Seg # 58 & # 59 Ojai Valley-Ventura River & Port Hueneme Bch Trl 5_2-3_15

Start	Ojai, CA	N  34.44574  W 119.24682	S-N mi 19.7
End	Oxnard,CA	N 34.16283 W 119.22607	TrlLgth 26.2mi Ride 27mi

Ride hr   2:53    AVS 11 mph      MXS 21 mph     DST  27 mi NW 15-20 mph   TMP 62       KCal 1992

The northern start point was Ojai and the southern end point was south

 of  Oxnard. The Port Hueneme Beach Trail is the small trail south of Oxnard

We got to Ojai from Ventura about 6:30 p.m. where I rode about four miles of the north end of the trail. It was getting dark so we started looking for a place to stay. But like most destination areas, the motels were all full. So we drove to Ventura for a great meal at The Lure  located in the heart of downtown. I had to have seafood, and that I did---the best crab ever! After a deep restful night of sleep at the Comfort Inn, we loaded up and drove to the spot I had ridden to the evening before. The upper end of the Ventura River trail is picturesque but not so pretty as we got closer to Ventura. Oil drilling is king along the lower end of the trail. A top ten trail at the Ojai end morphed into a mediocre trail at the Ventura end. As we rode further, the Ventura Beach Trail that paralleled the ocean and beach upped my trail ranking number to somewhere in the top ten trail.  Part of the ride was south along Mandalay Road and South Harbor Boulevard to the pick-up point at Albacore. Because it was Sunday morning, I saw more riders on the upper half of the trail than I have witnessed on most trails. I am guessing I saw up to seventy-five bikers pedalling their way to good health and a delicious  breakfast or a carafe of wine.

Geoff and me at the north end of Ojai-Ventura River Trail.

A couple school teachers were so kind as to rescue me 

from  my ill attempts at a "selfie". I couldn't get the hills and 

valleys in the picture but they did. Thanks ladies. 

 background, Thank you ladies. 

 Part of the trail had a rough surface. I call it "pebbly" in that it had lumps, likely rocks impregnated in what a appeared to be asphalt. The vibrating surface caused shaking of every bone bone in my body. It would have been nice to have a fair warning before I hit the rumble strip-like surface.. I don't know if this was a mistake or some just had some extra asphalt left over and dumped it without proper trouling. Tree roots under the trail added to the shake factor. Geoff met me at the end of the route in the marina at Albacore.

We headed to the start point north of Port Hueneme near Carty Park. Since the Port Hueneme ride was such a brief trip and nothing particularly "sticks out" about this ride, I decided to add Segment # 59 (Port Hueneme) to this post. You would think that a former photography nut would have at least taken one picture. The memory bank images send to this brain did not register anything. nor did the Samsung Note 3 I have been using the past two years.I did a lot of black white photography in the 70's through the 90's.with my own darkrooms. The best darkroom I ever built was in Ames. I had about every toy and tool a person needs to do great things. But when digital photography came along and when black and white roll film became more difficult to find, I lost interest in photography. Now I just shoot a bunch of pictures and let the automatic settings do their thing. It is a creative art like it used to be when I was stationed in the Azores. That's where I really got excited about the art of photography. My air force buddies Craig and Steve would invite on photo shoots all over Terceira, the island where Lajes Field was located. I took hundreds of images of rock formations, waves crashing into the shores, Portuguese children playing and their elders doing such such bizarre things as dressing in their Sunday best and then taking their favorite pig for a stroll through the island's main city, Praia. One of my favorite pictures was one of a Portuguese framer that  had his pig loaded in a trailer. I imagine the pig was going to slaughter. Both the farmer and the pig had the same facial expression. I thought it was a great picture, but a mucky-muck photography teacher at UCLA thought it was a joke that I had put up this picture as a work of art. I never forget his words, "interesting snap shot Mr. Maze". Snap Shot! I dropped the class that night. To hell with'em if they can't recognize talent.

Seg #59 Port Hueneme Streets and Beach Trail

Start	P Hueneme(N), CA	N  34.165139  W 119.185969	S-N mi 1.7
End	PH Beach (S),CA	N 34.140538 W 119.19059	TrlLgth 2.2mi Ride 2.7mi

Ride hr   :33    AVS 11 mph      MXS 18 mph     DST  2.7 mi NW 15-20 mph   TMP 65       KCal 292

As best as I can remember the trail in Port Hueneme was mostly concrete. A smooth ride in  mostly residential areas. The US Navy has a large base here called the Naval Base Ventura County. The base was restructured in 2000 by merging the Naval Air Station Point Mugu with the Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme. I didn't get near the base but I bet some of the young men I saw on the trail were Navy personnel. numbers over 19,000 of which nearly  2,600 are Seabees. Seabee training started here in 1941 and remains the major such training facility on the west coast. Keep us safe seamen!

Geoff and I were on schedule and ready to head back to Long Beach around 3 p,m. Lucky for me my granddaughters,  Kari and Kiara,  gave up their bedroom so their tired-out old grandpop could catch up on some sleep.