The Final Leg

After the big day to pass through Los Angeles, I relaxed in Dana Point at the tree-lot with Bodie and his coworker Sal for a day. We "roughed it" in the RV sans electricity. It was pretty funny to find myself holing up in the same type of vehicle I so frequently cursed throughout the last 5 weeks. But, you do what you can with what you have, right? With only 80 miles between me and Mexico, I opted for one more night of camping before entering San Diego and hitting the border. San Elija State Park was the stop. The campground was full and the hiker/biker area was closed for the week, which left me a little bit homeless. I cruised through the camp, found a nice older guy to chat with, shared with him my dilema, and soon found myself with a spot for my sleeping pad and a cold Budweiser in my hand. Very hospitable was John and his son John. The Park Ranger, however, seeing someone sleeping next to his bike under a brown tarp, was not quite as friendly about lending a hand. His suspicion was that I had snuck in to the spot without permission. Well, after a midnight wakeup with a flashlight in my face and some detailed explaining to an agressive young ranger, I was back to sleep. He may have been a bit ashamed in the morning as I dined on fresh coffee, cereal, fresh berries and toast with my friendly hosts. If you are reading this Mr. Ranger, I'd like to say that I think you're an ass...A nice sunrise though.

After breakfast and surf viewing with the Johns I headed South. I made some accidental detours as I headed into the city but eventually made my way through downtown, past marinas, cruise ships, and lots of Navy presence. Thankfully a lot of this was on official bike routes, because it could've been pretty hellish without.

The signs became more frequent as well

Saturday the 22nd at around 1pm I reached the Mexico border with around 1,900 miles on the total odometer. I had rain days, cold days, painful days and pleasant days off. I met up with lots of old friends and met just as many others. My first bicycle tour will definitely not be my last.


Bodie arrived at about the same time to pick me up and offered fitting ceremonial libations...

Part of the plan with him coming to meet in San Diego was to catch up with a mutual friend from Antarctica, Jody Jahn, who by chance was to be in town as well. We met her at the towering Grand Hyatt Manchester, which made our hostel look like...well, a hostel, then headed out for food, a dive bar along with Jody's colleague Amy, finishing the night off at a fancy rooftop club called Altitude, overlooking downtown, the harbor and Petco Field. A lazy Sunday breakfast wrapped up a great finish to the trip.


Back to Dana Point to pack and ship the bike, taste a few more West Coast beers, enjoy the comforts of RV living, and mentally prepare to return to the Midwest climate. Currently, I'm at the San Diego airport with about 30 minutes before takeoff and am extremely excited to be headed home for the holidays. I feel lucky to have that to look forward to and to have this great experience under my belt. I was thinking that this trip would be largely a solo experience, apart from the Ross time and city stops. But, it ended up being filled with classic encounters with other travellers as well as countless run-ins with generous and wonderful folks along the way. A West Coast bicycle brewery tour is something I'd highly recommend to anyone up for the adventure...ciao for now