Spent a pleasant afternoon in San Diego -- such a nice city. We went to Balboa Park and strolled for hours. More than 30 years ago, while traveling across country with a high school friend, he and I had spent a month living just outside the park and had gone for runs there every day. I remember loving it, and it is just as nice today. The park houses the zoo, many museums, arboretums, and international houses. Had a pizza and salad at a great brewpub and got back to our lodging at dark.
We were on the road early the next morning. Took an immediate left and started the eastward leg of our journey. We were very glad it was a Sunday morning as the traffic was very light. Within 20 miles it felt as if we had escaped the city environs. We climbed steadily, and at times steeply, all day arriving in a tiny town called Pine Valley by late afternoon. We went from sea level to around 4000 feet. As we pulled into town we passed a soft ice cream drive in; the cones hit the spot! We each then had two delicious fish tacos for supper, and fell asleep exhausted quite early.
We got an early start the next day to beat the heat and climbed over two more 4000 foot passes.
Just before enjoying a thrilling 13 mile descent on the interstate at a six percent grade, we got a short ride around a road construction site.
By noon it was in the mid-80's and we had entered the high, and the low desert. We are having to plan our days and stops carefully as we would like to end each day at a place where we will have access to food and water. As it is, we will have one 95 mile day with potentially nothing available until the end. Ah well, it will be what it will be.
During the ride we hugged right up against the border with Mexico. It was astounding how many Border Patrol agents are on duty. The border fence is also quite a sight. Our tax dollars hard at work! I'm sure the issues are complicated, but we sure seem overly worried about that southern border.
Last night we stayed at the humble 4 room Ocoti-lo Motel. Perhaps it was the heat, but as we pedaled up I thought for sure I saw an infinity pool. After I cooled down, it was nowhere to be found.
Today's ride was perfectly flat and took us to the city of Brawley -- our launching off spot for the 90+ mile day tomorrow. We plan to start riding just before the sun comes up in order to get a bunch of miles in before it gets too hot.
I suppose being over-heated is the least of our worries as Anne got crop-dusted today!
And what is this stuff? Did it do in this coyote??
The geography, sights, and sounds have been different enough each day since leaving the coast to keep things interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment