Two of us are crossing USA at the moment, and here are the first few
despatches I have been able to send.
>From: "Christine W" <christineweir@hotmail.com>
>Subject: hi from USA
>Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 23:31:08 PDT
>
>Hi everyone!
>
>Well, we made it ok yesterday, after a 12 hour flight and not much
>sleep, feeling ok though. Once through Immigration I was through
>Customs so fast that I was out in the foyer where people were meeting
>passengers, and didn't realise that I had been through Customs!
>Probably drug smugglers and crooks don't carry bikes wrapped up in
>see-through plastic so the customs guy didn't bother about me.
>
>It took us a couple of hours to unpack and assemble our bikes, there
>was no damage, apart from damage to my wallet from the $20 that
>Ansett demanded to get it to Auckland, and the $30 US that United
>extracted after barganing them to only charge for one bike (i.e. $60
>US per bike per flight). If they want that much to take it to
>Amsterdam and again to come back again, I'll be leaving it in New
>York and hiring one in Amsterdam.
>
>So here we were, outside LAX terminal with traffic roaring past,
>buses and taxis moving along, and a repetitive public announcement
>that I must have heard 100 times. There are a couple of benches just
>outside the exit doors so we commandeered them and unwrapped and
>ended up with a big pile of plastic and bubble wrap and plastic wrap
>and stuffed all that in the rubbish bin, did a test ride, loaded on
>the panniers, took a deep breath and set off. We had been warned that
>this is practically a death-track and NOBODY rides out of the
>airport. Well, it was a doddle. Thanks to splendid instructions from
>Phil who had kindly driven the route the previous week and sent
>detailed directions, we bowled along these big roads and were
>surprised that there was so little traffic. Cars were giving us a
>wide berth (I wonder why) and some people stared curiously and others
>ignored us.
>
>By the time we got to Long Beach I had already distinguished myself
>twice.
>
>Firstly by making a left turn onto a major road (Pacific Coast
>HIghway) and going onto the left side. Fortunately the oncoming cars
>were quite a long way away as they had just left the lights further
>up the road. I rode up the footpath and across the pedestrian
>crossing to join Madi again. I did it again tonight and it didn't
>matter because it was in the suburbs and there was no oncoming
>traffic.
>
>Second episode yesterday was riding into a garage to get some water.
>This guy was sitting sunning himself in a lounge chair outside the
>garage, a novel way to wait for customers I thought. I asked him if
>there was a tap where I could get some water, and when he didn't
>understand I assumed he was Spanish or something so I shook the water
>bottle and asked where I could fill it. "I don't know" he said, "I am
>a customer". Oops. Found the proprietor who said that their water
>comes from rusty pipes so we probably wouldn't want that. Correct!
>
>We spent an enjoyable evening with Philip in Long Beach, went out for
>an American humungous sized meal, plotted the route for today, and
>hit the sack.
>
>This morning we went to breakfast in the same cafe with Philip and
>Annette, my first experience with American pancakes! A huge stack of
>them, with syrup and enormous strawberries.
>
>Whoever wrote that song It Never Rains In California was lying. We
>rode 110 km (about 75 miles) in light rain, heavy rain, heavier rain,
>and cold wind. It was a character-building day, and a good test of
>all my gear. I was wet through, yet still nice and warm. The first
>part of the trip was on the Pacific Coast Highway, a really nice road
>with a bike path right beside the beach, down to Huntington Beach
>where we turned East onto the Santa Ana bikeway which follows the
>Santa Ana river. The scenery is nothing much, lots of peoples back
>yards, industrial back yards, a concrete channel in the river,
>however it was great to be riding away from traffic so I really
>enjoyed it. And it was flat, gradually rising, and mostly paved.
>
>Tonight we are staying with Eleanor in Riverside California, and
>again have been so well looked after. Eleanor is a true cyclist - she
>has 3 bikes in her lounge! Her drying rack is full of wet gear,
>drying well with the central heating on.
>
>One of the roads we went on to get here is Victoria Ave, which went
>on and on and on, probably about 8 km or so. We spotted a grove of
>orange trees and stopped and ate some of the oranges that were lying
>on the ground, and I picked a couple off the tree to have my first
>fresh orange, yum. There was no sign there, so we presumed they were
>freely available. On the same road there was also a big median strip
>with roses in bloom, and pink cherry blossom trees out in flower.
>
>If the rest of the trip continues so well, it will be a doddle.
>However, all this is about to change a little. Tonight we are
>planning our foray into the southern Mojave desert, and were planning
>to go to Twenty Nine Palms which we just found out is a big army
>base, big boys tanks and trucks and things, so that doesn't sound too
>pleasant so we might take a different look at that.
>
>It might be a while before I find internet access again, so there
>will probably be lots to tell next time!
>
>take care
>Christine