Jan.30-Feb 5......
Jan. 30..... Recovery day for me, Pam's back is bothering her....we went to Mesa RV to schedule yearly maintenance on Diesel engine, generator, and other filters and fluids. Appointment is for Tuesday , Feb 4, so that will be our day to pull out of here, and head to the mountains after the work is done. We already have our camping site picked out, because I found it when I rode to Pine Valley yesterday. The weather around here has been winter like ( party cloudy and 65 during the days, low 50's at night), so we haven't been able to enjoy the beach as much as I would have liked, and more 'winter' weather on the way, including rain, so we may as well head to the desert.
We went to the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum after scheduling the RV work, and spent the afternoon wandering among old airplanes and helicopters that played a roll in wars from WWII to Vietnam. There was an indoor museum as well as outdoors, and we dodged raindrops as we walked outside.
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| Alot of the museum is outside and there are lots of planes and helicopters there! |
Jan. 31....We spent some time in a doctors office to get Pam some relief for her back in the morning, and as she rested in the afternoon, I got out and rode the bike trails around Mission Bay and Pacific Beach that I am becoming very familiar with. I did 20.24 miles in 1:40 before things really started cooling off and I headed home.
Feb. 1....Its Saturday, Pam is lying low, so I decided to tackle downtown San Diego and figure out where some things are, so we can do some more tourist things before we leave. I took the scenic route over to Old Town San Diego, which is where the town originated, then headed up some pretty good hills onto the Mesa which is the location of Balboa Park. There was one little 100 yd stretch of Laurel St. Which was the steepest hill I've ever climbed. When I saw it, I figured I was going to walk my bike up, but instead I unclipped, took a breath and tackled the grade. My front wheel almost came off the ground as I headed up, so I had to lean forward so I wouldn't flip backwards. I figured if I couldn't do it, I could just put my feet on the ground and keep from sliding back down. One pedal stroke at a time, and I made it to the top. Wasn't as hard as I feared. If I would have stayed clipped in, I probably would have killed myself! I climbed some more, and I was on top, very near Balboa Park. The bridge into the main area was under construction, and I had to walk my bike into the museum area. The street and plazas, called El Prada, I believe, was jammed, packed, with tourists, most of them not speaking American. I checked it out just long enough to know that I would bring Pam back if I could. Then it was off through the gas lamp district of downtown, where all the fancy restaurants and bars are located. Located close by was Petco Park, where the San Diego Padres play. As I rode by I could hear the cheers of a tennis match inside the park. It was the Davis Cup international tournament, and the United States was playing Great Britain. I had looked into attending, but tickets were way out of my range, so I just listened for a few minutes before moving on. Then it was across an elevated bridge and onto the boardwalk along the San Diego Harbor. I rode along some area that I hadn't when I came through here on the way to Mexico. It was a few miles from Petco Park to the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier where I caught a ferry to Coronado last time here. It was prime sailing weather, and sailboats were everywhere. It's just a beautiful shore line full of restaurants, parks, and marinas. It was nice to see. From there I hopped on the Pacific Coast Highway and headed back to Mission Bay. I was amazed how quickly I made it home, and how close we had been all this time. The PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), was wide with a bike lane, and traffic throughout the whole ride was very light. It seems like the only roads that get really packed around here are the freeways. The entire trip was only 26 miles, round trip, and I rode it in 2:30.
The rest of my miles, will be added to the 54.2 that I rode up to Pine Valley the other day, and they will be all headed basically east. But, right now, my total miles for this trip are 11,854.55, which included down the east coast, east to west from coast to coast, and touching Mexico, Canada and Mexico, in that order, and down the west coast.
Feb. 2....Pam and I spent the day at Pacific Beach, on the boardwalk, walking and having lunch, and pretending that the weather was nicer than it was. It was nice, but only sunny and 65 nice. The ocean breeze made it feel cool. Pam bought a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies off a girl on the boardwalk. I know everyone else who reads this will feel our pain, right? Then it was back to the RV to watch Seattle kill Denver in the Super Bowl.
Feb 3....Pam and I took the day and traveled to Balboa Park. It was infinitely less busy than it was on the weekend when I rode through. We strolled around all day, and took in the San Diego Sports Museum, which is just one of the multitude of museums in the park. Balboa Park was built in 1915 for the Panama California Exposition, which was like a world fair, and the facilities and buildings are all very ornate, detailed, and Spanish influenced. It has to be one of the cultural hubs of our country (so what was I doing there?) I really wanted to check out the naval hospital where my dad spent time 70 years ago, but unfortunately all was torn down except for the library, admin building and the chapel which is now a museum. And unfortunately, the museum was closed on Mondays!!! Argggh!
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| Administration building |
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| Hospital gardens |
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| More gardens with fountain |
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| Chapel/museum |
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| Flags in front of museum |
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| Balboa Park was built for the 1915 exposition and all the building are in the old Spanish style |
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| Walking in the park |
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| In Balboa Park |
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| Buildings in the park |
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| Inside the botanical gardens |
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| About the botanical building.... |
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| In the park |
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| Having lunch in the courtyard of statues |
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| Statue of Cabrillo who discovered California |
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| Organ recital area |
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| In the San Diego Hall of Fame sports museum |
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| This was Ted Williams' shirt - he's from San Diego |
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| Yachting is big in this area. There was a big display about the Americas Cup |
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| Posing with the San Diego chicken! |
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| Mike's mug shot!! |
Feb.4....We dropped the RV off to have the maintenance work done that we had scheduled, then it was off to downtown San Diego to tour the USS Midway Museum, a famous aircraft carrier that has been retired to the harbor near downtown. We spent the entire day day there, as it was a very big boat. We made it back to the RV shop by five. We headed out of town, towards the mountains and stopped at the Viejas Indian Casino for two nights of dry camping in the parking lot.
Feb 5.... I rode about 7 miles through the reservation, just to check it out, but today was a day for strolling through the Viejas Outlets, catching up on the blog, and Pam hit the slot machines. In our two evenings here, she thinks she won about 60 bucks. The casino gave us each $15 free play on a players card, so she didn't even use our own money once she won back her initial investment. She really has been pretty lucky at all the casinos we have stayed at.
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| Viejas Outlets - owned by the Indian tribe. |
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| Mike kissing the rattlesnake - and turning it into a bronze statue! |
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