Mexico Tomorrow

Hellos!

We arrived in San Diego last Wednesday after a few days on Catalina and a few short cycling days between here and there. I was feeling pretty sick the day we arrived in the city and didn't leave the hostel much for a few days. As a result, I have not seen much of the city, but what I have seen seems really nice! I am now feeling much much better and am excited to get to the border tomorrow!

Catalina was wonderful. We saw quite a few whales and dolphins on the ferry over. It's easy to forget how close to LA you are. The little houses and cars are so cute! The island is hilly and dry and just rugged looking. It was nice to have four mostly very quiet and relaxed days there. We had hoped to stay longer and explore some of the remote campsites, but a permit is required to cycle anywhere on the conservancy land (which is about 88% of the island) and we were feeling ready to move on to somewhere warmer. The cycling was fast and easy between LA and San Diego. Lots of people on road bikes.

I have been apprehensive about cycling into the Baja, not because of the overblown security stuff you here in mainstream media, but because the roads are narrow and the trucks are big and fast. I think we've now worked out a good rough outline for the next part of our trip that will avoid the busy northern part of the peninsula. We plan to ride to the border tomorrow morning (the San Ysidro crossing) and after getting our visas hopefully find the bus depot and head to either San Quintin or El Rosario. We plan to just spend the night at either place and then bus the next day to either Guererro Negro or San Ignacio. From here I think we will bike to about Loreto, hopefully finding some nice beaches along this stretch. The tiny towns seem to be well spaced out along this route, but we aren't sure about the elevation, so plans might change. From here maybe we'll bus to La Paz and cycle the circle route between there and Los Cabos. The whales likely won't be in the area in any great numbers until mid-December, so we have to go back north a bit so we don't miss them. Then we'll ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan. From there, who knows! I guess it'll depend how much time we have. The Copper Canyon railway looks awesome - anyone been there?

Today we're just doing some bike cleaning and fixing and getting our stuff organized for Mexico! I'm excited and ready to get going!

Love,

Rill