Activity up to February 10th

The last entry showed the beginning of the ride at Coronado Beach. Well, although it was a little late in the afternoon and the superbowl was beginning, but we decided to start our trek on such a beautiful day. It was after 3:00 PM when I headed out through San Diego, which is a very bicycle friendly place. They have bike lanes on many roads and highways, even when the speed limit is 50 mph. As I weaved my way through the streets, I realized how fast the sun was setting. Jeanne and I had a pre-planned pickup point but it just got dark so fast I had to call her to find me in the dark and pick me up. Jeanne is very patient with me. Then we went back to the RV Park and took it easy.

Monday, I thought I lost my wallet. We spent the morning looking for it but couldn't find it. So we decided to report it missing and cancel all the credit cards. As we were doing that, the credit card companies noticed no new purchases, so we looked around some more. At about 1:00 P.M. I was walking around the camper and there between the propane tanks  was my wallet. What a sigh of relief. We then re-instated the credit cards, told the PD and the sheriff we found it and again went out to get some biking in. By mid afternoon I made it to Lakeside, CA but I  had made a wrong turn and was pondering what road to take when Jeanne came by and helped me find my way out of the jam. Whew! Some kind of woman.

What I noticed about the bike lanes, is that kids on skate boards use them just as bikers do. While I was waiting at a red light a skate boarder went by right though the intersection bent over with his arms behind him getting as much speed as he could. Another thing I discovered was the large street sweepers make it a point to sweep the bike lanes so  there is no debris on the raod surface.

Tuesday, we went from Lakeside to Alpine, with some climbing.

Here's what the roads look like:

Here's Jeanne in the truck  coming round the bend on the last leg of the segment. 

For a treat that night, we went to the Indian casino at Viejas where the buffet featured Alaska King Crab legs. The RV Park gave us $5.00 chits so the $9.95 meal was half price. What a deal! Here is the sign outside of the casino.

 Wednesday we got some good roadwork in and make it through Pine Valley and over to La Posta. I came across a ranch and a cute little animal in the corral.

I am sure it is only coincidence that Jeanne took this picture the following day:

I was just pumping up my tires before the ride. Then, off I go.

We then went to Jacumba, whei is as close as I wanted to get to Mexico. There is a fence there that runs across the border at this point. At the end of this ride, we were at the edge of leaving the mountain area of Southern CA, but we had one last 3,000 ft. descent into the Imperial Valley.

Then we got to the desert, which when irrigated produces a multitude of crops.

The difficulty with the roads in the valley, is they are farm roads which in time tend to scarab and leave the bicyclist with sore buns and the bike shattered from the vibrations. You actually need to slow down not to get shaken to pieces. This is not something one would need to practice or try to get used to but the roads can be rugged. We made it to Brawley after spending the night at El Centro. Tomorrow we go out for a few days into the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area along the Palo Verde Montains. We are not sure of our internet status but we will update as soon as we can.