Get Set...

Packed up and ready to go!

In January of 1774, the Spanish Captain Juan Bautista de Anza set out from the mission at Tubac, just south of Tucson, Arizona to find an overland route to California.  After getting lost in the sand dunes just on the other side of Yuma, he came back toward the Colorado River, went south to get around them, and two months later ended up at Mission San Gabriel (currently in Los Angeles).

Carolyn and I started out from Phoenix at 9:30am this morning, and ended up at In-and-Out Burger not far from the San Gabriel Mission about 3:00pm this afternoon.  Not exactly like de Anza's trek across the desert.  Still, even in a Toyota Corolla, it's a long, dry journey across the California desert.  It's hard to imagine de Anza doing it on foot and horseback.  (Maybe another cycling adventure?)

With bicycle in tow, we made it to Santa Barbara this evening.  But not without battling some beastly L.A. traffic--and it wasn't even at the peak of rush hour!  Carolyn commented that since it is almost impossible to get north without going through L.A., it's enough to discourage anyone from travelling to the upper half of the state.  We finally broke loose about Ventura, when we caught our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.  The temperature was in the mid-60s, which is a far cry from what we left in Phoenix.

We played leap frog on Highway 101 in Los Angeles with an old Volkswagon pickup truck, which proudly sported his motto, "Powered by Vegetable Oil."  We could always tell when he was close because the air smelled like French Fries!  Displayed also on the vehicle was a bumper sticker which read, "THE WAR IS A LIE!  9/11 was an inside job."  Really?  A conspiracy theory veggie-powered VW truck--only in L.A.

Tonight we are staying in a hotel with our window looking over Cabrillo Boulevard, the beach and the ocean.  Dinner was consumed at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company at the end of Stearn's Wharf, the pier at the end of State Street.  The "casual kitchen" atmosphere was punctuated by lively conversation from both tourists and locals.  A retired couple who had not lived in Santa Barbara for long engaged Carolyn about my bike trip.  They said they were both cyclists, too, and shared stories of the disasters of the two of them on a tandem bike, and their attempts to communicate while biking using walkie talkies.  This establishment has been on the Food Network and the Today Show, and the dishes we had did them proud as well.  A great evening to start out our trip.

Tomorrow we head seven hours up the coast to Sonoma, where we hope to make it in time to tour Mission San Francisco de Solano on the town square in Sonoma.


Beachfront in the Evening, Santa Barbara, CA