dirt road.
That night we stayed in a beautiful, if mostly abandoned, state park. For some reason, I decided to do a load of laundry in our camp bucket after dinner. It was a terrible idea!! I got nearly 40 mosquito bites before rushing into the safety of the tent. We were sound asleep by 8 o’clock. What a great day!
A treat.
We slept for nearly 12 hours. We ignored the alarm we had set and enjoyed the relative cool of our high altitude camping spot. It was a stunning ride along the side of the mountain, and we were amazed at how far away the valley floor seemed. Eventually, it was time to descend, but we took a much more gradual (and more paved!) route. It was wonderful. We finished the downhill portion at Lake Henshaw, a resevoir that is chock-full of wild birds, even if it is quite low on water. The resort on its shore also had a BBQ restaurant where we treated ourselves to lunch as soon as they opened.
Lake Henshaw in the distance.
The climb away from the lake was gradual. We passed through a few small towns where we stopped for cold drinks and groceries. The plan had been to ride to another state park campground, but we ended up stopping a few miles early to camp alongside another reservoir. The campground called itself a park, with a ‘resident ranger’, but we are quite certain it was privately owned. After we paid we asked if there was a problem with raccoons. They said yes. Then we asked if there were food storage containers. They said no. So…. where should we store the food? In your car, they said. Ha! The campground host advised us to “eat it all” once we pointed out the obvious fact that we didn’t have a car In the end, we stored our food in a (clean) trash can with a very heavy rock on top. Regardless of our amusement with the campground host, the lake was beautiful. We enjoyed watching hummingbirds, bats, herons, and other birds.
Clouds rolled in during the afternoon.
In the distance, the desert.
A lovely spot to camp for the night.
Our third day was just as great, if that’s possible. When we woke up the sky was perfectly clear. By the time we finished breakfast, a giant stormcloud covered the sky. We started riding with the smell of rain everywhere, but somehow we avoided getting wet. Our route was wonderful: views over a wide expanse of desert, nearly non-existent traffic, and we slowly climbed through various ecosystems.
Stormclouds over the desert : stunning!
Loooong views down the canyons.
Descending towards our oasis of a campground.
Then we reached the top, and proceeded to descend for what seemed like forever. It was beautiful. We brushed up against the US-Mexico border on the way to our campground. It was so difficult not to take the turn and start riding the Baja right then! We resisted though, and ended up in a county park that was like an oasis in the desert. For $5 each we had literally the entire place to ourselves. That night we heard coyotes yipping and crying eerily outside the campground, but we slept well.
Finally, the next day we rode into San Diego. The first few hours of riding were through dry scrub brush with low traffic, but we were quickly engulfed by San Diego sprawl. Our ride ended near Jason’s friends’ house, where we chilled for hours reading books until they got off work. We had a wonderful dinner with them (Thanks Colin and Jaime!), and slept well in their attic.
Next time we pass here, we’ll take the turn for Tecate and cross into Mexico. !!!
As I write this, I am in the San Diego airport getting ready to fly out east. We will be in State College for one week so that I can defend my dissertation and finally complete requirements for my PhD. After that, we will spend a few days visiting with my parents in San Diego and then finally, finally enter Mexico October 3 or 4. I am looking forward to the next two weeks!
Riding through Palm trees.
Currently, we are in Santa Monica, just a stone’s throw from Los Angeles proper. A few days ago, as we rode through the upscale city of Santa Barbara, it really hit us how far we’ve come. Suddenly, there were palm trees everywhere! We started out in the stunted spruce trees of Alaska, and now we are riding through palm trees. This is amazing!
… and more palm trees.
It’s been an interesting few days. Mostly, we’ve been doing a lot of urban riding as the towns get larger and much closer together. Last time we updated we were in the working town of Guadalupe, staying with a wonderful host. She was so much fun to chat with that we stayed up way too late and then got a slow start the next day. We didn’t leave before getting our picture with the president though:
Photo op with the prez.
The next couple of nights we spent at State Beach hiker-biker sites, and really enjoyed chatting with some of the other cyclists. We met two cyclists from Victoria, BC (a city we really enjoyed riding through), and just had a great time with them. They were so positive and excited about every part of their trip, from the roads to the wildlife to the people they met. We also met a German family traveling with a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old down the coast. They carried a giant, three room tent with them.
A million dollar view for $10 each.
We also spent an afternoon playing on a perfect beach.
cold water?
Fun in the sun.
We built a ‘castle’ and watched the waves take it away.
Bicycle roundabouts at UC Santa Barbara.
In Santa Barbara we ventured off-route to find a grocery store, and ended up getting really distracted in what appeared to be a giant downtown open-air mall. There were people shopping everywhere; it was like an ant nest of consumer activity. While we stopped to drink a cup of coffee I saw a distracted driver almost hit someone in the crosswalk, and then a distracted cyclist run into another cyclist. Their bicycles got caught on each other in some awkward configuration, but neither fell down.
Crazy mansions along the beach in Malibu.
Yesterday we rode nearly 80 miles to enter Santa Monica, at the edge of the Los Angeles metro area. It was quite a day. We woke up at 5:30 am to be on the road at first light, and we watched the sun rise behind the mountains as we pedaled along the ocean. It was wonderful, and calm. There were already surfers everywhere preparing for their day on the waves. As we got closer and closer to LA things got busier and busier. More towns, more people, more lanes on the highway. For the most part, we had sufficient room on the shoulder. As we approached Malibu, however, cars were parked in the shoulder to facilitate surfing access, so we increasingly had to claim an entire lane of the highway. Miraculously, nearly all the traffic was very courteous and politely changed lanes to accommodate us. One car honked and the driver yelled at us with colorful words and a single prominently displayed finger. You can guess which. He even pulled over in front of us to yell some more, which certainly took far more time than moving over in the lane would have! We just ignored him, and carried on.
Just as the traffic started to get really stressful, we had a stroke of fantastic luck. A power line was down on the main highway ahead, so they were not allowing any cars through… but bikes were ok! We had the entire 4-lane highway to ourselves for 3 blissful miles.
The four-lane highway all to ourselves!
After the cars re-entered, traffic was still lighter and we had a stressful but safe ride to the Santa Monica bicycle path. It was a great path – sandy beach on both sides and row after row of volleyball nets.
Awesome bicycle path in Santa Monica.
We rolled through the busy and opulent streets of Santa Monica to our host house for the night. We are staying with Greg, my friend from college, and his two roommates for two nights to rest, recoup, and plan our next two weeks. Thanks guys!
5000 miles and we’re on the ocean.
Protected bike lane in the city.
We left San Francisco at 9 am on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. This 3-day weekend supposedly marks the end of summer (but not for us!), so it was expected to be quite busy traffic-wise. It was. We had a nice day of riding on Saturday, but put effort into getting up early on Sunday and Monday to beat the traffic. Our riding in this section has been a little hectic with the cars, narrow roads, and urban road negotiations, but we’ve been rewarded with good coastal views and wildlife sightings.
San Francisco City Hall.
Pedestrian only section along Devil’s Slide.
Our first day out was a shorter one, only 35 miles, and we hit a few towns that were crazy with traffic. Luckily, an narrow section of highway in an area called the Devil’s Slide had been replaced by a tunnel, and the old highway had been converted to a bicycle and pedestrian only path. We loved this section of care-free riding! That afternoon we met Ryan and Kristen, two of Jason’s friends from Penn State that now live in CA. We spent a few hours chatting on the beach under a beautiful blue sky. It was great to see them. That night we stayed in a hiker-biker site with about 20 other cyclists, all but one of which were on an overnight ride from the San Francisco area. It was fun to be around so many other people on bikes.
Sunset over the water.
I stepped in cement-like mud.
The rest of Labor day weekend was busy busy. Jason got his second flat tire of the trip, another tiny thing of metal that thwarted our efforts to get out of camp early. We entered an agricultural area and saw huge fields of artichokes, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and strawberries. We even stopped at a farm stand to buy 10 avocados for 1$. Wow! The terrain was pretty gentle for a few days, and we enjoyed afternoon tailwinds. One night we stayed in Sunset State Beach campground, and watched the sun set over the ocean. Another night we camped in one of the southernmost groves of California redwoods.
Artichoke plants! They are really flowers.
Bizarre sighting: A cactus growing in a tree stump.
More sea lions than dock space.
It was a good 63 miles.
On Tuesday morning we were so relieved that traffic would be lighter than we slept in far too late and got a late start on the road. It was our 5,000 mile day! It was also a day filled with hills, as we were traveling through Big Sur, where some mountains meet the sea. It was good to be back on some big hills. From our vantage point high above the ocean we could see pelicans, sea lions, and even some whales. Later that day we saw elephant seals too. Apparently, these giant marine mammals were hunted nearly to extinction. A final, tiny colony of less than a hundred survived, and in the last 25 years has grown incredibly to over 15,000 animals. We saw a big group of them lounging on the beach. They were so big and fat!
Lazy elephant seals.
We are now rapidly approaching Southern California, which means that we are doing more and more urban riding and less of the isolated riding that we tend to prefer. We are nearing Los Angeles, and plan to head inland from there to enjoy some more mountain riding before heading back to the east coast for a week. Still some more work to do before the defense, but still we ride on! I put all the pictures of lovely coastal views here. They go on and on in this stretch of road.
