California Part 7 (Jan 4 to 11)

January 4
Km’s Pedalled – 75 km’s

Destination – south of Toro Canyon

Some Notes – Spirits are high and the sun is shining. I am back on the coast. I realized that I have been on this section of Highway 101 a few times getting to Nipomo in the truck back in the day.

I met a guy named Steve Harmon along the highway. He waved me down because he wanted to give me a flashlight as a gift. I declined the gift as I don’t need the extra weight and my headlamp works just great. But I did take the time to talk. He was on his way to Santa Barbra to help some homeless people in anyway he could. I think he said he ran some kind of outreach for them. So we talked about the homeless situation for a bit and then he gave me a pair of cycling gloves because he was determined to give me something for my journey. Pedalling down the road I became motivated to write a blog post about homelessness and some of what I have seen. You can find it HERE.

Photo from Steve Harmon

A Moreton Bay Fig Tree

Later on in Santa Barbra I actually ran into a drifter/homeless guy; a young guy of 33 named James. He has had jobs on and off but mostly he hops trains across America. He confessed that he is getting a bit tired of being homeless and may just settle down soon and get a job.

Santa Barbara

A great day but I have given up any hope of a shower before LA. My last shower was Christmas Eve day in Berkeley and I should be in LA Wednesday evening. That will be 13 days. I think this will be a new record and I hope that I don’t break the record anytime soon.

Santa Barbara

I had to bike into the dark and was forced away from the main Pacific Coast route in hopes of finding a place to camp in the dark. I am camped in an avocado orchard.

January 5
Km’s Pedalled – 100 km’s

Destination – south of Malibu

Some Notes – I got nervous about where I was camped this morning so I packed up quickly and got on the road. I ended up pedalling to a state park on the beach to make breakfast.

Avocados Trees

The first part of my day had me pedalling through fog. In the afternoon I reached Ventura. I took a little time for some photos in Ventura.

I reached Malibu as it got dark so I had to pedal all the way across town in the dark. Once again finding a camping spot was very difficult to find in the dark. On two positives – I always eventually find a place to camp and tomorrow I get a shower.

California Coast

My Strava app must have closed on me more then 50 times. So I am sure I broke 100 km’s today. There are days I really hate that app.

Ventura

For other cyclists I might even suggest that you look into Adventure Cycling Association maps to help navigate some of these cities. For me it is simply not in the budget but by reputation they are a handy resource to have.

January 6
Km’s Pedalled – 85.5 km’s

Destination – Whittier

Some Notes – I made it to Los Angels. The morning had me pretty distracted with taking all sorts of photos around Venice Beach. From Venice Beach I headed up Washington Boulevard and figured it out getting through LA as I went.

Venice Beach

I cycled through many many neighborhoods to get to Whittier taking about 160 photos today and arriving at my hosts right after dark. Which is pretty crazy considering how many kilometres pedalled through the city of LA and how many photos I took.

Venice Beach

My hosts are Glen and Cathy McClure. Glen has been following my ride since 2 days before it all started on November 10, 2019. And has asked me many times when I expected to arrive in LA. The funny thing was that I never planned on coming to LA to begin with. But as I quickly saw that Glen was a regular follower of the ride and then it became “of course I am coming to LA.”

Greater Los Angeles

I arrived to my very own basement apartment with a place to work, with a fridge full of drinks. I am well aware that I have some of the most amazing and best fans that there ever were. Working away on the computer I went to bed at 3:30 am as usual when I have a roof over my head.

Greater Los Angeles

January 7
Some Notes – Today I got most all my photos edited and the website is up to date and 2 blog posts posted and a 3^rd written.

I went to bed at a reasonable time of 12:30 am to get up at 7am for a road trip through the greater LA area tomorrow with Glen and Cathy

Greater Los Angeles

January 8
Some Notes – Got up at 7am and by 8am we were headed to East LA. We kind of went anywhere and everywhere. From downtown to Long Beach to Seal Beach and back. I took a little over 200 photos of mostly murals. It was a really good day.

Greater Los Angels with Glen & Cathy McClure

The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo off the internet. But we drove past.

All photos are edited and uploaded and another 2 blogs posted and another blog post written. So since arriving in LA that is 4 blogs posted and 2 more written. And I went to bed at 3am.

Greater Los Angeles

January 9
Some Notes – I posted to a bunch of Facebook and Facebook groups, I got all my photos from the last 2 weeks on Flickr and 2 blog posts posted including an 1,800 word blog post on homelessness. And I shaved my head. My first haircut since Bridgewater Nova Scotia a little more than 11 months ago.

Greater Los Angeles

January 10
Some Notes – I am sure I accomplished a few things but all I remember is watching like 6 episodes of The Chosen in marathon unit like 5:30am. Oh yeah, I gave my cooking stove a complete overhaul.

Greater Los Angeles

January 11
Some Notes – My day started out with doing a Road Show and then an Experience Show with Brandon and then my hosts took me to Costco for some Costco hotdogs and then some how my afternoon got swallowed up and, in the evening, had a bit of a pow wow with my web guy to help me focus on next steps to help grow my online presence which I already don’t have the time to get to. SMH. And I got this post posted. (7 blog posts posted during my 6 days in LA)