Blog – Page 10 – Robyn Rides again

Oct 20 – SanDiego to Mexico

Mark

Me

San Diego

Reaching Coranando

Riding woman

Woohoo!

Mark me Mike

Muscle man lifts the very heavy bike

Mexico

Megan lifting bike one handed

No butts about it- the end !

Today everyone except Reeve and Carol who left for Tahoe biked together. We biked the roads to the SanDiego harbor where we got the boat ferry to Corando. The SanDiego skyline shined as we were on our way. We had a great tail wind as we biked a nice bike path then weaved our way thru city roads to the border! It was quite exciting to be there after 40 days.. we all took a million pictures, congratulated everyone and headed out. We all went to lunch and back to the hostel.
It was a great trip! So many memories with everyone! It was an amazing group of leaders and bikers. I met so many people along the way. The important thing for me was to explore the coast and meet the people. It was so fun to meet Shirley, Yoni, thru rider Paul, Octavier and many more..
thanks to all for the encouragement along the way..!!!

it was 40 great days!

today we got up and it was our last morning camping! I left my plastic footprint if my tent at the campsite as I won’t need it anymore. Thanks to my brother in law for making it for me. It really worked well. We only had 33 miles to go today so we took our time. We road on a lot of city traffic but had a breakdown lane for bikes. We road high up a hill to Torrey Pines Golf course. We biked through pretty LaJolla along the coast. We reached SanDiego and it brought back memories of a year ago when we started the Southern Tier. We stopped st Chris’ Liquor and Drli and had a great pastrami sandwich. At night we all went out to a local restaurant for our last supper. It was a wonderful time. Camilla and Debra did a great presentation comparing individuals to famous people and Christy and Megan talked about us individually and gave us an imaginary wish gift. It was quite fun! We are lucky to have such a diverse group that just got along so well.

it was a great day!

Oct 18- Seal Beach to Carlsbad

Today started out a little foggy as the sun came over the hills. We road along the great bike path by the ocean enjoyed the surf splash along the shore. The surfers were out as usual and today the waves were rolling in an ordering row one after the other which is a favorite for the surfers. Walkers share the path with us but not too many out this morning. We headed into the towns of Oceanside, Newport Beach and Laguna. The cities all had high hills with houses stacked as high as the hill that they were on. They must have beautiful views. We stopped in Laguna to ck out a view of the ocean and spotted a rooftop restaurant so we decided to have lunch there! Great choice! Great food and view! We then headed back in the roads and more bike paths til we reached Camp Pendleton where we were allowed to bike through as it was a short cut to our destination. The camp is quite large and we saw signs for Tank Crossing but didn’t see any action going on. We left the camp and entered Carlsbad as the late afternoon colors were beginning to glow on the cliffs along the ocean.

It was a great day!

Oct 17- Malibu to Seal Beach

today was a mixture of biking from our quiet campsite in Malibu to busy roads heading into Santa Monica to winding bike paths on the beach, urban areas in Long Beach, bike path along the LA River and finishing on a lovely bike path heading out of Long Beach. The day was almost 70 miles. We took our time looking at all the beautiful homes in Malibu then eating lunch in the Santa Monica Pier as well as riding the ferries wheel on the pier. We had ice cream in Redondo Beach. We weaved our way through Long Beach following our knowledgeable leader Megan. It was fun to finish the day off on the beautiful bike path to Seal Beach. No cooking tonight- we had Thai Food.

it was a great day !

Oct16- Carpenteria to Malibu

Today started out with a beautiful sunrise sky. The color in the clouds was quite lovely as I walked to Tyler’s to get some donuts. We left Carpenteria with the beautiful Santa Barbara mountains being lit up by the sunshine. We took s bike path a long ways along the ocean where oil drill could be seen. We passed a refinery and special Island for oil along the way. We came to s bridge with a great view of the water below and as I was taking the picture, a woman, Jean with 5 hula hoops on her bike appeared . She has a hula hoop class and she supplies the hula hoops! She does this for healthy living and her website is www.hoppeithme.com . As we headed inland we once again passed farms of red peppers, strawberries and other produce growing. We stopped for a snack at a park where they had replicas of naval planes and rockets. We once again came back to the ocean and passed great views. I ate at Neptunes Fish restaurant for lunch and then headed to camp, put up my tent and headed back to the beach. Not wanting to swim alone in the mild surf I asked a man named Octavior if he would accompany me in. He actually told me when to dive under the wave and where to stand and that worked out quite well. It was so nice to be warm enough to swim. It felt fabulous! It was s great day !

Oct 15- Day off Santa Barbara

KC, me, Charlie , Mark and Mike enjoying the ride

Sunset Santa Barbara
today was our day off and a bunch of us headed on the bus back to Santa Barbara for the day. We first went to the County Couthouse and Clock tower. Inside there were beautiful murals, colorful tile work and amazing views of the city from the clock tower. After a bit to eat we headed to the harbor for a 2 hour ssilbon the King Fish sailboat. It was a beautiful day and nice temperature and the ride was quite peaceful and relaxing! We all hung out on the bow of the boat enjoying the scene of Santa Batbara cityscape with the mountains in the background. It is a stunning city!

after we ate a fish dinner at Brophys restaurant on the second floor with a great view of the harbor and all the boats moored there. We then took a stroll to the pier for sunset and ice cream, watched the space station go by on the sky and headed back to the hotel for the night.

it was a Great day !

Oct 14 -El Capitan to Carpenteria

Megan by Dolphin fountain , Santa Barbara

today we left camp a little later as we only had to bike 35 miles. It was a warmer morning as I watched the sunrise. We headed out on route 101 which is legal for about 15 miles. After a friendly policeman announced to us to get off the freeway, we took the exit into the next town and took a nice road with bike path along it into Santa Barbara. We headed out on the long pier which allows cars. The pier contains many stores and restaurants. For lunch we went to a seafood festival at the harbor and had great fried fish and chips. Later after ice cream we headed to Carpenteria on a nice bike path with tall palms along the beach . Tonight we stay in a hotel as we have off tomorrow.it was a great day!

Oct 13 – Santa Maria to El Capitan

today we left from Santa Maria and got on the 101 Freeway South. You can ride on the freeway on its big breakdown lane but once in a while the signs say no bicycles, but we didn’t have an alternate route so we just stayed on it. Better to ask for forgiveness! We biked along the nice wide shoulder with grapevines on one side and barren land where cattle grazed on the other side. We biked 30 miles to Buelton to Ellen’s Pancake House as I read on trip advisor it was good. Well, come to find the restaurant was started by Ellen Hansen from Denmark and that was my grandmothers name! So I felt kind of a kinship eating there. Besides the Danish pancakes which are like crepes were delicious! After we headed back onto the 101 and headed through the mountain pass and back to the Pacific coast to ElCapitan State Park. It is a nice park on the ocean. It also has a train track beside it and I am hoping they don’t run at night.

it was a great day!