Day One DIsaster

San Diego, Ca. to ,Jacumba, Ca. 54 miles (uphill), (don't do the math).

Ok, here's the deal. If every day is like today I'm done tomorrow. I got into San Diego at about 9:15 AM Saturday. I went from the airport to the beach and did the ceremonial dunking of the rear wheel. From there it was all downhill. Actually, it was all uphill,way uphill. I've never seen so much uphill. I started cramping at 35 miles. At 47 miles(uphill) I called Amy and said and I was going to have to shut it down for the day. So I went to the nearest hotel which was full. We started calling around and they were all full. There was a wildfire somewhere in the vicinity and all the hotels were booked with firefighters. Ok, so I know nobody, I have no idea where I am, I'm cramping everywhere, and I'm about to spend the night on the side of the road or perhaps a door stoop. But at least I'll be uphill. Amy finally locates a hotel in Jacumba Pop. 400 (ask me about this place sometime) IT'S THIRTY FIVE MORE MILES UPHILL! Did I mention I was cramping and that it's UPHILL! Long story short I get about 10 more miles (uphill) and I am done. Please bear in mind that I drank 8 bottles of water off my bike, 6 bottles of water purchased at stores, on extra large Gatorade, and 6 glasses of water at A subway. I'm still waiting for some of it to show up.
So, I finally get to the top of an exit where I have to ride on the interstate. It's the middle of nowhere and i see this truck parked at the exit. I mount up and ride over.
I said "hey man what you doin'?" He says "oh just trying to get cell phone signal." I said "where you headed?" He said, "east." I said " I really need to get Jacumba, I'm spent and that's the only hotel room for 50 miles." He said, "I'm only going to the next exit." I said, "how about 20 bucks." He said, "ya, I could do that."
30 minutes later I'm in Jacumba and happy to be there. 12:03 AM (still cramping)

Special thanks to Val in SD for taking pictures, James Humphrey's and Allen Wrench (seriously) at the bike shop in Alpine, Ca., Marvin Hyatt the man in the truck (my hero, and $25.00 richer, I actually gave him a bonus I was so happy), and Wiley, Jamie, and a bunch of people at the lodge and restaurant in Jacumba. You sure meet a lot of interesting people on a trip like this.
Tomorrow I head downhill for Brawley, Ca. and we'll just have to see what happens from there.
Oh, another cramp I got to go.
P.S. I'm not great grammatically anyway, but, it's tough to type on an Ipad. It's not easy to correct either.

Lincoln

Turning in rental car at airport

 

Dipping the tire

My friend Val who took my picture