We started out by having breakfast with Kay O. Like Sadie, Kay O had been on the Odyssey bike trip around the world in 2000 with Ben Willetts, which is how I met both of them in the first place. Kay O, who has completed Paris-Brest-Paris, came to meet us on a cruiser with a chain that kept falling off. This made it extra unfortunate that her partner Jeff wasn’t able to join her for this trip, because he is known for being able to fix a deraillieur with a rock.

After a leisurely second breakfast, we figured we should get on with finishing this trip. We stopped to take pictures of surfers,

and soon found ourselves at the top of the north end of Torrey Pines Hill. As we waited at a light due to a lane closure, ten or so day cyclists, in full spandex, gathered at the light with us.

“You’re almost there!” they told us. Looking down the hill and back up the other side, I got a little nervous about which route to take. The main road climbed steadily off to the left, but there appeared to be a steeper road to the right. Which one was the right one? One of the cyclists at the light assured us that we could take the steeper one if we wanted to, but both went to the same place. He himself was going to take the longer and less steep one. So were the other bikers, so so did we.

I’d cycled up this hill before, but only on the back of the tandem. Still, I remembered it as a challenge. This time, it wasn’t. That felt good.

The UCSD campus is at the top of that hill. I had alerted my friend Windy, who works in the math department there, that we were about to pass through. He took a short walk on his lunch break and met us. After catching up with him, we decided to stop at a shopping center just on the other side of campus. Sadie was still looking for a dress to wear to the wedding. At this stop, she found a dress and cute shoes!

All these extended stops were making this short mileage day quite a bit longer. We needed lunch! After that, we rode about a mile to the cafe that makes my favorite ginger Boba tea. How could we pass that up?

We realized that Sadie was within just a few miles of hitting 1500 miles on her odometer. We had several more miles to ride downhill into Pacific Beach. We’d take the Rose Creek bike path, my old daily commute when I attended UCSD and lived in PB. The rest of the day’s route would be quite flat, until right at the end, when we had to go back up hill to Normal Heights. I used to live in that neighborhood, so I had been debating which way we should go all morning. Texas Street was more direct, but steeper. Washington Street was more gradual, but a bit out of the way, including going a few blocks the wrong way on a one way street. But it did go past fresh tortillas in Old Town.

We’d been updating Ben with our progress throughout the day. He was too busy getting ready for his wedding to ride in with us, but he thought he would try to meet us somewhere. Then he offered to pick us up in the van if we wanted. Sadie and I considered. We’d already made it to San Diego. We’d reached our goal. If he picked us up on the far side of the bike path, she’d have 1500 miles as well. We told him to come get us.

So that was the end of the road! We drove up Texas Street instead. I went to yoga class with Mara, then we met Kay O, Ben, Sadie, and Cammy, another Odyssey rider, later at the avocado curry place. (Thai Village, on Mission Blvd.) If you find yourself in San Diego, you must try it. I don’t know why anyone eats anything else there but the avocado curry.

The end of our trip was satisfying, delicious, and full of good friends. I vowed to eat nothing the next day.

Between 80 miles yesterday and such an interesting host, we finally left Sue’s treasure cave about two in the afternoon.

We rode past the San Onofre nuclear power station

(That’s it, behind the trees.)

and through Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Our map and a quick Internet search indicated that the base might only let cyclists through during certain hours, which we were quickly approaching the end of, having started so late. But there was conflicting information on the Internet regarding this, and if the base was closed to us, then we’d be allowed to ride on the freeway. We went through at least two unmanned gates with signs that said we were on base, so we were starting to think that they were relaxing security in this way.

It appeared that we had left the base, so we recoinnoitered, checking our map, and headed west under the 5 freeway. Then the road stopped. We re-recoinnoitered with both map and Internet, and we realized that we hadn’t passed through the main gate of the base at all yet! We headed a bit east, and found a gate with guards. It was past the time our map said we could go through, but they let us right in.

We were quite hungry for lunch by the time we rode another seven miles through the main area of Camp Pendleton. We had passed a caravan of large troop transport vehicles with “Student Driver” signs on them, as well as a kid’s day camp event. It’s very interesting to see what’s on a military base when you don’t usually get to. We stopped for a late lunch at a Cuban restaurant in Oceanside.

We were tired, and neither the energetic Latin music nor the yuca frites nor the passion fruit shake was really making much of a difference. We calculated it was another 17 miles, including a climb off our direct route, to get to the friend’s house we had arranged to stay at this night. We also realized we could be at a hotel in Encinitas, without leaving the street we were riding on, in eleven miles. We called and said we wouldn’t make it.

We stumbled in to the EconoLodge just in time. Both of us were so exhausted. We realized from a Facebook post that another cycling friend, also coming to the wedding we were heading to, was going to be staying in Leucadia at her sister’s, a mile from our hotel! We arranged to meet her for breakfast and went to sleep.

We spent two days off staying with Jess and Brent and their awesome Corgi puppy, Zelda, in Marina del Rey.

We stayed in my good friend Chris’ room while she was still up at Sara’s in Ventura. We had two massages in two days at a Thai place we stopped in on the way back from breakfast. I ended up with a therapist, Mark, who had been a bike racer when he lived in Thailand! He had also lived in Indiana and done the little 500. So he knew exactly where I would hurt. What a wonderful coincidence to have met him!

I also got a chance to go out to the Acrogreens near the Santa Monica pier on Sunday, where acrobats and acroyogis gather to play. I did a few hand to hands with Ernie, a stuntman who I have met there before. I also saw Jonathan, who owns TSNY, the trapeze school I work at, and met his wife, who is a champion acrobat. TSNY has a location right there on the Santa Monica pier, but I thought Jonathan was from New York, so I was surprised to see him.

Mostly at the Acrogreens, I chatted with Jon, a retired rocket scientist who is often there with his friend Larry. He is also a cyclist, so we had lots to talk about! Also, I taught him some basic acro. He he had been coming to the greens for so long, he thought he should get around to trying some eventually.

On Monday, I had lunch with my friend Nick. It was very fun because I met him in Chicago, and he mentioned he would be in LA visiting the neon benders he works with for his art pieces. He does the neon on the man at Burning Man, and it’s time to work on that for this year’s event. Originally, we thought we would just miss each other, but we ended up being there at the same time!

Later in the day, Sadie and moved over to our friend Charlie’s apartment. Charlie had been on Odyssey with Sadie and Ben, but it had been years since either of us had seen him. We were excited to hear that his girlfriend of a year or so had gotten him to eat vegetables, finally. He now thinks they are delicious, and says he feels much better now that he is eating so much more healthy food. He always used to wake up feeling like he got hit by a truck, but now, at 40, feels great in the mornings! (Ben Melnick, I hope you are listening!)

Sadie and Charlie

Also, Charlie works for Elektra bikes, and he outfitted us with new bells. We went out for a delicious Italian dinner, joined by his roommate Susie, who needed to be kept awake after a long weekend in Vegas with friends. She had great stories about a five week camping trip she took with a friend after they got out of college. I apparently horrified everyone by describing how a ten year relationship can quietly fall apart if you’re not paying attention.

Tuesday morning we were well rested, and actually left the house by 8:30, which was a record for us. We even left the overpriced but scrumptious smoothie place a few blocks away where we ate breakfast by about 10.

I don’t have too much to say about the long 80 miles that followed. About 40 of it was on bike paths.

I kept up with Sadie much more closely than any other day. I was making a concerted effort so I wouldn’t get left behind at stoplights, so I probably pushed harder than usual, but it still felt good. Much of the day was quite flat. It just took forever, between stopping at lights with the city riding, and winding around beach bike paths. Luckily, the paths weren’t too crowded for the most part. We still had to watch closely for small children wandering across and got stuck regularly behind groups of slow cyclists out cruising.

We rode for a while down the LA river, which is little more than a viaduct. It is definitely looking better and greener than the last time Ben and I rode down it for an organized ride. Much of the area around it still contributes to a view of LA as a dystopic wasteland, though. In one section, there was a tent city of homeless people clustered around an underpass, next to wall of graffiti. A lone man in black with scraggly hair strode away in the rubble, wearing thigh holsters that looked like they held long knives. I wish I had a picture of that!

Just past that strip along the river is a tidy suburban neighborhood. There are not many entrances to the riverside bike path, probably to reduce the transient traffic through the neighborhoods. We missed the first entrance, so we had to navigate past the homes for another mile or so before we could get on the path. We came upon this unsettling street:

We spent an hour or so in a cozy coffee shop in Torrance, which we found off our route because we’re getting good at recognizing the street patterns of downtown areas. The rest of the day saw only brief stops for water and power bars, and more riding. We were meeting Sadie’s friend Sue at Sue’s mother’s home in Capistrano Beach, which is right after Dana Point.

This meant we were retracing much of the route of the first day of the Odyssey ride, which ended in in Dana Point. Sadie hadn’t been able to finish that day of riding, so she was extra determined to have a strong finish today. Of course, this time, she’s been on the road for six weeks already, so it was no problem at all. Sue even met us in Dana Point and made a video of us arriving!

We left our bikes at Sue’s mom’s, took pictures on the beach,

and drove up several steep hills to Sue’s house. Sue is a photographer who travelled with the rodeo circuit and lived in the Marshall Islands, among other interesting things, so her house is like a treasure cave. You never know what you will find! She made us steak and baked potatoes for dinner, and I fell asleep before I even finished eating.

Another morning when we just could not get going. Until we hit the UPS store. We realized we wouldn’t need to camp anymore, since we had friends to stay with for the rest of the way to San Diego, so we mailed our camping gear home. Fourteen pounds, see you later!

This is my bike with its new, slimmed down profile.

Once again, we rode away about noon, even though we knew we had at least 55 miles ahead of us. We stopped for fruit early on, and at the Missile Park associated with Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

We learned many interesting facts about missiles over the years, but I just have a hard imagining anyone saying, “Honey, let’s take the kids to the missile park today!” But there were several families enjoying an afternoon with their children there.

After that, we got back on the 1, and stopped a lot less. We wound through the Malibu hills, passing Zuma Beach, among others. Traffic grew heavier, and though there was a wide shoulder, it was often full of cars parked on the road to avoid paying to park in the beach lots. We also had a tailwind, and, aided by the terrain, we zipped through.

We said later it felt like a video game. We had to pay attention to cars on both sides of us. There was more traffic today than probably all the other days of this trip put together. As we got even closer to Santa Monica, the cars were slowed, often to a stop, and it felt a little easier to just pass them as they sat in gridlock. It was exciting, but we were not sad at all when we reached the Santa Monica bike path.

Except that’s really a beach boardwalk that winds lazily past the pier and through Venice Beach. It was crowded with beach goers cruising along, or walking in the bikes only lane. It was just another kind of traffic to navigate. I guess I wouldn’t expect anything else from Los Angeles. After 60 miles, all we wanted to do was get off our bikes and eat dinner.

We were momentarily distracted by Zelda, the 13-week old Corgi of our hosts, Jess and Brent. Then Sadie’s high school friend Selena picked us up and whisked us off to dinner. It was a treat not to have to take the bikes! We are so looking forward to two days off in Santa Monica!

I was sure it was way easier to ride now that my gear is fourteen pounds lighter, but my legs are still ready for a rest.

We had a hard time leaving the house this morning. It was just too comfortable! We finally got three miles away, headed for second breakfast, when Sadie’s pedal fell off!

The way that pedals are not supposed to come off. Luckily, we were 2.5 miles from five bike shops. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.

It only took a few minutes for Sadie to get new pedals, and the bike mechanics sent us down the road to a breakfast recommendation. Backyard Bowl’s specialty was like a smoothie with granola and more fruit on it. Delicious, and it was next door to a chocolate shop and a crepe place. I did get a few chocolates,

but mostly we just spent a lot of time on line and sending texts, trying to organize places to stay for the next few nights. And wasting time on Facebook.

We finally got on the road, and never felt like we were quite getting up to speed. We rode for a while on the 1, where it was a full on freeway, with a large shoulder marked for a bike lane.

As we neared Ventura, two cyclists caught up to us and slowed down to chat a bit. Pete and Steven had spent the previous night at Steven’s apartment in Santa Barbara, where Pete had gotten rid of all the gear he felt he didn’t need for the rest of the ride, but Steven had had to pick up the things he had originally left at Steven’s because he didn’t want to carry them on the bike. They had encountered several of the other cyclists we had met along the way, so we compared notes.

This was their first bike tour, and they were so excited about it, they were already planning their next one. Their energy was infectious, and it seemed to help us wake up and finish the last few miles into town more strongly than when we began.

We arrived just in time to drop our stuff off at Chris and Sara’s, but then we had to kill some time before they were finished with a previous commitment around 9ish. We headed out to a movie with unloaded bikes. It makes a huge difference. That was the final six miles of the day. The movie theater was three miles away, exactly where we had just come from on the way in to town. We enjoyed watching Brave, and having milkshakes and popcorn for dinner, but backtracking still feels wrong.

Another slow start today, but less slow than the last two days! I had a hard time waking up because I didn’t sleep very well. At 3:15am, I had bolted awake, sure that a raccoon was skulking outside my tent, trying to figure out the best way to chew it’s way in and get my new loaf of bread. I banged my shoes against the side of the tent to scare it away, and shone my headlamp all around. Then I worried it would still chew its way in and bite me, so I was nervous and couldn’t sleep. I read on the Internet til I finally got tired again. Then I dreamed that eight rats and a small, very soft dog kept getting into my tent and I had to keep picking them up and tossing them outside. It was not a restful dream.

There was a misty rain when I finally awoke in the light, which didn’t make me want to be out of bed, either. So I ran to the comfort station and then went back to bed, curled up in my sleeping bag to stay warm. Sadie got up a little while later. We wanted to do laundry, since we were at a campground with facilities, but had to wait til the store opened at 10 to get detergent. Sadie went to wait in our living room, a foyer with comfy chairs in the lodgier part of the area. I went back to sleep.

Around 9:00, Sadie had met someone else who was waiting for the store to open to get detergent, and they found someone who was willing to open it early for them, which was cool, except it meant I had to get up. We put in the laundry, and I decided to cook the quinoa we didn’t eat last night for breakfast. Since I had decided to carry the camp stove with, I was determined to get some use out of it.

It’s been over a year since I attached this backpacking stove to the fuel bottle and turned it on, so I thought I should review the instructions, which are packed with it. The first step is to prime it by releasing a little fuel, closing the valve, burning it off, and then starting the burner. Hmmmm. I did not do this step on my last trip at all. No wonder it was always such a dangerous conflagration. This little contraption burned like a normal stove flame after it was primed, rather than flames continuing to lick over the top of the pot the whole time I was cooking. That’s good to know.

Figuring out the priming and just getting everything attached took nearly 45 minutes, because the clothes were ready to go in the dryer soon after the cooking actually started. After eating, we broke camp and packed up, then we ate PB&J’s for good measure. With all this, we still rode away just a bit after 11:00. Not bad, considering. We rode downhill back to the road, since campgrounds are nearly always at the top of an obnoxious hill, and I realized I’d left with two empty water bottles. It wasn’t that warm out, and I wasn’t going back up that hill, so we continued on.

After a little while we found a fruit stand and bought some delicious apricots. Yesterday, we passed the first fruit stand we saw, thinking we’d stop at the next one, which of course never came. So today we weren’t taking any chances.

A bit after that, we stopped on Davenport so I could get some water. There were a few businesses, but we chose the bakery. We ate muffins at a sunny table outside. I might regret later that I passed up the chance to try olallieberry and honey ice cream, but it just isn’t that warm here. A woman asked us where we were going, and told us we should stick to the coast in Santa Cruz. She also recommended a vegetarian restaurant.

As we entered the Santa Cruz city limits, the bike route signs pointed one way, but the directions we’d been given pointed another way. We stopped to look at the map, both paper and online. Within a minute, a cyclist pulled over and directed us to the costal route, which he highly recommended. Standing on the corner looking confused is becoming a really effective strategy for us to get information. This same plan worked really well for me in China, but I hadn’t used it to much avail in the states til now.

The Santa Cruz ocean front was beautiful, though the windy, cliff top bike path was neither the quickest nor shortest route through town.

After the amusement park boardwalk,

we ditched the coast and beelined for Dharma’s restaurant. It was fabulous! And very hippie Santa Cruz.

And it made me wonder, why don’t I eat tahini and Bragg’s on everything? And why don’t I drink beet carrot lime ginger juice more often? Yum!

We’re eating our way down the coast, and it’s so good! Not like in the South, where everything is fried. The grocery stores we’ve been to don’t have not organic food in them. We haven’t stopped at a convenient store yet. Sadie says there’s time for that later, when there isn’t anything else. I don’t need to start eating Cheetos and Snickers until I have to. And why would I, when there is so much local deliciousness? And also, it’s not that hot, so I’m not craving salt.

We met a few touring cyclists today, briefly. Two men on a tandem passed us, going uphill, of course. They didn’t pause to chat, but they nearly fell over when they passed me, so I surmised they haven’t been riding together long. Only the captain was climbing out of the saddle, as well. From experience, I know it can take a while to get coordinated enough to have both riders standing at the same time.

Another rider, carrying barely any gear, slowed down to talk long enough to tell how he had ridden from Maryland to Seattle, the down the coast. I don’t know how people travel with so little! All of his gear would probably not fill one of my panniers. I was pleased when he mentioned that Sadie and I were not carrying nearly as much stuff as most of the tourers he’d seen. But he said he’d met one man who was riding north from San Francisco to Seattle, which is basically right into the wind, to ride the Cascades. This cyclist had less stuff than him, and was riding a fixed gear! Whoa.

On this trip, people tend to ask, “Where are you going?” or “Where did you come from?” They are curious, but they are often cyclists, and they get what we’re up to. On the way into town,one rider yelled, “Welcome to Santa Cruz!” as he passed by. True, there really is only one way to get down the coast. But still, it is so different from my previous trips, where most people looked, wide-eyed, and asked, “What are you doing?”

So what has the riding been like today? Rolling hills, mostly, the kind you can get most of the way up in the big chain ring, and even further if you stand up for a bit, if you’re lucky. Of course, our campground was up not one, but two, steep hills.

Here’s Sadie coming up another hill. Flat Chicago, I miss you!

There was a lot of loud squawking around our campsite last night, and at least some of it turned out to be raccoons unzipping my trunk bag and stealing my delicious muesli bread that I didn’t even try yet. At least they were kind enough not to destroy the zipper, like some squirrels I know.

After I cleaned that mess up, I took off my back wheel to put on my new tire. The back one, which carries the most weight, was definitely in the worst shape. Getting the last six inches of the tire tucked into the rim is the hardest part. I finally did it, but my thumbs are still hurting. I’ll get to the front one in a few days, when my thumbs can take it.

After that, I was very hungry. We finished packing and went into town to have a leisurely breakfast and look at maps. We both left with extra pastries for later in the day. We also stopped at the post office and another terrific grocery store, and got on the road around noon. We were doing great compared to yesterday! And, we were thinking we might only do a 25 mile day.

We got a pretty detailed description of the road ahead from a cyclist at the cafe. There was some climbing, including a two mile long hill, but nothing too terrible. Again, it was nice to get more accurate road information from someone who was used to biking it.

Yesterday, I was somehow quite a bit faster than Sadie going uphill, and I could mostly keep up with her otherwise. Today I would completely lose her as she wound downhill ahead of me, and I wasn’t climbing nearly as strong. My legs seemed to be saying, “Yes, hello! We are here!” At the top of one hill, my quads felt like they were going to pop out of my legs. This type of riding takes some getting used to. Also, the speeding downhill parts are still scary. I hope to be used to that in a few days, too.

After 15 miles of this, Sadie suggested we go to a restaurant that had come highly recommended for lunch, but it was two miles off our route. We’d have to go two miles out, and then two miles back to our road. Four extra miles! And there might be more climbing. On other trips, I have definitely passed up stops that were less than a mile off route, in order to not add any extra miles. What the heck! It’s always a good time to try something new.

Duarte’s Tavern in Pescadero was worth it! Cream of Artichoke Soup! Warm and crusty bread! Crab Sandwich! Olallieberry Pie! And the ride back to our road felt easier than the ride in, even though it was uphill on the way out!

With ten miles left, happy bellies, and the wind at our backs, we finished the day quickly. I even coasted uphill for a bit, with the wind pushing. What a treat to have a tailwind! I was telling Sadie that I’d experienced virtually no tailwinds on two trips across the country, and I was starting to think the problem might be me. I must have been mistaken about that. Bring on the tailwinds!

The tent sites are just an empty meadow at the very far end of this campground. Our tents nearly blew away as we set them up. A long shower in a heated comfort station (bathroom at a fancy campground) made up for that. Even though it was getting chilly, I found a spot in front of a tree that sort of blocked the wind and practiced yoga for bit. That was lovely! Is it too much to hope for another tailwind tomorrow?

I fly to San Francisco in the morning to meet Sadie and start riding down the coast to San Diego, but I started riding with my gear tonight. It’s really easy to get to O’Hare airport using public transportation in Chicago, but from my house it just takes a long time, at least two hours. But if I leave from my friend Charlie’s place in Wicker Park, it’s only a 35 minute ride on the blue line. So his place has become my go to launch pad for early morning flights.

It’s easier to bike panniers across town than to carry them, so I put the rack back on my mountain bike. I normally only use it for winter riding, and I keep the rack off to make it as light as possible. My touring bike is of course being shipped to the West Coast, from REI to REI. So, I strapped everything to the mountain bike, and headed out at about 10:30pm. Luckily, it’s no problem to leave my bike at Charlie’s for the three weeks I’m gone. It just blends in with the six or so other bikes he has laying about his apartment, not counting his roommate’s three or four. As long as he doesn’t start scavenging it for parts, that is!

I was about a mile from my house when I saw Bonnie, the trapeze school office manager, waiting at a bus stop. What a great start to my trip! I pulled over to talk to her for a few minutes. I love running in to people I know in random places about town. It makes me feel so local. Also, I needed to let her know a few things about the office from that afternoon. One less email to worry about!

It’s great to ride through Chicago at night, because the streets are pretty empty, but really well lit. Except for a few areas dense with bars, like the last mile or so before Charlie’s. Though I saw a surprising number of women in fully sequined dresses, none of them stepped out into the bike lane without looking, and no drunk bros waving their arms around incoherently accidentally knocked me on the helmet. (It’s happened before.) I’m getting used to cars stopping in the middle of the road, instead of pulling all the way over to the right.

However, note to drivers: if you’re going to rush around a cyclist and stop suddenly in front of them, i.e. cut me off, pull over all the way to the right so I can pass you on the left, like traffic normally works. Don’t leave space for me to go around you on the right! Why would I want to pass you on the right? So you can cut me off again?

I made it through Bucktown on a Saturday night, so I think Highway 1 should be a piece of cake. But, I will miss flat Chicago. I stayed in the same gear I normally ride in, even after I loaded about 50 pounds on my bike. I’m only saying that because I weighed in at 60 on the last trip. But it sure doesn’t feel like that much! I also think my rear tire may have been flat. It was sure squirrelly. But it has been a year since I loaded this much stuff on the bike and rode anywhere. It might have been me.

The 9th annual World Naked Bike ride also happened to be going on this evening. I saw one guy in a vest and nothing else turn off Damen at Clybourn. I figured it was over. But as I got close to his house, Charlie rode up behind me. He was headed for the Jewel to get snacks, but saw online that the naked ride was supposed to pass by 2 blocks up any minute. Suddenly, we heard a lot of yelling and honking. There they were. Some totally naked, others in various stages of undress or costume. Riding your bike naked looks very uncomfortable to me, but everyone looked like they were having a great time. Seeing us on bikes, many of the riders beckoned to us to join in. We just waved back. If I wasn’t riding fully loaded, I would have at least followed the parade for a bit. We even saw a few friends in their underwear.

Earlier, a speedy hipster cyclist had buzzed past me, commenting, “Serious panniers.” I don’t think he meant it positively. But I yelled back, “I’m riding to California tomorrow,” stretching the truth a tiny bit. He turned around to come back and ask me about it. A guy weaving on a wierd little motorbike asked me “What’s up?” when I gave him a bit of a stink eye. I don’t like people on the road acting inconsistently, especially when it’s hard to navigate with all that stuff on my bike. “Living the dream?” he asked, trying a little too hard and too weirdly to be friendly. “Well, I am riding to California tomorrow,” I replied. He didn’t have a pithy response to that. In a city full of cyclists, naked ones even, a loaded bike still turns heads.

It felt good to be self-contained on the bike again, and not nearly as traumatic to ride away with all that weight as when I started cross-country last spring. I have been riding a good ten to twenty miles nearly every day for a year since I’ve been in Chicago, so I feel like I’m in pretty good riding shape. At least, as long as the terrain is flat. It will be very interesting to see what an actual hill feels like!

On our first weekend out, two older women stopped by to see what was going on. Terry, in the green, was disappointed not to be able to try the trapeze, due to her health. She mentioned that she always loved to do out of the ordinary things, like bike across Europe!

She told me how she rode around Europe in the 1950′s for 5 months. She had such a terrific adventure. Of course, her mother was sure she was going to be kidnapped or murdered. But everyone she met was so friendly. Many people invited her to stay in their homes. Most were very excited to meet an actual American.

I told her how my mother thought the exact same thing when I decided to start traveling by bike. Of course I meant to write down our whole conversation right away, but I waited a few weeks, and now I’ve forgotten most of it. What remains is how awesome it was to meet a kindred traveler.

To which I would also like to add: Look mom, she was doing this in the 1950′s! She’s way crazier than me!

At 10:00, Connie and I put my gear in her car. She was heading to Spring Hill, about 40 miles south. With the bump from driving, I could be in St. Petersburg tonight! We noticed that my front tire was flat again. I’d have to fix it when she dropped me off.

We left, and immediately had to take a detour. There had been a serious accident on the bridge about 8am, and they didn’t expect to open it again til noon. I was glad I hadn’t been riding there then.

As we drove, we compared notes on our sabbaticals, and thought about what might come next.

Connie left me off at a 7-11. She had a full day ahead of her. I gathered my gear on the sidewalk and fixed the tire, pulling out a piece of wire that looked just like the piece of wire I pulled out yesterday. It was close to noon, so I figured I should have some lunch. The pizza at the 7-11 looked good, so I got two pieces. Then I got two donuts for good measure. If this was going to be my last day of riding, then I would have to go back to my non-biking eating habits. Best to take
advantage of it now.

As I sat outside eating, a woman locked her keys in her car. I offered her my phone to call AAA, and then she realized her card was also locked in the car. She used my card to call, as well, which caused a bit of confusion, because they were wondering if she was in California, but they figured it out. In the last six months before I left San Diego, I had locked my keys in my car twice, which I never do, so I was glad for the chance to help.

We were chatting as I ate and she waited for the door guy, and she said, “Oh, you have to fix your flat tire first.”

“No, I just did,” I said, then I looked at my bike. It was flat again already and I hadn’t rode one inch since I fixed it! Patty immediately offered to take me to St. Petersburg.

Once again, I thought, I am not going to say no to that. I had just used my last new inner tube, and I was not having any luck finding the tiny wire holes in order to patch them. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my day unloading and reloading my bike and struggling with the tires or going who knows how far out of my way to find a bike shop. On top of that, it was already 1:00, which was rather late for me to be just starting a 50 to 60 mile ride. With someone standing in front of me offering a ride the rest of the way, I took it.

The AAA guy came and went quickly. Patty wondered why she didn’t just get one of their little air-bladder contraptions herself in case she locked herself out of the car again. Though, if you had one, it would probably be locked in the car when you needed it.

I could not thank her enough. “I’m a Christian,” she said. “I know God has a plan for us, and we don’t always know what it is.” I said that, though I am not a Christian myself, I am experiencing events in the same way she is. Whether or not these signs are there for a reason, they are there for me to follow. Patty had been working in the morning, but decided to change her schedule to go in and do the evening closing shift. That left her time to do errands during the day, which she was heading north to do. But as she stopped at the 7-11 for gas, she had already decided to put off those errands for another time and to turn around and head back south. And then we met.

We talked about religion and communities and schools and other interesting things as we drove. Patty also told me about her plan to ride her motorcycle across the country when she retired, which could be as early as the next year. I was glad to be able to offer a little inspiration in this regard.

And then we arrived at my dad’s house, and that was the end of my trip.

Patty and my gear in my dad’s driveway.

I may not have biked to the very end, but I followed the path as best I could. Where will it take me next?