Day 41: Victorville, CA to Yorba Linda, CA (85.9 miles, 3171.1 total, 44.4 mph max)
We're in Yorba Linda, CA at my cousin Marie's house. I feel more comfortable here than ever on this trip. Today was easy. We found our way using people's directions and kind of guessing. Not a bad ride at all.
San Bernardino was pretty rough. Not a place I'd like to stop for long. California is different. As soon as we crossed the Cajon Pass we could feel and smell the ocean breeze. It was the most incredible feeling, and I was ear to ear with smiles. What a great trip.
Tomorrow we'll ride to the coast and back. I'm so excited.
Day 42: Yorba Linda, CA to Newport Beach, CA (~30 miles, 3201.1 total, 40 mph max)
Well, now it's official. We biked to the Pacific Ocean. The bike trail was nice; it's kind of neat that we started and ended on bike paths.
I'm very proud of myself. I think I deserve it. This trip was a dream of mine. I don't think I've ever accomplished anything that I'd dreamed of doing like this. What an incredible feeling.
I need a new dream now. I'll think one up soon, I'm sure. I can't wait to tell stories.
Now we start up the coast, but we won't do that for awhile.
Total trip distance: 3201 miles. It doesn't feel like it was that much, though.
I hope I have this feeling again someday.
"A brilliant idea never starts out brilliant. It starts out ridiculed, because nobody has ever seen anything like it before. Be unreasonable. Insist that it can be done. Show them how"
I never forgot these words; they're from a commercial I saw. I memorized them so that I could write them to all the people who didn't believe I'd really do it. Well, I'm not going to do that, but I know they won't doubt me again.
I told them I would ride my bike the California and I did it.
That's it! I couldn't be more thrilled to be done with this transcription. For two weeks, Chris and I enjoyed ourselves, couch-surfing among various friends in Southern California. Then, we started North with the ultimate goal of reaching San Francisco. The trip ended four days later in Gorda, CA, where we decided to hitch-hike the remaining distance to Santa Cruz.
In retrospect, it is an unfortunate end to the journey, but was predicated by couple of days of overly ambitious riding. Day 2 -- 100 miles. Day 3 -- 135 miles -- Chris and I thought it would be a good idea to just ignore sundown and ride into the night on the Pacific Coast Highway. Unfortunately, with no lights illuminating the roadway we were riding into pitch darkness before long. A flat caused by an unseen obstruction began a miserable night attempting to navigate darkness on the shoulder of a remote road, but somehow (I honestly don't recall how) we ended up in a campground sometime before midnight. Then, as if we hadn't learned a thing, we set our watch alarms for 5 am so that we could get up and ride another 140 miles to Santa Cruz before it got dark on Day 4.
By 9 am on Day 4 up the coast, Chris and I had ridden about 30 miles to a small cafe in Gorda, CA. It was there that we agreed to throw in the towel. I spent the remainder of the trip in the bed of a pickup driven by a strung-out teenager running away from home (seriously).
THE END.
