It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

Cardiff, CA to Coronado, CA

September 23, 2015

By: Mark

Comments Off on It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
Cardiff, CA to Coronado, CA

With the passing of Yogi Berra yesterday, it only seemed fitting to use a “Yogi-ism” for the title of this update today. And given the way this morning began, this particular “Yogi-ism” seemed to fit perfectly.

After my very enjoyable evening with Tom and Terry last night and subsequent arrival at the campground in the dark, I once again found myself rising before the sun this morning.

At the risk of repeating yesterday’s update, I’m not saying I was trying to leave early in an attempt get out of the park without paying but if nobody happened to be manning the booth when I cycled past, well … I wasn’t going to feel guilty. Turns out there was nobody manning the gate. And I didn’t feel guilty. The day was certainly starting with a bit of a deja vu feeling to it. And I was okay with that. After all, yesterday was a good day.

After leaving the campground, my day began where much of my time was spent yesterday. The library. It wasn’t quite as good of an experience this morning but still productive. The only reason it wasn’t as good is that it would seem they turn off the power outlets overnight. Fortunately, the WiFi was still working. The need for power outlets was somewhat diminished now that I was armed with an ACA map, so my fading phone battery wasn’t as much of a concern.

As mentioned yesterday, today’s big event would be my arrival in San Diego. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 114 days since I started my ride and yet, here I am. On San Diego’s doorstep.

Given the short nature of today’s ride, I opted to take the scenic route as suggested by Tom and Terry (and the ACA map they gave me). The ride went past Torrey Pines Golf Course, and apparently past a gliding site before heading along the coast. I say apparently because I was told about the gliding site later but somehow managed to not see it for myself.

As has been the case for much of my recent coastal ride, there was not a shortage of surfers to observe. And today appeared to be a good day for surfing. I base that on the number of surfers on the water and not from any actual surfing experience.

I ended up watching the surfers for about 30 minutes. It really did look fun. Except for the part about actually being in the water just waiting to drown. Clearly the surfers did not share my concerns. The other thing I noticed is that surfing (at least at this beach) seemed to be predominantly male-oriented. In the sea of surfers I was watching, I only noticed one woman. She seemed to be pretty good and had a few very impressive runs. Of course, not the one where I actually took a photo.

Do you love me, do you Surfer Girl?
(Surfer Girl, my little Surfer Girl)

Other than a leisurely ride and watching surfers, there were a couple of items on the agenda for the day. Both involved parcel delivery. A couple of days ago I bought something online through Amazon.com and had it delivered to an Amazon Locker. Prior to this purchase, I didn’t know such things existed. But they do. They’re exactly what they sound like. And it’s great for travellers without a fixed mailing address. Of course, given my recent struggles with deliveries I was cautiously optimistic things would actually work out. Spoiler Alert: Things worked out.

Much like my arrival in other big cities, my arrival in San Diego was not met with a big “Welcome” sign. In fact, it seems that the smaller the town the bigger the sign. The best I could find was a Mission Bay Park sign and I figured it would be the best I would get. As such, it officially marked my arrival in San Diego.

From there I worked my way downtown to 7-Eleven, the home of the Amazon Locker. For what it’s worth, there are actually a few Amazon Lockers in San Diego. I picked this one as it was close to the ferry I would need to take later.

Amazon Locker.

The Amazon Locker experience worked as well as I could have hoped. There was a wall of lockers and a touchscreen. I entered my access code and, voila, one of the doors popped open to reveal my parcel. How easy (and cool) is that? Fortunately, the box wasn’t too big and I was able to fit it inside my rear pannier – well, almost anyway. I would open it later.

From there, I needed to take a short ferry over to Coronado Island as bicycles aren’t allowed on the bridge. It was either that or take a 40 km detour. I opted for the ferry. And so, I headed back a few blocks to board the ferry from San Diego to Coronado Island. Home to my Warm Showers hosts for the next two nights. And, if all went well, it would also be home to the end of my UPS tire delivery saga.

Having missed their delivery guarantee back in Morro Bay (oh so many days ago) and again failing to deliver on time to The UPS Store in Goleta, the saga was scheduled to finally come to an end today. Tom and Terry at The UPS Store in Goleta (not to be confused with the Tom and Terry I met yesterday) have been great in this ordeal. As such, they arranged to have my tire shipped to The UPS Store on Coronado Island without me having to deal with UPS directly. My tire was actually scheduled to arrive yesterday so I figured it didn’t matter what time I arrived today. Spoiler Alert: It didn’t.

Return to sender. GRRRR.

It didn’t matter what time I arrived because my tire wasn’t waiting for me when I got there. Cue the rage. Fortunately, I managed to avoid spontaneously combusting – but only barely. It would seem my tire did in fact arrive yesterday, but as each store is individually owned (like Subway), they all have their own policies. This store apparently doesn’t hold parcels and as such returned it to Tom and Terry in Goleta. This, despite the fact that Tom had written on the package (in big letters) not to refuse delivery and that a cyclist would be picking it up.

As bad as all this is, I also find it remarkable that not only did they refuse the package but it was sent back same day service – that’s faster than what the original parcel delivery was supposed to take. I would later get confirmation from Tom that he once again was in possession of my tire. I think he was almost as frustrated as I was. Almost. They say misery loves company!

In contrast to Tom and Terry, the staff in Coronado were much less helpful so any conversation with them was pointless. Although, they do the “deer in the headlights” look really well. I was really hoping to take a photo with me and my tire in front of The UPS Store in Coronado but clearly that was impossible. I had to settle for a photo of the store. As I did so, a UPS employee (as indicated by the brown UPS shirt he was wearing) was glaring at me through the window. I went in for a brief chat. It went something like this, Him: “Is there something wrong?” (dismissive tone). Me: “Nope, I just can’t get UPS to deliver anything to me.” (perhaps with an equally dismissive tone). Him: “Oh. Have a nice day.” Quite frankly, it’s the kind of response I would expect.

With my rage intact and my tire in Goleta, I got back on my bike to enjoy some cycle therapy. It’s remarkable how soothing a leisurely bike ride can be. And I was certainly in need of a soothing bike ride. Fortunately, the last few kilometres of my ride fit that description. Although, I did get a sense that this was not the most bicycle-friendly community I’d ever been in. Quite frankly, at times it bordered on hostile. Not aggressive, but it seemed like I was getting a lot of glares as I pedalled through town. It was very peculiar but attributed it to my UPS frustrations.

Welcome to San Diego.

By 4:30, I had made my way across the island and met Craig and Sue, my Warm Showers hosts. And they were incredibly nice. And welcoming. And interesting. The rest of the afternoon was spent on their back patio, overlooking the docks, enjoying chips, salsa, beer, a great dinner and equally great conversation.

To say that Craig and Sue are incredibly interesting people would be an gross understatement. Suffice it to say, it was very enjoyable talking to them about cycling, sailing (well, I mostly listened as I’ve only been on sailboat twice), and travel adventures. And they were happy to offer suggestions as to things to do when I explore San Diego tomorrow.

Side note: It turns out I didn’t misread the bicycle-unfriendliness situation. Apparently there have been some issues in the community of late and the result has been growing tensions between drivers and riders.

It’s a little late to try to keep this update short, but I’ll wrap things up by saying it was another great day on the road (UPS notwithstanding) and I’m looking forward to exploring San Diego tomorrow. I guess technically my ride to San Diego is officially over, but with more pedalling on the agenda for tomorrow I feel it’s not REALLY over. And as Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over `til it’s over.”

That said, I have officially reached San Diego so some totals should be noted.