If I can make it to Alpine, I may be able to make it anywhere...

Day one, after a spin around my sister Amber's city block with a loaded bike (the true extent of my training), I figured I was as ready as ever I would be. So I set out from an Ocean Beach, CA park with a cliff bar and enough ignorance of what 2000 feet worth of elevation really meant to start pedaling. The first two thirds of the route were confidence building teasers compared to the last third which had me wondering if I could be the first person to walk a loaded bicycle across the country--after a certain point I sure seemed to have more of a knack for that than pedaling.

Though it took quite some time, and left me in the dark for a while, I finally made it to my Dad's cousin Bea's--a wonderful promise of hospitality and respite that kept me going longer than that of a dark, hard to find campsite would have. Yesterday alone I met a few very nice people, mostly cyclists who shared their touring stories and didn't look at me like I was completely unprepared and out of shape, which was nice of them. Overall, I am very encouraged by day one. The next 30 miles of my route offers another 2000 ft climb, so I may break it up into two parts, especially if that's the key to keeping my spirits up. After that, it's literally downhill and then pretty flat all the way to Phoenix. Thanks so so much to Amber, Nathan and Bea for all the generous hospitality. Peace!