Days 1 & 2: San Diego to Boulevard, California

Two days of riding are now behind us-- I was so exhausted last night that I conked out right after dinner but there was no wifi at the campground and limited facilities for getting all the phones, garmins, cameras, iTouchs, ipads, and etc. charged,  so I didnt even try to do a new post.  Yesterday was an incredibly tough day what with lots of traffic getting out of San Diego and some absolutely interminable climbs to get us from sea level to 3000 feet.  Today was supposed to be worse but I didn't find it so---I have a new bike computer that tells me the degree of the grade so this year I have been obsessing about grade rather than mileage-- most of the climb yesterday was 5 - 8 % with one bit going up to 18%-- I walked!  Walked again very briefly this morning when it got very steep again but then my computer ran out of power so I just climbed and climbed and climbed some more without knowing how steep it was.

Now, as last night, we are at a campground on an Indian reservation.  Last night we ate at a casino buffet-- my most hated kind of dinner-- all you can eat but fortunately I didn't feel like eating much.  Tonight the staff is cooking here at the campground.  The good bits?  Usually a very good shoulder, often marked as a bike path-- some stretches badly cracked but still wide enough.  The weather has been brilliant-- very cold at night and now at 5 pm  but very pleasant for riding.  Very few dead animals on the road-- one bird, one snake in two days, only two lost and orphaned gloves, one yesterday, one today.  Motel was seedy and campgrounds very sketchy-- our tents chock-a-block but plenty of people snoring so one need not feel like a pariah.  Went out to the portapotty four times last night but at this place you must turn the brass knob to the left, punch in three numbers and turn the knob to the right so I am giving up straight away and heading for the woods.  The scenery?  Pretty good and sometimes spectacular in a very non-New England way-- lots of hills with lots of rocks and lots of sandy stone.  Daffodils are in bloom, trees in bud, and lots of other flowers including huge swaths of purple ground phlox.