Boog's Blog

The French call them Oursin. The Japanese call them Uni. What do you call
them?

Hi hi

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No ferries, cars or planes. About 400 miles by Amtrak and 280 miles by
bike. Several hills.

After a good blueberry muffin, fruit and a double expresso headed East
again.

Through La Jolla and the wonderful 425 ft climb up Torry Pines Road
(apparently part of the bluff came down shortly after my transit – 100 cubic
yards.

Easy ride into San Diego and the fine hospitality of Michelle and George.
Good pasta dinner with a finishing touch of Gelato.

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Excellent day! Easy ride through Pendleton – expected it to be more hilly –
and then onto Oceanside.

Called Dennis and Jane and met them for lunch and then off to the races at
Del Mar. Jane has had a box in the family since 1937. Seems to know
everyone worth knowing. Especially liked the turf race.

Dinner, excellent with fresh caight Yellow tail, and an excellent Rose. A
nice evening of conversation.

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Huntington Beach. Surfboards, beach cruisers, joggers, high end carbon
bikes; about five miles of public space sand.

Oatmeal at Jamba Juice. Quite good. No coffee here but cold water seems
better.

The flatness abruptly ends and the PCH starts to roll again. Steeper hills
(or legs and body more tired? ), higher hills in general (gps). Not nearly
as pretty as inland and through busy (bike lanes generally disappear in
towns) communities.

BBQ Ham and Swiss for a protein lunch. Just before Dana Point. Woman next
to me was a perfect Beach Boys blond, a multicaret ring, a Vuiton bag and
Prada shoes. She was discussing how prices have just not come down enough
yet!

Ride through San Clemente is circuitious but has good bike route markings.

Another hot and high liquid day.

Thanks to Libby found the most West os Pendleton hotel. Comfort Inn, low
priced, breakfast, pool and hot tub. Laundry too.

Wanted to go further but thought better of it. Getting to Oceanside would
mean a 65 plus mile day of hills. Suspect I could have made it, but to what
end? Stopped, showered, put my legs up, and pulled out my e-reader.

Dinner was a picnic. Did not feel like eating in the local places. A
supermarket was only 1.5 miles away.

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Pretty ride to Redondo Beach and then the climb over Palas Verdes. Well
graded ride – surprisingly enjoyable. Good I warmed up first with the beach
ride.

Rolling but doable hills continue along the spectacular cliffs. Golf courses
and gated communities have beaten out much of the military. Good I carried
three bottles of water today – needed all of them before reaching Long
Beach.

The LA portion of the ride is terrible; made only a little worse by my
exploration of the dock area. Bad advice from the police (directions were
just plain wrong), fixed by several gps gadjets with me.

Anneheim street is just not suitable, especially after Palas Verdes road.

Don recommended a seafood place at the Long Beach Pier. Just could not face
a good greasay meal in this heat. Went to Starbucks, hydrated heavily, ate
fruit and salad and more hydration.

Decided to see if I could stuff in some highly recommended seafood. Turns
out the pier is a few miles (into a moderate wind from the South – front of
the Baja hurricane??) From Pine street. Could not find the place. Now the
Belmont Brewing Co. perhaps.

Ride to Seal Beach enjoyable. Around a nice bay with lots of families
enjoying the warm day.

Not much in the way of accomodations in Seal. That said, the propritress
offered (for a reasonable price) to do my laundry. Sure needed a washing
but could find a place with machines.

Looks like I may have to stay in San Clemente tomorrow. Not ideal. My map
does not show and hotels East of there. Camp Pendleton takes up a lot of
real estate. Not comfortable planning on making Oceanside as I am unclear
what will happen when I reach Pendleton.

See any hotels on the coast road East of Oceanside before Camp Pendleton
gate?

Dinner pic, as requested. Found an Indian/Tibet place. As all the hotels I
checked out are run by Indian families decided it might be good. It was.
Very good.

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Noon, Malibu, and just finished an excellent pulled pork sandwich, with two
bottle of snapple, and then a double iced expresso at Starbucks; earned it.

Got an early start as today is another warm one. The first leg is along
Port Hueneme road. Miles and miles of sod farms (Southland Sod), some
avocados, and possibly other food stuffs.

Then along an air force or possibly an air wing section of a naval base – at
Pt. Magu. Got to hear our national anthem being broadcast; not as effective
as the BeeGees.

Picked up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and headed East. Surprising how
much of the ride is east. Rolling hills to Malibu.

Took a detour to see Point Duma Nature Preserve and ride the cliffs of
Malibu's residential section. Might not have been an intentional detour.

Many many very thin hipped bikers on the road. Many swimmers and beach
loungers.

Hot afternoons keep only the crazies biking and jogging the path from Will
Rogers State Park to Venice. Crowded but not nearly so as Memorial Day
weekend, a previous visit.

Ice cream and cold water help, a lot. Maybe 60 oz. or more swallowed. And
that was just the water.

Stopped in Marina Del Ray because a Holiday Inn Express was right on the
road. Expected it to have a coin laundry. Nope, all else including a hot
tub, but no laundry. Handwashing again. Things dry quickly here,
especially if one has a loose definition of dry.

Dinner was terrible. Left almost all of it. Salad was good. Looking
forward to breakfasat -:)

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Early morning ride through Santa Barbara and south. Does not get much
better. Many joggers, pelatons, and bikers. Far fewer homeless and
displaced than one would expect to see in a wealthy area with perfect
weather.

Ride is mostly right on the coast. Wow!

Had expected to stay in Ventura but ride is so nice and got there by lunch
time decided to push on.

Warm day, no wind, excellent roads and paths. Miles and miles of beachfront
with continous parked RVs. Solid wall for 15 plus miles. Parallel and
angled parking. Most likely here for a week or two. Sand, surf, and
endless water sports. No corn, soybean or wheat fields.
Some lettuce, I think. Farmer Grey I am not.

Coast continually blocked by more naval bases. Sure we do not need all of
these remnants of the 19th-20th century. Best real estate inacessible.

Got to Port Hueneme, another navel base, and found a lovely Country Inn.
Did nor want to stop but was not sure when the next good place might be
found. Country Inns are good. Reasonable prices, all ammenities (did not
need to do a full laundry tonight), and a good breakfast. 2 minute walk to
the beach. Oh, and an excellent hot tub as well as free drinks (two) with
afternoon snacks, also included.

Bike ride to dinner. Urbanspoon mentioned a seafood restaurant near the
water. Yikes. Only breaded stuff except the lobster – afraid to try it.
Nothing else to eat in the nearby area.

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Vandenberg air force base abutes the coast for a significant distance, and
time on Amtrak.

There are no public roads through here and I suspect one cannot approach the
coast by boat. The only way to see this section (lthe track runs within a
100 -300 feet from the water) is by Amtrak.

The sun is lowering in the Western sky. Deer, cyotes are free (no hunting),
and for the first time Amtrak has not stopped even once for a picture.

South of the missle sites (Vandenberg is ICBM) the tracks remain right along
the spectacular coast. Landscape is dotted with the (Getty) oil rigs
sitting just before the horizon.

Cabins, state parks, views…..

Pic is of Santa Barbara train station – very conveniently located to
downtown. Dinner order in progress. Passed on the Maine lobster.

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It is disgusting the state of our trains.

From Palo Alto to San Jose by Cal Trans. Tracks so bad (express) that I
could not read even with high powered readers. More shaking on this short
route than the total shaking across Canada or Japan or Europe. Terrible
state of our tracks.

Amtrak ride will be worse in terms of delays and tracks and on board
conveniences.

On the plus side, avoided flying and Amtrak makes bike travel pretty easy.
Even got a free box this time!

Looking forward to breakfast on the train – brought my own.

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Tom,
I had the same reaction!
Dee

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