by Liz

On our last day in America, we had the opportunity to revisit some favourite experiences. Specifically we slummed it through the San Diego dockyards again, this time to reach Walmart, and for the last time I got chatted up waiting outside the supermarket while Philip did some shopping. I’ve enjoyed these totally random encounters with people who are just being friendly. We also got another final peek at the nesting ospreys who inhabit the industrial area.

I’ll miss many things about the trip. The sea, the coast, the forests, the good weather, the ever changing landscape, the architecture, the wildlife, especially the hummingbirds and pelicans, watching for whales, the redwoods, the frogs’ chirruping at night, the pedalling, and meeting new people. What won’t I miss? The smell of crushed skunk. The law requiring only three feet minimum when passing a cyclist. Logging trucks that overtake fast and close. That’s all I can think of. It’s been a dream being on the road for such a wonderfully long time.

Redwood photo credit Dorian Lhersonneau (thanks Dorian 🙂)

Our most recent discovery is the mockingbird. We heard one in San Diego yesterday as we stopped to check the route, then found we have our own in the road where we’re staying. He’s been singing non-stop since about 5am, a clear highly varied and beautiful melody. I’ll see if I can incorporate a sneaky recording in this post. 

About an hour ago we let the bikes go to their respective new owners, after removing our owl mascots (‘best wing forward’ was their daily mantra). It was always the plan, always the deal, but it felt sad. Those two bikes were our ways and means in this adventure and they were like friends. I thought we’d suddenly feel like our wings had been clipped, but so far so good. We’ll walk out later to find some food, the last supper of our trip. Tomorrow we’ll turn our minds towards home.

Additional notes

San Diego, San Diego county, CA.

Left at 8.45am. Arrived at 11am.

Weather: Warm and sunny – we were so glad it wasn’t like this for most of the trip. It was too hot to be really comfortable walking.

Landscape: The industrial estates on the east side of the bay, where we rode on Thursday. We passed so much attractive architecture.

Things we did: I woke at 4.30am in time to hear the first plane come in and the mockingbird start his singing. For some reason I’ve had many dreams on this trip in which I need to swim through water to get to somewhere. Exchanged messages with Helen C and wrote up yesterday’s journal. Philip got up at 7am. We rode to Walmart to try and buy laundry bags to put our panniers in for the flight but they didn’t have them so we got clingfilm to try and some gifts to take home. We took it in turns to go into the shop and in time-honoured tradition we were both chatted up as we waited outside. Back at the house, I got lunch and Philip did some prep on the bikes, taking off accessories, disconnecting them from our phones etc, ready to hand them over this afternoon. We took the bus into town around midday to look for a little souvenir for the hatch and a small redwood sculpture for Cathy as she didn’t find one when she was with us. We walked through throngs of protesters, a lot of strong feeling here about the political situation. We went to the harbour area and looked in numerous shops, no redwood at all, but we found a small glass whale and a small metal bald eagle for the hatch and a cute metal raccoon for Cathy. We got the bus home and had tea and cookies, then took photos of our bikes for the last time before we sell them. Philip had disconnected his Garmin from his bike so I navigated the route through the city to the bike shop, not very easy roads. I removed Owl from the handlebar and Philip took my bike in while I chatted to Bob and Mary Jones who we had arranged to meet outside the bike shop. Philip showed Bob round his bike then they loaded it onto Bob’s pickup and gave us a lift home. The bike shop paid cash for my bike and Bob kindly agreed to take it and make a transfer for the amount for both bikes. We had a rest and a snack then walked to the local grocery store and bought a couple of drinks and some peanut MnMs for Helen and Graham. Later we wandered back up and bought slices of pizza from the pizzeria. We did some reflecting and note making on things that have and haven’t worked like choices of shoes and plastic tubs (both worked brilliantly).

Towns: San Diego.

Breakfast: A beautiful breakfast of cinnamon and brown sugar waffles, strawberries and banana and rocky road ice cream.

Lunch spot: Leftover pasta and sandwiches at the house.

Dinner: Pizza from the pizzeria. A waffle with ice cream (finishing up leftovers) and a quarter slice of tiny cheesecake, and strawberries and banana with yogurt.

Wildlife: The mockingbird in a palm tree opposite the house that sang all day long. As we left Walmart we noticed an osprey on top of a tall pole and a nest on another nearby, which we had ridden right past on Thursday. It was lovely to see ospreys again, our last time. A family of egrets and a mallard with tiny ducklings in a pool near the harbour. Monarch butterflies flitting about through the city streets.

Plants: Lot of bright bougainvillea against the blue sky.

Things we saw: Interesting San Diego architecture, weatherboarded houses with turrets and gables and porches, adobe homes with palm trees and cactuses outside. We passed a small area of tiny cube-like homes very close to one another which looked like they had kitchens and belongings outside. I’ll miss riding past all the many different homes on this ride, it’s been so interesting. There were lots of people carrying placards on the bus and on the streets, lots of chanting, cheering and horn-blowing. The paving stones in Golden Hill are imprinted with the maker’s name and date, like ‘J.W. Butler & W.C. Potteiger 1905’. Amazing they are so old.

People we spoke to or saw: A black man came up to Philip outside Walmart, admired the bikes, asked how much they cost, told Philip his name, shook his hand and left . A Filipino man had a long chat with me about the bikes, our trip, America etc and asked to take a picture of me. Bob and Mary were full of hugs and congratulations. They are very warm people. Even though we only met them two days ago, it felt like they took on the role of representing all our family and friends who couldn’t be there to celebrate with us.

Incidents: Philip was in a slump. It affected the day until late afternoon but I kept my spirits up fairly well. He felt much better after the arrangements for the bikes were complete, it’s been stressful for him. We were very conscious of the girls’ urging us to stay clear of political unrest as we walked right through the protests against the immigration situation and Trump’s ‘birthday parade’ which took place today in Washington DC. We were going to buy a pizza in the local grocery but when we asked the owner if he sold them he looked at us as though we were mad and pointed to the pizzeria over the road – which turned out be very nice. We found Oxnard has been in the news this week with immigration raids targeting immigrant pickers – the pickers we passed a few days ago – with a lot of resulting fear. It felt sad.

Shopping: At the local grocery store.

Accommodation: Our sunny home in Golden Hill.

Today’s sound: Shouting, cheering protestors.

Today’s smell: The pizzeria.

Special moments: Waking up to the mockingbird’s singing. The beautiful architecture. I loved finding ourselves slumming it again through the San Diego dockyards. Staying safe walking through the protest. On the bus home a gorgeous black baby girl was all wrapped up and held tightly in her mother’s arms, big eyes looking all around her. My milometer read 2,260 miles when we got to the bike shop. What a lot of miles and incredible experiences. I thought we might feel a loss of independence after letting the bikes go but in fact it felt fine.

Positive experience from my journal: A nice exchange with Helen C.

Appreciation from my journal: Being the lead pelican on the way to the bike shop and doing it well (mostly).

Blog comments from Helen C, Juliet and K. Helen: ‘Thank you for the mockingbird recording, what a keen member of the choir 😊 Crushed skunk, not going to even start to think about that memory! I guess things can only get better after that! Not smelt any skunk around here, crushed, or otherwise, so I reckon you’re safe to come home. Well done for being courageous, taking up the challenge and fulfilling a long held dream. I hope we can all take inspiration from you and consider our dreams in the same way. Your blogs have been great, thank you’. Juliet: ‘I can’t believe it’s really over. And that you’re already leaving the USA. I’d have loved you both to have a week over there to integrate and process what I image has been a huge experience. But I guess that will happen as you transition back to the UK. Welcome home’. K: ‘Congratulations to you both on a truly amazing achievement. I have so enjoyed reading the blog and following your route. You are an inspiration to me. Looking forward to hearing more about the trip sometime soon, I hope’.

Social media replies from Francisca, Sharon and Susan Toomey. Sharon: ‘Amazing, what an adventure’. Susan: ‘Incredible adventure, you are both amazing for doing it!’

Mementos: Two Walmart receipts, two Safari Animal Collection receipts, and Jaroco Market receipt (the peanut MnMs), San Diego.