The road to Mexico

San Luis Obispo, CA to Lompoc, CA (miles: 61 calories: 1704)

After a rest day in San Luis Obispo and randomly bumping into some college friends (it was awesome to catch up Kris, Chris, E$ and Dierdre!!)  and catching up for an evening, we were ready to ride!  Well... I wasn't feeling like an all-star.  I came down with some kind of cold and felt pretty crappy actually, but good enough to ride!   We rode down to Pismo beach, a ride I used to do in college to get a delicious cinnamon bun at Old West Cinnamon Rolls.  (If you ever make it to Pismo Beach, CA you have to stop and get a bun!)

After that it was pretty uneventful ride through mostly farmland down to Lompoc, CA.   

Enjoying a delicious cinnamon bun at Old West Cinnamon Rolls.

  

Building side in Guadalupe, CA. 

Lompoc, CA to Carpentaria, CA (miles: 67 calories: 1882)

Being from new england I was unaware that dinasoaurs live in CA!!  We saw this T Rex on the back on this pick-up, chained down it's fate didn't look so good...

Today it really started to feel like we were in southern California.  First of all the weather was warm, sunny and great, especially, after the fog and dampness of the north.  There were palm trees everywhere.  And lastly, there were crazy amounts of people!  There were cars everywhere and many of the roads were multi-lane roads and highways.  It started to feel less and less bike friendly.... welcome to Southern California!  This was also the first night we were rejected by not one campground, but three.  It was super frustrating, so we ended up in a hotel. 

T Rex chained down to pick-up.

Jerry and Amy biking through the suburbs of Santa Barbara.

Carpentaria, CA to Malibu, CA (miles: 61 calories: 1734)

Video blog.

There were SO many cars and the biking on these highways was super scary.  Normally, I'm pretty comfortable biking around cars, even fast moving cars.  But, something felt different here.  First of all, it really didn't seem like cars cared if you were a bicyclist on the road or not, they would not give you any space.  In fact, a city bus drove by me going about 50 mph and it literally grazed the side of my pannier on my bike.  I honestly have never been as scared on a bike...  With that feeling and after being rejected by three campgrounds the night before, none of us were too happy to be in southern California... 

Malibu, CA to Dana Point, CA (miles: 90 calories: 2221)

Today ended up being the longest bike ride of the whole trip!  We bike from pretty much the most northern section of LA to the most southern section of it.  Fortunately, there were about 35-40 miles of bike paths like the one you see Amy and I standing on below.  Also, it was super flat!! 

Amy and Lucas on the strand near Venice Beach, CA.

Amy and Jerry at the beach side of LAX

Dana Point, CA to La Jolla, CA (miles: 57 calories: 1455)

This turned out to be the last full day of the bike trip!  We met up with my father's fellow high school graduate (from Phillips, Maine where the graduating class had 18 students).  Jim is letting us stay in his guest house, which is SUPER nice.  It's pretty crazy!  Can't say thanks enough to Jim and Carol for their wonderful hospitality and company!  Thanks Jim & Carol!  
Check out the view from the kitchen.

View from Jim's Guest house!

La Jolla, CA to the Mexico & US border (miles: 37 calories: 837)

Wow... When we were in Seattle on a rest day, the border of Mexico seemed like it might as well be the moon!!  But, we made it!  

The furthest southwest point in the continental US.   

Amy and Lucas at the Mexico and US border (note the Mexican flag in the distance)

Time to celebrate we are done!

Make sure to check in again, we'll be tallying up our total mileage and calories burned (according to Amy's bike computer).
Until then,
KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE!
Lucas