The morning of day 7 always comes as somewhat of a shock. Afer 6 days of routine - riding, eating, sleeping - the end is in sight. Just 61 miles to go.
Bruce and I woke early and packed up for the last time. The legendary Chicken Lady had left a plastic egg on all 2500 bikes, with a thank-you message and a symbolic lifesaver inside. We rode through Oxnard, and stopped at a Starbucks I remembered from previous trips. We drank cappuccino's and charged our phones. I had managed to get a cable for my ailing phone in Paso Robles and a USB power adapter at a Radio Shack on day 4. The problem seems to have something to do with power, because I was able to boot it when plugged in. I got enough of a charge for the remainder of the day.
The ride went fast due to a tail wind, us smelling the barn, and the desire to get through the traffic on the PCH through Malibu. At the Santa Monica Pier we turned east, portaged our bikes though a tunnel under the road, and climbed a short but steep hill to San Vicente Blvd. and last leg of our journey. We were greeted at the VA Center by cheering throng, a great way to finish.
Here's the GPS track for day 7.
We rolled our bikes to the moving shipping company, found our gear, cleaned up the best we could and changed cloths in a porta-potty. After 7 days of nothing but porta-potties, we were glad this was the last. We splurged a little and hired a town car to drive us to our destinations, Bruce to a hotel in Westwood to meet Monica and start another adventure, and me to the airport for the trip home. It felt weird riding in climate controlled luxury after 7 days almost exclusively in the fresh air. It also felt weird to travel in one hour by plane the entire distance we had worked so hard to cover in a week.
Bruce, thank you for being the perfect traveling companion and riding buddy. You showed a lot of patience when I was stubborn and annoying (and I know I was). You always had my back, and you always came up with good ideas to make things work smoothly.
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1 comments:
These are the best posts ever! Great travelogue. Thanks Mark. And congrats again to you and Bruce.
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