Now That's What I Call Music Volume VII

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All Kinds Of Everything* (Wednesday)

We stayed in Dana Point last night.  It was one of the better hotels but our dinner booking turned out to be in a restaurant that has closed down.  Instead ,we shopped in the nearby supermarket and took over the breakfast room for a make-shift group meal.  At some point someone decided it would be fun to have some karaoke.  My group are plucky cyclists but horrible singers!  

*you need the singer

Road To Nowhere (Thursday)

The day to San Diago is always exciting because it requires 7 miles riding the shoulder of I5.  Yesterday was even more exciting because the Marines had decided to close the bike path that precedes this section, while they practiced transferring men and materials by helicopter to a ship moored offshore.  Wankers.  Rather than placing a sign at the point where riders should divert they had a solider 6 miles down the road to turn people back.  Wankers.

The net result of this was up to 12 bonus miles including an extra 10 on the shoulder of I5, during which no fewer than 6 picked up punctures from tiny shards of wire from shredded truck tires.  Onanists.  The last few got in at 18:30 after well over 10 hours riding

It's The End Of The World as We Know It (Thursday)

My previous west coast trips have always finished in San Diego but we turn left and start heading inland for the desert and Phoenix.  We have now cycled off the edge of my known universe and on the map it says 'here be dragons'...they are probably just big salamanders but I'll certainly be careful.

Billie Jean**

One of our group headed home today... apparently he has to meet the King.  I think he made the wrong call.

**Think tennis

A Horse with No Name (Friday)

After 20 miles working our way through the inland suburbs of San Diego we joined Olde Highway 80 and headed into the desert. We spent the whole day climbing and we are now at about 4000 feet so the heat has yet to hit us, but tomorrow we will dive down onto the plain that will carry us to Phoenix.  We can expect highs of about 93f/33c which is positively chilly compared with the worst case scenario of 105f or more.

Frosty The Snowman

We are staying in Pine Valley and every single bit of our pre-trip research told me that the town and the motel would be grim; I couldn't have been more wrong.  The little town is spick and span and the motel is cared for with helpful staff.  My research had also showed that the only place to eat was a burger joint called Frosty Burger.  This little gem turned out to be a proper 60s style (and probably actually dating from then) non-franchised place serving excellent burgers.  The only seating was outside but it was sunny and we were happy to catch the last rays of the day.  As we sat there a small farm vehicle turned up containng mom, dad, 2 kids and three dogs.  Nothing unusual there...except the driver was the young son who was probably no more than 5.

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