Sorry that I haven't written since the fifteenth. These past two days have been so fast paced, I barely have time to stop and smell the sea.
Kristen's knees were bothering her yesterday so she ended up hitching a ride for about 10 miles to get back with us at the camp cite. Lee and I rode most of the day together. We wanted to see if we could catch a glimpse of the 2008 All-Star Game, but the day took a turn for the more
exciting: We were riding on the shoulder when up ahead a packed little blue Corola pulls over. It turns out that the couple in the front seats were some of Lee's friends from Vancouver, Duncan and Georgia, who were doing a road-trip across the U.S. to Vermont. We coaxed them into stopping for the night at our next camp cite, and Lee and I met them there after going to the grocery store where we bought ingredients for a spaghetti dinner, eggs and vegetables for omelettes in the morning, and plenty of beers to celebrate.
On the way to the camp cite, Lee and I found a paralyzed fawn on the shoulder of the road who had obviously just been hit by a car. We debated wether or not we should kill it, but having not the courage to do it, we called local animal control instead.
When Lee and I finally got back, we had another great night huddled around a campfire, roasting s'mores, drinking cheap beer and wine and listening to Alan's bear stories. In the morning, Duncan pulled out his guitar and Georgia let Matt play her mandolin as Duncan, Matt and Alan plucked folk music as the crew loaded up their bikes.
Today, I got two flat tires. Luckly, Matt had let me borrow his patch kit and I was riding with Christian both times I got the flats. Anyhow, I gotta go--just stopped to eat and now I gotta get back on the road. San Fran tomorrow!
[My journal got wet and unfortunately I was writing with a felt-tip pen, so the majority of the ink bled and 50 percent of what I wrote is illegible. I'll do my best to decipher/elaborate on what needs to be elaborated upon. Note to self: never journal with a felt tip pen.]
Arrived yesterday in San Fransisco after a rewarding 80-mile push. A long day of anticipation and picking blackberries on the side of the highway lead up to the moment that finally came when Alan, Christian, Dan and I were braving the strong wind to slam down a bottle of Champagne at the Apex of the Golden Gate Bridge. Although it was ideal that we could all cross the bridge together--sharing our moment of final victory--Matt was already up ahead of us, and Kristen accidentally took a detour that put her about an hour behind. We had no clue where Shannon and Colleen were, and Lee had broken from the group to visit his Grandfather who lived just north of the Bay area.
Once we all got back together, we rolled into downtown San Fransisco and bid farewell. Matt extended his hospitality to Shannon and Colleen, who we planned to meet the following day, and Alan had a boat to catch in which he would sail down to San Diego. Kristen, Christian, Dan and I ended up getting ahold of Duncan, Georgia and Lee and we all pitched in ten bucks each for a little hotel room that Christian had pre-booked for himself. One bed, five bikes and seven bodies... yeah.
Lee met up with some friends and went to a show at the Fillmore, Kristen met up with some of her friends, and Christian, Dan and I got burgers before finally crashing out in our teeny hotel. I awoke early this morning to spend my last 70 bucks on a bus ticket down to Oceanside. It leaves tomorrow morning. Lee said that he'd spot me some cash if I kept riding with him, Kristen and Christian the rest of the way down to S.D., and Duncan and Georgia invited me to go out to Mammoth with them to visit Duncan's aunt, but I had already told my family that I'd meet them down in Oceanside. So many opportunities!
To pull me through the last day, I ended up chiding my mom into loaning me 80 dollars to live off of until I got back home. That's actually what I'm doing now--waiting in a bank for my mom to transfer some funds into my account. Then I'll go meet up with the rest of the crew and enjoy the last of their company... at least for now.
