Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The "Real" Day 1: San Diego Coast to Campo, CA

We started out the day (and the trip) at the San Diego, CA coast. The weather was perfect today... warm and the air felt great! Shortly after leaving the coast we hit the city and decided to bike through it without our clip-in pedals on since we were stopping and going so frequently at all the red lights we hit. The traffic was congested and we were glad to get out of the city.

We took our first rest stop at a little turnoff looking out over a beautiful lake. The next stretch was absolutely gorgeous with the blue skies and the green marsh to our right. We watched birds diving for fish and saw hawks perched on branches. Gotta love this beautiful country!

At 14 miles from the coast, we hit the mountains and spent the rest of the day climbing most of the mountains we're going to have to go over in CA. Part of the way up didn't have a shoulder--and it was too dangerous for us to ride on--so we had to get off and push our bikes up the mountain (a couple miles). We had our tires barely on the pavement and we were walking through the bushes. It's amazing how many treasures you can find on the side of the road (empty bottles, car parts, butcher knives, keys, etc.), but we decided not to pick any of them up.

We went a total of 50 miles today. Hopefully tomorrow we get less elevation and more mileage under our belts.











12 comments:

  1. I am loving reading this. I am going to follow your progress on this amazing journey. You two inspire me! I am very interested to know how you went about planning such a mammoth journey. We'll have to talk about it one of these years. Love you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Shaughanie! I'll give you a quick version for now, but I'd love to talk about it later. Well it's been on our bucket list for a few years now and over Christmas break Matt and I decided that we just had to do it this summer. We got a lot of discouragement and people telling us that we were crazy. Thankfully, we didn't let it get to us and now we're actually doing it! It seems like such an impossible thing but if you take it one day or even one pedal at a time then it seems obtainable. Love you!

      Delete
  2. You guys are amazing and inspirational. Will be tracking your progress and great to hear you are taking time to 'smell the roses'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stephen! I hope you're enjoying your hard-earned MBA degree and having a great summer with your family!

      Delete
  3. I wish I could join ya. Good times. Ride safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for all of your advice Uncle Tay! Grandma Gina has told us some fun stories from your bike trip!

      Delete
  4. Ok...this is an adventure!! We will be following you closely. good luck to you both! I hope the desert (Imperial Valley and Arizona!) is kind to you! Great pictures by the way...

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great adventure! You guys are amazing! :) Who's driving the truck?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Angi! My Grandma Gina is driving the truck. She decided last minute that she would be our follow car! She's an amazing woman. She biked from Provo to D.C. twice! (The last time was when she was 50.)

      Delete