Day #26
Hermosa Beach to San Clemente
Today seemed long. It
is really interesting to me how every day is different along this journey. Not just the scenery and the route but
everything else that is involved. We
have been working on the planning of this ride for well over a year and each of
us had different responsibilities. Since
I did not plan the route I think when we said we were riding down the Pacific
Coast Highway, I took it literally. But
in actuality we are using that as a general guideline, keeping the ocean to the
right, but getting off the PCH as much as we can to make it easier for the
bicyclists. Makes complete sense in
retrospect and I am much more comfortable with them being on side roads and
bike trails (as I am sure they are too) but it is SO much more work for SAG
than just staying on the PCH all the way.
Which brings me back to my point of how each Some days we actually were on the PCH the
whole way and my biggest concern those days was 'how far am I going to drive before I
pull over and enjoy the ocean while waiting for the riders?' (and take another selfie- I think this is the
week for selfies for me. I took one at
every beach. Ha ha. At least I am not in the bathroom in front of
a mirror making duck lips, right?)
 |
| Just one of the Selfies along the way today…. |
Days like today when we are completely in town all day are a
lot harder with no down time for Kyle and myself. We had 3 pages of turns today. Don’t get me wrong, I still love it, but it
is different. A bit more work to make
sure one of us gets to the next turn to get the riders on the right road. I tried really hard to stay focused and not
let Kyle down today and I hope I did OK.
I did not get lost nor did I get any of the bikers lost. (I did run a few ‘pink’ lights trying to keep
up with Kyle- I think he was trying hard to ditch me ;-)
So, let me backtrack….we left Hermosa Beach this morning and
are very grateful to our hosts for the evening, the Hope Chapel. We had a big room that we each staked out a
spot in. We gained a rider first thing
in the am….welcome to Galen. And had a temporary
rider mid day as Leisa hopped on the tandem with Carl for an Anniversary
Celebration ride. And at lunch time we
also picked up Joey for the rest of the ride.
We gain quite a few more tomorrow.
Getting out of town was slow. In fact, there were so many stop lights that
the bikes were keeping up with me. That
actually worked pretty well since we could tell them where to turn out the
window. I think Hermosa Beach has more
stoplights than Phoenix and I am pretty sure I stopped at every
single one of them. I also noticed a
very large number of McDonald’s today. I
have not seen that many in one day since we were in Canada. I should have been smart and used one for their bathroom but that would have been too easy and then I would not have been able
to tell you about one of the grossest and scariest bathrooms I have been in in a long
time. When we dropped the riders off on
a bike path, Kyle and I detoured to find a bathroom. We stopped at a 7-11 in Long Beach – no
bathroom. We went across the street to a
local store – no bathroom. So we saw a
park and decided to use theirs. It was
not only dirty but someone had actually stolen all the doors to the
stalls. I am super glad I had Kyle
waiting outside because I am pretty sure we were not in the best of
neighborhoods.
Which brings me to another thought I had today. (Today is my day to go off on tangents
because I only have one more blog after this and I am sad and reflective
tonight) Over the two weeks I have been
along, I have found myself on the side of the road by myself a lot - Either
waiting for the guys to show up so I can supply them with food and water or
waiting on a corner for them to show up so I can send them in the right
direction. There have been a few places
where I would never have been by myself in any other situation but I never, not
once, felt unsafe at any point. I find
that very interesting and am going to have to ponder why that is. Any ideas?
(It is not just because of the knife Shane left for me in the center
console either.)
We drove through a lot of beach towns today. Remember yesterday when I said that I found
my retirement community in Manhattan Beach because it was chic yet
unpretentious? Well, if I win the
lottery and decide that pretentious is really what I’m in need of, I found that
ideal retirement area today. Oh my gosh,
Laguna Beach is spectacularly beautiful.
Even the picnic area was ostentatious.
It had an amphitheater style picnic areas so that all tables had a clear
view of the ocean. Oh my goodness, it was
gorgeous.
We were going to finish the ride in Dana Point tonight but
they were covering so many miles in such good time that we went all the way to
the San Clemente Pier. Joey is a
triathlete and finished way ahead of everyone else. Keith would have also but he decided to ride
a few extra miles out and back when he got lost at the end of the day. We had some ice cream on the pier and then
headed to our host church tonight, The Heritage Christian Fellowship. I apparently had a little miscommunication
with my contact and so he was not here and no one here knew we were
coming. We chatted over the phone and he
gave me the rundown which included making ourselves scarce until 8:30 when the
two activities going on here finished up.
I was a bit miffed about this and felt badly for everyone else as we had
to go locate and pay for showers. We
went to dinner, got more ice cream and did our grocery shopping for tomorrow before heading
back. After talking by phone to Toby again, I felt a little more comfortable with the housing situation and we got settled for the
night. Everyone who is here is very nice and gracious and we so appreciate
that they are letting is stay in their beautiful church.
Once again everyone else is sound asleep and sawing logs as
I type this but I made a commitment to myself to not get behind on blogging this time. Shane asked me an interesting question this
morning as we went to get breakfast at the “Best Donuts”
(they might not have been lying.
And “haven’t you heard, never rob a bank across the street from the
world’s best donuts?”) He asked me if I am always up so late and awake so early - I am also the first one up
every morning so that I do not get in their way as they get ready. I do stay up late at night and get up a lot
earlier than I have to for work but I think the reason it is so extreme on this ride is
that I like to reflect during the quiet time. (although it is NOT quiet - there is stereo snoring going on.) I am so energized by this experience that I am not tired. I do not want to see it end tomorrow but I do
know that the memories and things I have seen and learned will carry with me
for a long time.
On that note, I better get this posted and hit the
air mattress that we finally figured out my ‘sleep number’ on for the last night
(84.)
See ya at the Beach!
 |
| San Clemente Pier |
 |
| Happy Anniversary Carl & Leisa! |
 |
| SAG Selfie of the day! Kamrie joined SAG for part of the day! |
