Erin & Josie in Santa Cruz

From San Jose, we headed to Santa Cruz and stayed with Gail’s great cousins, Andy, Erin, and their daughter, Josie. We also met up with my Ohio cousins, Cindy, David, and Marley, and their friend Vanessa Rose.

Vanessa Rose, David, Marley, & Cindy

We hadn’t seen them since we were in Cleveland and were very happy to see them again!

We could have stayed much longer in Santa Cruz – it was that beautiful and interesting – but overnight was all the time we had. It was the same situation as we had in getting to Sacramento – we had to get to San Diego by the 12th as Roy’s was throwing a Food & Beer Event at their restaurant in La Jolla to celebrate and support Bike Free! We sent out tons of letters and press releases to media, bicycle clubs and groups, military and veterans support organizations, and everyone we thought might be interested in the Bike Free mission.

Riding Down the coast on Route 1

We headed down Route 1 along the Pacific Coast and serendipity! We met up with Bob, a cyclist we met in Yellowstone National Park. The three of us had traveled through Yellowstone and Yellowstone and up to Butte.Montana together.

The spectacular Pacific coast

He was traveling with another cyclist – Jesse who just spent 4 months on a kibbutz in Israel herding goat. The four of us rode down the spectacular coast, camping at Big Sur. And into the Jade Festival. We parted ways because they were taking their time and we had no choice but to keep going.

Bike parking at The Establishment

It wasn’t what we wanted but we had a commitment to be in San Diego by the 12th and there was no way we could bike that distance and get there on time. So Adam and I decided that we will go back and bike the parts of California we missed and do group presentations and fund-raising when we are not constrained by time. So we rode to San Luis Obispo where we stayed at a co-housing and were treated like friends. Thank you Brant, Tammi, Garret and the rest of the Establishment!

We rode some more and then hopped on a train to Los Angeles where we stayed with my cousin, Don Griffin. We love trains but we love bikes more. Thank goodness Adam and I found a few odd jobs to fund the train. Like I said, Bike Free only takes care of our calories. The rest is up to us.

While in LA, Don took us out to The Baked Potato to see a friend of his, Anna Mjöll, an Icelandic jazz singer and songwriter. The Baked Potato is a jazz club and Anna was amazing and the band was hot. Thank you, Don!

Ryan Griffin

Then we rode to beautiful Newport Beach where we were met by Don’s son, Ryan, my third cousin. Ryan treated us like brothers and fed us at his restaurant, Bear Flag Fish Company, where we ate some of the best opah we’ve ever had. Thank you Ryan!

I write this on a train going through Camp Pendleton. We’ll bike the last 10-15 miles to the Hyatt Hotel in La Jolla where we’ll shower up and get ready for tonight. Thank you Roy’s!

On our bikes

We’re looking forward to seeing our Roy’s ohana tonight. There’s going to be a Silent Auction to benefit Bike Free and Adam’s bringing his IPad so we can play our photo slideshow of the great Bike Free journey!

We’re also looking forward to seeing Roy Yamaguchi again – the man who created a restaurant company guided by values and the Aloha Spirit! We’re very grateful to you and Roy’s for supporting Bike Free and hosting this Food & Beer Event for us!

If you live in the San Diego area, we hope we’ll see you at Roy’s La Jolla tonight!

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