Today is the most ordinary day for many people, but for Harry and I it may have a different meaning, because our journey to the southern hemisphere has officially begun. We said goodbye to John and Auntie Zheng, left Los Angeles, and headed south along the Pacific Coast Highway towards San Diego.
The sunny Pacific Ocean is sometimes calm and sometimes rippling. Many people along the coastline were enjoying the sunny beaches and good times at their leisure. There are excellent RV campgrounds and, most importantly, beautiful ocean views. The sun was generous to the earth, and for us it was the most important source of power. We unfolded the Sungold solar panel and absorbed the sunlight to charge our bike battery.
We rode our bikes along the old abandoned coastal highway, and met another local rider, Jim, at a rest stop. he was curious to see our gear and asked where we were from, I told him from China, and he was happy to tell me about his travels to China. He said he had been to many cities, one of which was Guilin, one of his favorite places, and asked me if the road from Yangshuo to Guilin had been repaired. I said it was fixed. He said he was impressed because people were digging the road by shoulder and said the locals were working very hard.
I asked him what year he went to China, and he said 1999. I froze for a moment and said I was still in elementary school at the time and it was amazing how long it had taken. I told him the road had been repaired, even twice already, haha. The years flowed in our conversation, I wonder if the world once was really far away from us, maybe time is too fast, changing too fast, many times it’s too late to stop and see, I don’t know if Jim’s world is fast or slow.
Sometimes time is efficiency, sometimes time is the best yardstick, many things need time to verify, if a handful of grapes two days to make a bottle of wine, a stone blink into gold, many things will not be so precious.
We said goodbye to Jim and continued to follow the map. At this time Google map recommended a road, and Bike map recommended another mountain road, hesitated for three seconds, we still followed Google map to continue to go, never thought we actually arrived at the military base.
We were stopped and said the military restricted area, can not pass. Finally, we went back to the intersection of the turn. There was a road ahead but it was blocked by a dense barbed wire fence and now only Highway 5 was left. We had no other choice but to get on the highway. I sped up the pedaling and watched the cars fly by on the highway. After a frightening ride of 20 kilometers, we finally reached the exit of Oceanside and came down to the small seaside town, which was just at sunset, and the scenery was too beautiful to be described in words.
At night, we went to a small store to buy some food and then followed the map to a campground called Campingside, but the gate was closed. By now it was 6:30 pm, it was dark and the road was hard to see. I suddenly missed the front wheel of my power-generating hub, because at such times the lights would automatically light up the front, but now I had to find an isolated park in the dark first.
We simply ate something, opened the tent, lying inside to stretch some tired bodies, outside the tent suddenly came the sound of cayuri, too long to hear this sound, there is a little nostalgic. I hope I can get a good sleep tonight, there are still 80 kilometers to Santiago, I hope I can arrive safely tomorrow.
I woke up at 5am to pack up my equipment and continued on my way, arriving at UC San Diego in the morning, the campus was quiet like a park, occasionally I saw a few young people with a book in their hands, shuttling through the campus. I ate two burgers at IN AND OUT at noon and still felt a little hungry, cycling is a powerful energy conversion center.
Arrived in San Diego San Diego, along the way the beauty of the road lives up to its name, today’s road down very average, the bike driving up the hill is very hard, pushing more hard, like a motorcycle heavy, but at least Harry in its small trailer is still considered to adapt, because it does not need to get off walking, most of the time is standing in the trailer to see the scenery. The coast is full of parks where you can see people surfing, sailing, swimming or just playing in the green grass.
Kevin’s house is one of them, in the middle of a U-shaped slope, and it was an extreme test for us to encounter such a slope. Kevin was already at the door to greet us. We came over to help and together we pushed the weighed car into his garage…
From the side door of the garage into Kevin’s home, walked into the door to find a neatly arranged shelf full of magazines, it turns out that he is fond of collecting these old magazines, the most is about skateboarding magazines, because this sport is very popular in the local. It was quiet at night, and Harry and I finally got a good night’s sleep without having to listen to the sound of cars around the clock on Mile 5.
Today Harry and I went to the famous Balboa Park in San Diego. It is one of the oldest outdoor parks in the United States and has been preserved since 1835. There are 17 museums, gardens and other attractions inside, we visited the Museum of Nature and Man and there are many Spanish Baroque buildings here, walking inside feels like walking somewhere in Madrid.
On the way we met three cycling friends from Germany and Holland and Canada, they rode from Seattle and Vancouver along the Pacific Highway all the way south to San Diego, a month’s journey ended here, many international cyclists ride this road, because the scenery along the way and the national parks are particularly beautiful, somewhat similar to the domestic route into Tibet as popular, happy to congratulate them After completing their journey, they shared a hotel apple with me, and we said safe journey.
Finally back to the residence met a friend of a friend, actually cool like a long-lost friend of mine, the world is really too wonderful …..
In the evening, I took Harry for a walk on the road, I met many parents with their children, they dressed up in various shapes, carrying pumpkin lanterns, walking on the road, happily knocking on doors from house to house, the people who opened the door were very friendly and polite to give the children candy, everyone said Happy Halloween, the picture is simply beautiful.
Think about a holiday for many people happy, we do not look forward to the arrival of such happy days, I may have only seen in books or movies before, and this time is really see the local people’s tradition.
