After nearly 6 months of cycling, we reached our final destination of San Diego, California. It was a beautifully sunny day, and the temperature reached 25C, almost breaking the 27C record of 1952 for San Diego.
We said good bye to Sandy and Tom after a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, and even pancakes with real Canadian Maple Syrup. Thank you Sandy and Tom!
We were filled with excitement as we headed towards San Diego in the warm sunny weather. We followed bike lanes all the way to the coast, and saw many day-riders out on their Saturday morning rides. We reached the South end of Mission Bay, and we could see fog in the distance and noticed the temperature drop. Fog is rare in San Diego but it’s been showing up the on and off for the last few days. We hooked on to the bike path that followed the bay inland and it quickly warmed back up. We managed to grab a few nice photos of us and our bikes with the San Diego skyline in the background.
As it was Saturday, there were many tourists and locals out and about on the waterfront. We stopped to enjoy the scenery along the way and we ended up chatting to quite a few people curious about us. We asked about cycling in Mexico and the people we asked said that because of the notorious roads with no shoulders and many crazy drivers, but more importantly the recent drug war crimes, it probably would not be the best idea. We would love to continue cycling South into Mexico and the Baja Peninsula, but agreed that it would be a little too much excitement and risqué for us at this time of our lives.. we know many people are still doing it, but maybe we’ll wait til we have a few more grey hairs later in life.
We also me Peter, who is living around the area and had previously bicycle toured from Seattle to Oregon. He told us a story when he was once stranded on the side of the road in Oregon with a wrench that was 2mm too wide to remove his rear cassette, and a woman stopped to ask if he needed any help. After a quick explanation of his problem she pulls out a toolbox from her car and gives him the right sized wrench and told him to keep it as he’ll probably make use of it again. We both agreed that meeting all the interesting and kind people along the way is one of the best part of touring by bicycle.
After enjoying the scenery by the waterfront we continued south. We hooked onto a bike lane on a road that went through the southern industrial area of San Diego past many Navy and commercial shipping ports. It was very quiet on a Saturday, and it made for a pleasant ride especially with the great tail wind. We passed by hundred of cars still wrapped in plastic covers that were recently off-loaded from the manufacturers in Asia and Europe. A couple ladies cycled past us and commented how warm and wonderful the weather was. It seemed like the weather was putting everybody in a good mood including us!
We eventually arrived in Chula Vista and the KOA campground for the night. After setting up camp we cycled out to a discount grocery store nearby to get supplies for dinner and breakfast. In Chula Vista we definitely felt the atmosphere of the area was quite different from the waterfront towns we had been visiting along the coast. It seemed people were in a great rush to get to wherever there were going and people drove accordingly (Update – we later learned that we had crossed into the southern tip of National City just at the grocery store… which is where we could tell the atmosphere wasn’t as nice.. National City is not the nicest part of San Diego according to Wikipedia: “Although crime has dropped since the 1980s and 1990s, National City still has significant gang and drug activity, and perennially leads San Diego County in violent crime. Although in 2008, National City was homicide-free for the first time since 1963.”)
Tonight is our last night of camping on our trip, and with most KOA campgrounds we feel like we are in a deluxe campground / resort. We had the ‘Kamping Kitchens” again with the electric burners, dish washing sinks, and lighting. They have a perfectly flat and soft area filled with wood chips to pitch your tent, and picnic tables in the perfect size and weight in great condition. More importantly. they actually have hot water for their showers for a change compared to the California State Parks! I know, we are just so demanding sometimes.. The only downside was that they had a large jacuzzi that was actually open (a first at a campground!) but the water was luke warm.. But we’ll take the hot showers instead any day. 🙂
Tomorrow we are going to head down to the Mexican border for a quick photo-op, then we are going to head back up and kick back for some R&R around the San Diego area. It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last official bike day of our trip!!
Trip Around The World 
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