December 31, 2018 - Ocean Beach Dog Beach to The Willows, CA - Day 1 Cross country bike ride

Before we can begin today’s account, we have a short recap of events that happened after yesterday’s blog. Tobey was going to fill our water tanks so we would be ready to go this morning. Upon opening the valves, he discovered a leak from the pump. A BIG LEAK. The floor under the sofa (where the water tank is located) was soaked, as well as the floor under the driver’s seat. Tyler was able to take the pump out, and as luck would have it, we actually had a spare pump! Tyler got it installed and they determined that this fix will hold us until we can have our mobile repair guy check out the rest of the system. Geez, what can you expect from a 17 year old RV? An hour later, they were ready to sleep in preparation for today’s journey!

On to today!!!

Tobey said this was the hardest day of his bike trip so far… of course, today was the first day of the trip!

We left the RV park and drove to Ocean Beach Dog Beach where Tobey and Tyler began their journey today. It was overcast and sprinkled a little on our way over, but the clouds were trying to break up as they readied their bikes. Thank goodness the parking lot wasn’t very busy so I had plenty of room to maneuver the RV once they took off! Rear wheels in the Pacific and they are ready to go! They were on their way about 9:30 am.The first part of the trip was on a bike trail for them – I had to follow I-8 out of San Diego!They had some sprinkles this morning and made it to Finn Springs for our lunch stop about 12:30. They had ridden 30 miles and gained about 850’ in elevation in the first three hours, but were still smiling. After lunch they were off again. The wind had picked up and it was much cooler. They also had much more elevation gain coming their way. Before they got to Alpine, the rain started coming down harder, but they kept going. They wanted to get another 18 miles in before the day was over.We touched base at the Viajas Casino – 9 miles into the 18. They were hoping to go another 9 miles before they called it a day, but a mile later, the rain turned to a downpour. Their route takes them on I-8 for 3 miles and with the rain and poor visibility with lots of fog, they decided to call it a day. I picked them up and we came back to the casino where we are camping overnight.

Hot showers and dry clothes helped them recover a bit, along with a hot meal. We have clothes hanging all over the RV drying and the furnace is running.

After dinner, we took the casino’s shuttle over to check out the games and I donated my $20 to their till!

The rain has mostly stopped, but the wind is rocking and rolling this little RV. Temperatures are supposed to drop to 28 tonight, so it will be a cold start in the morning.

Today’s 42 mile ride had an elevation gain of 3667’. Two tired guys will ring in the New Year early so they can get a good night’s sleep!

Happy New Year!!