Exodus to Adventure

A lot of miles have happened since I left off at Needles.  We finished out California with a grind up to Oatman.   Gina, a trail angel at New Diggns gave us free water and we met Oliver the Burro.  The cracked road made riding difficult.  Our first Arizona stop was in Kingman. We ate well that evening, Dr. Leon Smith was our talkative tour guide and Lyft driver.  At the hotel, we met Ross who was stuck at the hotel for a while after hitting a mountain lion in Oatman, CA.  He is a retired truck driver who decided to see the sites of Route 66 after driving by them for 40+ years.  His claim to fame was picking up a desk for President Reagan and delivering it to the White House, only to have to take it back because the refinisher messed it up! We were off to Hackberry where we stopped at the General Store.  We met Rhonda, another cyclist, who was riding segments of 66 with her friend Cheryl supporting her in the RV.    Our next stop was...

Our adventure started Monday in Santa Monica and we have crossed the state to Needles.  In between, we stopped at Rancho Cuchamonga, Victorville, Newberry Springs Fenner and Needles.  Camping was king and the hosts were friendly.   Ted (at the Shady Oasis) gave us the key to a camping cabin to secure our bikes.  Christine (at Newberry Springs) suggested that folks sleep in the caboose at times (liability issues keep it from being a thing).  With wind blowing 25 mph and major gusts, tenting was not an option.  Our last camp out was at the Hi-Sahara Oasis, a convenience store, truck stop combo.  We met Bruce at the Hi Sahara, we were out of bananas and he just so happened to have two.  We also met Mitch and Lisa who were tandem biking Route 66 through to Michigan where they hoped to pass into Canada and beyond.  They are world traveling bicyclists!   Traveling through the city we hit Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Pasedena and other t...

After a day of air travel, we arrived yesterday evening to the buy beach town of Santa Monica, CA.  I was under the impression that California had some strict Covid rules, however, they must not apply here.  Folks everywhere, no social distancing but most wearing masks.   The Ocean Lodge Hotel is neat and clean but along the busy Ocean Boulevard, lots of traffic, people, music, talking and what not.  Early, we were jarred awake by the sound of gunshots, but no screaming or sirens so maybe firecrackers... The morning came early since we are still on east coast time, we found some breakfast and assembled the bikes.  We made our way to the local REI for some last minute supplies and to get our tires pumped up (our hand pumps will do the job in a pinch).  Bikes together, tires pumped we took a ride along the bikeway traveling from Santa Monica up to Venice Beach just to check things out.  There is a big population of homeless and huge tent city along ...

The countdown has started.   In six days, we're off to California to start the adventure.  The original idea was conceived over a decade ago, reworked to align with retirement and now, the rubber is about to hit the road.  We will travel the historic Route 66 from Santa Monica, CA to Springfield, MO.  From there, we will make our way to Virginia Beach, VA via the Transamerica trail and some freelancing to complete the coast to coast journey.