Bike Tour (or My Sorry Butt)

For my birthday, we tried something new - an overnight bike trip.  Monday, we rode our old 5 speed Schwinns up to San Clemente where we had reserved a studio room at the Beachcomber Motel.  The ride up was about 38 miles (should have been 28).

First stop was the Oceanside Museum of Art where we had partied Friday night.

Just north of Oceanside we entered Camp Pendleton Marine Base, as the only other way to travel up the coast is to ride on I-5 which would be deadly if not illegal.  The base has generously provided a bike route through about 15 miles of their property.

This is not a shower, but one of the bells that marks the historic El Camino Real which connected all the California missions.  It also marks the road that turned out to be a 10 mile wrong turn.  The business like MP's kindly pulled us over and pointed the way back.  Riding on the base, you always have the feeling that you shouldn't be there.

Ah!  We finally arrived at the Beachcomber after about 5 hours.  We were blown away by the setting of this place on a bluff overlooking the beach and pier below.

The view from inside the room.  There is nothing ticky-tacky about this part of San Clemente.

The view from our porch looking south.

The view looking north.

I really enjoyed watching the surfers from the porch.

Tuesday, we headed towards home, somewhat sore from the day before.  It was tempting to consider the train.  Riding back through Camp Pendleton we saw marines going through drills.

The hardest part of the ride was the final mile or two up to our street from the coast.  That's Gail collapsed on the lawn (no drama here!).

Sixty-six miles in two days on clunker bikes had me thinking about getting a gel seat cover.  Well, my birthday weekend is officially over.