Panniers East!

Well, we said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean yesterday after a good, month-long run down the left coast.
I'd highly recommend doing it, part of it, whatever. Lots of ways to slice that pie ride! (Including using trains to carry you and your bike, unboxed. How "civilized".) And if you want to meet interesting international travelers, they're in the Hiker/Biker campsites!

We have come inland from San Diego a little bit and the climate, animals, insects, plants etc are already changing. Including the socio-economic climate. We are not in Malibu anymore, Toto, with the fabulously wealthy homes, immaculate landscaping, massive motor vehicles, and elective surgery. We are now in the land of "Campsites built on toxic waste sites", police/ambulance sirens blaring, Navy firing ranges, and people driving through the campgrounds blaring the American national anthem - poor, but strangely more fiercely, proudly American than the people who have benefited so much more from our nation's amazing resources and history - and skewed govt and business policies, designed to protect and coddle the wealthy.

After seeing how the 1% live on the coast it is even funnier to see the "Please conserve" (water, whatever) signs all over the "low impact" zones, like the Hike and Bike campsites. Ironic, to be sure. Offensive, of course. (Our society is saying to us "Do as we say, not as we do".) And seeing the heat lamps running full gas on the patios of the coastal restaurants leaves me even more doubtful that we, the largest consumers on Earth (per capita, and overall) of fossil fuels, will do anything about it. Huge houses, outlandish motor vehicles, and heat lamps on the decks when it drops below 65'F. I guess the oceans and the air will just have to keep sucking it (our exhaust) up?!

As I tell Heidi (and she hits me when I say it), "At least we don't have kids..."

But, back to the bike tourism. Sorry.
It has been awesome. It is healthy, beautiful, meditative, and full of serendipity.
U could do it too!