We left Monday morning and headed back toward the Pacific Coast Highway and the coast. Our plan is to ride north on the coast to Seal Beach and then ride the San Gabriel River Trail that intersects with Route 66 near Azusa, which is in the northern part of LA. The ride north up the coast was tough with a stiff westerly wind.
In Seal Beach we turned northeast up the San Gabriel River trail. It wasn't much of a river. It looked more like an overflow area. We saw a lot of cyclists which is really reassuring. That lets us know that this is a good route. At one point we stopped and Hap did one of his classic moves. He looks at the bike, carelfuly and says "mmmm....that's interesting". I asked him what that meant #1, #2 or #3. He said what does that mean. I said #1 means that's interesting but I think it's ok. #2 means mmm that's interesting I'm not sure what is going on. #3 means mmmm that's interesting we better do something about that!. I said which number is this mmmm? He said #4.......... Ok so what does that mean? Mmm that's interesting everything is fine I just wanted to say mmmm..
There was a lot of homeless "camps" along the trail. All kinds of structures that served as homes for people. Interesting way to live. They didn't bother us and we didn't them. For lunch we stopped at Subway in Huntington Beach. There was a lot of traffic and we had some trouble trying to cross the street. We ate our sandwiches and I went to find the bathroom. The owner was coming out of "the bathroom". I asked him if I could use the bathroom and he said sorry we don't have one. The one he was just coming out of.........
For the last 15 miles or so we had a stiff headwind on the bike trail and a we were also climbing. Since there was no camping nearby we stopped at a Motel 6 to see if they left the light on. Sure enough they did. For dinner we had some soup that Jenny had made and frozen for us. It was awesome along with the bag of salad we picked up at the grocery. A great day of riding!
This morning when we left the Motel 6 in Norwalk we expected a 55 mile or so ride up to Glen Helen County Park to camp. It was about half way up the climb over Cajon Pass. As it turned out we ended riding 60 miles and didn't make it to the park. Google maps was alittle off on the distance. Again no camping available so we stopped at a hotel in Fontana. Guess we will conquer the pass tomoroow. We had an overcast day for much of the day. Continued the ride north up the San Gabriel River Trail. It interestected with Route 66 near Azusa. We are still in the LA city proper. So lots of traffic. But not as bad as we expected when we got off of the river trail. We stopped for a sub at Jimmy Johns. We finally made it to the official Route 66! After riding through city traffic for many miles we got on the Pacific Electric Bike Trail. Interesting trail with a lot of cross roads. We had alittle bit of a tailwind toward the end of the day. Stopped at Vons for dinner supplies. Tonight Lasagna and Broccoli. Gettin to the hotel was alittle crazy with all of the traffic. We ended up on the side walk a few times as we navigated through the heavy traffic. But we made it to the hotel safely! Tomorrow we tackle the Cajon Pass and hope to end up in Helendale tomorrow and the start of the Mohave Desert. Woo hoo!
Abby, the head chef!
Huntington Beach
San Gabriel "Homeless Encampment" Trail
Thanks for the soup Jenny!
Our first Route 66 sign---- lots of traffic!
Bikes on the road!
Laundry day
A narrow fit for the tandem
Laundry
