It was a character buiding day. We climbed from 2, 000 ft at Alpine to 3, 000 ft. After our 12 hour day yesterday, we threw in the towel early when we saw a scenic overlook on I-80. We are somewhat low on water.
Tomorrow we climb to 4500 ft. before desending into Pine Valley.
We had a nice send off by the La Reserva Board at Ocean Beach. The ceremonial tire dip in the Pacific Ocean became more than ceremonial when a big wave decided to dip more than the tire.
The day was a long one-more than 12 hrs to our destination. The maps were good, the weather was great, the scernery was outstanding. And no forgotten wallets or cell phones. Life is good.
A shout out to the good folks at I-Hop and especially to it's personable manager, Greg Merris.
The day is accounted for by the fact that we have begun to cross the Sierria Madra range of the Rockies. We climbed 2, 000 ft and will climb 2500 tomorrow.
Pictures
Tom with Sam who he met outside the I-Hop. He asked Tom to call him Sammy.
Jeff in Mission Trails Park.
A 1930 Plymouth complete with wood spokes that we were shown when we stopped to ask for directions.
We're off!! We meet the La Reserva folks for the dipping of the wheel in the Pacific.
Yesterday we walked to the REI store to pick up our shipped bikes and rode back to the hotel to load our bikes. Then rode to the youth hostel where we spend the next 2 nights. Friday evening and much of Saturday will be filled with activities related to the annual retreat for La Reserva Forest Foundation. Then early Sunday AM we take seat on our bikes to begin our adventure.
We learned a few things while in San Diego....
1 The REI store that we shipped our bikes to really DID have our bikes even though the guy scurried around the store with a real worried look.
2. Google Maps for biking is not all it is cracked up to be. Would you believe 4 hours to find the youth hostel?
3. The youth hostel is not has nice as our first night at the Hampton, but it is like a castle compared where we will be camping.
4. We brought way, way too much stuff to carry on our bikes. What were we thinking? We see a package home from San Diego in our future.
5. That the new frame pump does work as was tested by Tom's first flat tire in 4 years.
As we get ready to depart we thought it appropriate to thank all those who have made this adventure possible.
Naturally, we could not have done this without the incredible support and love from our wives, Pam and Sharon!
From putting up with our psycotic behavior all the way to Sharon driving Tom cross town, to Pam taking time off work to get us to the airport. Additionally, we have had countless discussions, ALL positive and encouraging, with our friends and family!
We also need to thank all the professionals who have provided necessary support, counseling, prescriptions and encouragement: specifically, for Jeff, Doctors Bekker (overall), Gregory Housner (knee), Howard Kane (feet), Alaina Kronenberg (eyes), Jeffrey Greenbaum (dental), and for Tom, Dr Salter (achilies tendon replacement), Dr. Declaire
(Knee replacement), Dr. Boruta (foot tendon), Doctors Kayser and Kennedy for words of encouragement and the good folks at
the Henry Ford HMR program for guidence in losing 60 lbs and keeping it off.
Another set of professionals are the REI team of Brian Johns (MI) and Jeb Moore (CA) who prepared our bikes and Nathan McDonald, trainer extraordinairre at Lifetime Fitness.
Last, and certainly not least, are the thanks we owe to all who have supported our cause, La Reserva Forest Foundation. We truly appreciate your generosity and are hopeful you may visit Costa Rica so as to appreciate the great work going on there!
With their new aeroynamic appearance, the guys may cut their travel time in half.
Well, maybe....
Ok, maybe not.
One certain thing though is that because they are not planning on cutting much hair en route, one call easily tell how long they have been on the road, by the amount of hair appearing in future posts.
Also, pictured below are the boys standing by their gear in Michigan before their flight from Michigan to California. Tom and wife, Sharon are next followed in the next pic of Jeff, our long time friemd, Donna Jackson and Tom.
