My time with Hallie and Jack was a perfect way to end my stint in the city, going from LA to San Diego and back up, I was pretty fed up with the traffic and red lights and crazy drivers that don’t give a shit about cyclists.
I lucked out with a couple Warm Showers on my way out of the city. Oris in Claremont took me out to dinner and breakfast, emphasizing the importance of conversation with locals and other travelers and the potential for interesting interactions by sitting at the counter rather than booths. He’s logged over 100,000 miles in his 82 years on this Earth.
Next was onto Kathy and Roger’s orange grove in Redlands. Kathy met me 10 miles out and we rode to a local brewery where Roger met us. They were very recently on a 10,000 mile loop tour on their tandem bicycle but were hit by a car with just about 300 miles to go. They were both taken to the ER, Kathy needing some stitches, Roger twisting his knee a bit.
They’re still recovering but, they’re mostly there. Their bike has been considered totaled. Kathy was happy to have me, they needed to hear some tales from the roaad to reignite their desire to finish their tour. I was up and out early, around 9:00am, after coffee and oats.
I sleepishly rode through more orange groves until the landscape opened up into more barren desert. The sun came out and the wind picked up, luckily it was on my back and pushed me all the way to Palm Springs which is quite literally an oasis in the desert; riding in on 111, there was an abrupt shift from dry, dusty land to seeing, rich green palms lining the road.
Max took care of my sleeping arrangements: a fancy fuckin villa once utilized by Howard Hughes back in the day. I lived in luxury for one more night before Vinny and Nelson would be me up tomorrow morning.
