The biggest news is that I have
officially changed my mind: I am heading towards the east coast
instead of south. I still want to see Mexico, but it will have to be
another day when I won't need to tiptoe around the cartels
and...such. I am planning on seeing the Grand Canyon, a few caves,
visiting family and friends, and having a blast with whatever else I
end up doing.
South of Salinas I biked through strong
wind gusts that almost knocked me off my trusty steed a time or two.
For the most part it was at my back or blowing in from the sea, which
was a lot better for the cliff-side venture than wind coming down off
the hills. A couple days south, in Cayucos, CA, I stayed with some
good friends of Marci's. While I was there I got an e-mail from
Molly, my friend who biked the Oregon coast and into northern
California with me, saying that she had had a bike accident and got
pretty banged up. The helmet saved her head and she will recover, but
I was pretty worried, so I pedaled down to Los Angeles over the next
couple days and hopped on a plane back to Portland to visit, play
scrabble, and eat cookies with Molly. I stayed in Portland for a few
days, then flew back to LA. While vising the city of Angels, I stayed
with some distant relatives and finally met my
second-cousin-once-removed Kevin, with whom I've been pen pans for
several years. It was fun to finally talk with him in person.
Biking through and getting out of LA
was a nightmare. Navigating was pretty easy, but the sheer size and
the 92 red stop lights started bugging me after about six hours. My
goal was to make it to San Clemente, about 65 miles south, before
dark, but I didn't make it.
