The One That Got Away

Having a clear plan each morning is a excellent way to start the day and keep you focused when distractions come along. Then again, a plan might just be setting you up for disappointment when those plans come crumbling down. Many of my days have not started with a clear plan (other than direction of travel) and yet here I am in San Diego. That said, sometimes it’s good to have a plan and today I actually had one. A vague one.

They (I don’t know who) say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If it’s true then my day got off to a great start as my day began with breakfast with Craig and Sue. A very good breakfast of eggs and sausage that Sue cooked up.

Today’s plan required me to get an early start to the day – although, not nearly as early as my previous two mornings. While I still don’t particularly enjoy mornings, I am slowly getting better at them – regardless of what time I go to bed. Last night wasn’t particularly late, so getting up early was easy. Plus I was looking forward to the day.

The basic plan for the day was to explore some of San Diego. It took 115 days to get here so I figured I should take some time to look around. To do that, I needed to take the ferry back across San Diego Bay. The ferry normally costs $4.75; however, there are a few early morning commuter crossings which are free (and include a free return ticket). I aimed to be on the last commuter crossing at 8:35 am. Given that it’s about a 30 minute ride back to the ferry, my plan was to leave at 7:30 am. I was actually on the road by 7:45 am.

Fortunately, it was a very easy ride and I made it to the ferry dock with plenty of time to spare. I even got to do a little fishing. Well, sort of. The fishing was actually being done by someone else and he had actually caught something. Something big. He called over for some help. Moments later I was holding onto the rod while he tried to haul in his catch. I don’t know exactly what was on the end of the line but I’ll call it a stingray and let someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Whatever it was, bringing it in wasn’t going to be easy. Despite its size and estimated weight of 100 pounds, it really wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Then again, it really didn’t need to as pulling it up to the dock clearly wasn’t going to happen. Instead, the fisherman opted to walk it along the dock to shore. I left him to his task as the ferry had arrived and I needed to be on it.

I watched from the ferry as he slowly walked his way along the dock towards shore. He managed to get it close enough to the shore where he could jump from the dock to retrieve his prize. I’m not exactly sure what happened next but it ended with him shouting, “Noooooo!” A few splashes later, his prize was gone. As the ferry pulled away, the fisherman had returned to end of dock to try again while undoubtedly thinking about the one that got away.

My plan once I reached the other side was to take a tour of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier, which since 2004 has been a museum. It’s a museum that doesn’t open until 10:00 so I had a bit of time to fill. Some of that time was filled at the Visitor INFO Center where I met the manager, Jeanette. We chatted for a while, talked about my ride to San Diego, and she suggested a few tourist attractions including the USS Midway tours. As it turns out, it’s cheaper to buy tickets from the INFO Center than at the museum – plus there’s no waiting in line. The only bad part about my stop at the INFO Center was that I left without getting a photo with Jeanette.

The USS Midway Museum comes highly recommended and it doesn’t disappoint. At least, it didn’t disappoint me. It’s a self-guided tour allowing you to go wherever you want and then use your personal audio device to supplement your tour. There are three portions of the tour which you can explore at your leisure. Most of my time was spent on the Flight Deck, because … well, that’s what I was interested in. However, there’s also the Hangar Deck and the City at Sea portions. Due to time constraints, I never made it down to the City at Sea levels.

On the Flight Deck, I sat in on a couple of presentations on launching and landing (aka. recovery) given by retired pilots with actual aircraft carrier experience. I can only imagine the adrenaline rush from your first launch and recovery. Despite the seemingly large size of the carrier, they have to land in an area about the size of a tennis court. And the tennis court is moving. And about a third of the time the recoveries are done at night. It’s pretty remarkable.

In addition to the audio tours, there was also a guided tour of the bridge area which, in addition to being very interesting, also offers a great view of the Flight Deck from above.

I would’ve liked to have spent more time on the USS Midway but there were other things I wanted to do today and with sunset occurring earlier every day, I had to move on. One of those things was to cycle down to Border Field State Park. The official end of the Pacific Coast cycling route.

Border Field State Park is about 30 km from downtown. As much of the cycling would be through the city, I was sure to encounter more than a few red lights. And I did. Along the way I passed Petco Field, home of the San Diego Padres. Earlier in the day I had considered taking a tour of the stadium but the timing didn’t work out. Plus, I figured the millionaire ballplayers and owners really don’t need my money. Seriously, stadium tours should be free.

Shortly after 5:00 I had arrived at Border Field State Park. About ten minutes later I was at the Pacific Ocean. I dipped my hand in the ocean and officially marked the end of my trek along the Pacific Coast Route. I stood there for quite a while, looking north to San Diego, then looking out onto the ocean, and then south where Mexico was clearly visible. It was a pretty satisfying sense of accomplishment.

I’ve now cycled across Canada, and down both the east and west coasts. Nearly 18,000 km in total. That said, I can’t help but think the Southern Tier needs to be conquered. I mean, what’s another 4,500 km? Besides, each of my cycling tours has been longer than the previous tour and at the moment my current ride is about 200 km shorter than last year’s ride. Clearly, I have to keep pedalling. Florida, here I come.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Before I can head to Florida I need to get some dinner and get back to Craig and Sue’s place – preferably before dark.

Dinner ended up being at K Pasta which obviously specializes in pasta. K Pasta was always part of my plan for the day. Sue had recommended it and I thought it would be fitting to finish the Pacific Coast Route with some really good pasta. After all, I had cooked and eaten a lot of bad pasta to get here!

Throughout the day thoughts of pasta entered my mind – which is somewhat strange as I generally don’t think of food like that. I guess I just wanted some good spaghetti. The again, maybe I didn’t want some good spaghetti as much as I thought. It turns out what I really wanted was lasagna. Very cheesy lasagna. Very cheesy and delicious lasagna.

Truth be told, I was ready to order a spaghetti dinner when the girl behind the counter mentioned today’s special. Lasagna. As much as I like spaghetti, I like lasagna more. And let’s face it, I can make spaghetti on the road. Not particularly good spaghetti. But spaghetti nonetheless. I won’t be making lasagna on the road anytime soon.

I don’t know how good the spaghetti would’ve been but the lasagna was excellent. As was the salad and garlic bread that accompanied it. It was so good that I just leisurely enjoyed my dinner on the patio while being completely oblivious to the fact that the sun was setting. Turns out I wouldn’t be back at Craig and Sue’s before dark.

Fortunately, I had my lights with me and most of the ride was along a bike path completely separated from the flow of traffic. Side note: While I had lights on my bike, I couldn’t help but notice that there were a LOT of cyclists that were riding without lights. That certainly won’t help ease the tension with other vehicles on the road.

I arrived back at the house around 7:30 and joined Craig and Sue for a relaxing evening in front of the TV. I really can’t remember the last time I watched TV like that.

Before calling it a night, Sue asked me if I had decided where I would be going tomorrow. The truth is, I hadn’t. While the decision to go to Florida is official, there’s a slight problem with that plan at the moment. Despite this being the recommended time of year to cycle the Southern Tier, it’s currently unseasonably hot and cycling into the desert with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius is generally not recommended. As such, I may need to hide out somewhere for a few days with the hope that the desert temperatures will become more cycle-friendly.

I told Sue I’d decide in the morning.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 65.14 km
Ride time: 3:14:47
Average speed: 20.06 km/h
Maximum speed: 37.66 km/h