Hiatus From Riding to California Dreaming

Connie with Geoff and Kayoka's California and
Toyko family including Chris' two, excluding
the photographer who is not cluttering the picture.

A break in cycling border to border in exchange for a nice trip to Geoff's in Long Beach California was a lovely respite. Most activity was youngster based with three trips to the beach, a Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) day, hitting golf balls (Ian, Geoff and me), LA Science Museum, Hollywood, swinging in the parks and tons of Play Nine card playing. It got a bit warm on Sunday but the rest of the time was typical super duper southern California weather. I miss that part of California but not the crowds and traffic. Believe it or not, smog has dissipated from the early 70's with clearer views of the mountains and less exhaust odors. This picture is not the best, mainly because I lost control of my camera at KBF. It crash landed on a concrete walkway. Looking like a rear end fender bender accident---we saw several of those in just a week---I didn't think I could get it to function. Somehow I was able to get the accordian-like lens to operate even though the shutter cover was toast. I guess now is the time to move into the 21st Century. I will see if I can keep up with Alex and Ian and buy an Iphone 5. Apparently it takes super pictures. I remember dental students at Georgia taking intraoral images of their patients with eariler versions and having excellent outcomes. An Iphone would be good for my cycling having apps in that it will help with directions and distances. The GPS in the car doesn't work well in remote areas (see Seg #20 post).

The tough part of the trip was flying out of Denver to LAX. Thunderstorms had moved into the Denver area and some planes were turning around and going back to the gates. For some reason our plane was going to go. Thanks United Airlines for the hellasis white knuckled ride. Ian seemed to like being thrown around like a ping pong ball, but I was really stressed. Connie and Alex did better than me but they didn't enjoy it either. With the San Franciso and Alaska crashes coming on the heals of our flight, I have decided this may be my last plane ride, Connie too. Amtrax here we come! Yoshiharu and Mitsue, Kayoko's parents have a long ride back to Toyko: I just hope they don't have deal with a Denver-like experience.The next post on TAVRT should be a trip from the Illinois border to north of Madison, WI. Thanks for following me.