And off we go!

Its been an interesting few days!

My friend Lydia has decided to join along. Points for spontaneity: she bought her ticket on saturday for sunday morning, nevermind signing on for a few weeks of riding! I know my folks and many friends will be quite happy to learn that I am not alone out in the wilderness.

I'm in San Diego now, at the nice apartment of my friend Tod, whose family I've known for a long time, and who is an officer here in the Navy. I ran into him in Pittsburgh last week at random, and he invited me to stay at his aparmtent. This, and the use of his car to run a few errands, has made easing into the trip infinitely more agreeable; There's always things to iron out on the first day of long trips, and this one has been no exception. Lydia's front panier rack is with her sister in colorado; I needed a misplaced impedance matching pulley for my front brakes (road levers with V-brakes) and to trim some derailleur cables. At least I brought both wheels...

We snuck aboard the USS Midway carrier last night after the fireworks, and toured quite a few beautiful old aircraft. I can't imagine life among the ubiquitous gray painted steel; I gather Tod has had his fill of being aboard a ship after manning the con on some big carriers himself; he is clearly happy to have his posh pad and privacy ashore.

Tod's friend Dwight is an interesting guy who lives upstairs and is also in the Navy; They went to highschool together, too. The serendipities that have surrounded many aspects of this trip (a topic for another post) continued as we arrived- Tod was out of town and Dwight was entering the apartment just as we came to the door. It turns out Tod has quite a balconyfull of Tomatos, and Dwight was faithfully watering them. Dwight is a marine and looks it, and also flies F-18 hornets.

Anyway, the bikes are almost ready to go, and tomorrow we'll see Tod off at 6am, catching the ferry with him to Coronado Island, then pedal south along the San Diego Bay breakwater to the southwesternmost point of the US, below Oceanside. Then, west on Otay Lakes Road, Honey Springs Road, Lyons Valley road, Japatul Valley road, 79 to lake cuyamaca, 78 through banner grade and the anzo borrego, and finally the salton sea. I expect to maybe find internet again at the salton sea, so for now- Wish us luck!