Bike Tour in the USA (2007), Part 8

Monday, Sep. 10.2007

Finally on the Road!

Hollywood→Coastal Highway 1

Distance: 107.42 km, Duration: 7:51:28 hours, Total Distance: 181.63 km

I continued the Coastal Highway (as the Highway 1 is named here) and bought in a shopping center a large sandwich for my dinner ($3.20). 

View beside the Coastal Highway (near Malibu)

As I continued riding I discovered a sign with the direction to a camp site. As the sun already prepared to get down I wanted to take the chance to get some information. After a short but steep climb I cycled into an elderly lady and asked for the price for myself, my bike and a small tent for one night. She calculated and gave me the price for US$45.00! I was shocked but did not try to show. To my question if there are not cheaper possibilities she took a map out of a drawer and showed me a State Park which had a campsite on a far distance. I said farewell to the kind lady and tried to cycle to the place she has shown. 
Two hours I rode into the evening but I still was far away from my destination. I stopped at a supermarket and bought something to drink ($1.83). It was getting dark that without light I barely recognized the shoulders of the road. It became somehow dangerous, several times I nearly fell from my bike due to some surface irregularities of the road. Also because of this reason I decided to give up my plan to ride to the campsite. 
Beside the Highway 1 I discovered a housing community uphill on the right sight of the road, in front of the houses was in a green tidy pitch of grass not far from the road light. Opposite was a kind of military barrack which indicated to me that is is a very safe place.
For the first time on US soil I took out my sleeping bag and was very excited about it. The weather was not bad therefore I left my small tent in the duffel bag. As I cuddled in my sleeping bag it seemed that between the stars on the clear sky I have seen my wife and my daughter smiling to me. Happily I felt asleep!
Even as the night became colder from the wind and moist of the nearby ocean I had a 'peaceful easy feeling' during my sleep. 

Taking rest in a Park

   

Wednesday, Sep. 11 2007

In the Backyard of Los Angeles

Coastal Highway 1→Ventura

Distance: 104.02 km, Duration: 5:07:44 hrs, Total: 285.65km

After a good rest I left my cozy sleeping bag in the early morning not before a prayer. I cleaned up my surroundings which was so kind to give me safe and quiet place for the night. I took the garbage with me as all travelers should do...

I continued to cycle on Highway 1 which between Santa Monica and Oxnard is also called the 'Roosevelt Highway'. The morning was still very young and I cycled from a rocky coast road to an open flat landscape. Here the Highway becomes a Freeway and cyclist are  prompted by a traffic sign to leave the Freeway. Therefore I had to leave the main road and had to find a suitable way on my own. 

Trucker on the road...

The open landscape is made for farming and agriculture, this area might be the backyard of greater Los Angeles. Indeed I discovered for the first time some farm hands working in the field. On an already prepared field some workers installed water pipes in the earth for water irrigation. Because it seems "it never rains in Southern California" the water must be redirected from a aqueduct or viaduct through the desert. On the whole way to San Francisco and up to Sonoma County and Napa Valley I witnessed the same water irrigation system for fruits, vegetables and even the grapes for the famous Californian wine.

Farmers working in the Field

“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”Thomas Jefferson 

(to be continued)