Newport Beach, CA to Amtrak

Today, we Ride!

Newport Beach, Beach has been such a wonderful place to rest.   Can’t thank the “perfect host and hostess”, Dick and Marcia, enough.   They have nursed me back to full fighting strength and its time to start home.

Immediate travel plans are to get on the Amtrak train tonight at 6:45, sleep as much as I can on the train, pull into Albuquerque just before noon on Thursday and complete a 71 mile ride before I stop for the night.   Going East should be easier due to the winds but I will have to figure out how to adjust travel times for the sun.   Having the sun in my face the first half of the day will be new and it also makes me harder to see by car drivers since the sun is in their eyes as well.   I am a big fan of ensuring the cars see me easier.   It will be worked out.

A couple of things about Miracle Go (MG):

1. I just a “wet” oil for her chain.   This works great if there is a lot of rain but there wasn’t.   So the heavy oil basically collected all the dust in the air on the chain and every now and again would fling it on the bike – it was filthy.   I am now using a dry oil which works great when there is no rain.   If we do run into regular rain then I will have to reapply on a regular basis.   In any case MG does look good.
2. The only things lost thus far (that I know about) are my two water bottles so I picked up a couple of new bottles.   One of the problem with water bottles is their shape makes it hard to wash them.   The latest thing?   Water bottles when both the top and bottom unscrew for easy cleaning.   What a great idea.
3. When I started to get flats in the back, I got tubes, at the recommendation of a local expert, that were filled with a liquid that seals itself should there be any tube punctures usually called “slime”.   There is a new stuff out that doesn’t use slime (which I was told slows the link but doesn’t really seal) but a nylon fiber kinda’ stuff that actually does seal.    It is now in both tires.
4. Replaced the batteries in my “Cat’s Eye” device that records trip parameters.   The funny thing is how the simple things can cause problems.   When the batteries were replaced I lost the odometer and clock settings.   The odometer is a non-issue since I can just add the 2590 miles out to the new total (that will start at zero) and that is that.   The clock is more important because after hours on the bike the time helps answer the ever present question, “am I there yet?”

On a personal note you have to laugh now and again.  This morning as I am trying to get my daily post completed, my “vision” just didn’t seem right.   Turns out I was wearing the glasses where the lens fell out and I put it back in and the lens was again, gone.    Backup up glasses on, vision restored, now where did the lens go?

Something we don’t talk about much is trust.   Here I am 2500 hundred miles from home, bike in poor shape, and you need the bike fixed.   My uncle found a shop here in Newport Beach called “Trail’s End Cycling Center”.    When we delivered MG to them yesterday it was like putting your best friend’s future in the hands of a stranger.    However, I trusted that they would do a good job.   When I picked MG up and heard what they had done and the price charges for the services, I KNEW that I picked the right place.    Highly recommend the Trail’s End Cycling Center to anyone that wants their bike fixed right the first time.   I am willing to stack them up against any bike shop (same sentiments about “Baer’s Wheels” in the Columbus, OH area.

As I am packing and getting everything to go my schedule will be a little off.    The last thing I will do is to publish this post.   I will be on the train all night and then trying to get 71 miles under my belt on Thursday.   I may or may not be able to get a post done on Thursday since I may not make it all the way to Santa Fe and the small towns in between don’t look like they are big enough to have basic services (WiFi).   Worst case is I don’t post on Thursday but will certainly get something out by Friday (with at least one train picture).

Also want to thank YOU!   It you could read my mind you would have “heard” the many times that I doubted myself and wanted to give up.   Your comments and wishes kept me going and WE made it!    You are my heroes and I am in your debt.

Interesting quote of the week, I saw this comment in a weekly financial commentary sheet, “Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”   I would add to the end of this quote, … and each citizen that supports it (American ideals).

As I said in the beginning, today One last thing . . . We ride!