Carpinteria State Beach to Los Angeles (October 11 – 12)

Carpinteria State Beach to Malibu RV Park

60 flat miles, mostly along the ocean.

This is a weird RV park – right along the ocean, end-to-end.
I had made reservations at the Malibu RV Park back in March, so we got the prime site — a great view, perched on the edge of the bluff. Our friends at Adventure Cycling were there also. We could actually see Marina del Rey – our destination tomorrow.

However, the wind was really blowing again – now I know what they mean by the “Santa Ana Winds”! Everything was dried out and brittle (tents, skin.) Putting up the tent was almost impossible — we were worried about going over the edge!

Bruce’s tent, trying to fly away

Party time!

Bruce had sent out the invitation to the O2K group, and I had talked with Edwin and Bobbi about meeting us in Malibu. Edwin cooked for us (actually, his mother cooked the food, and he brought it to us.) Fortunately, the wind died down at dinner time, again.

Malibu RV Park to Marina del Rey (Los Angeles)

The wind blew all night. And even though I had closed every door and window in my tent, a fine layer of sand coated everything when I got up. Time to end the ride, and get out of the tents. When I wandered around the other campsites, some tents that had collapsed and there was camping equipment blown all over the place.

Smokey sunrise

It was a short, 20 mile ride into Los Angeles to our hotel. In the morning, the wind was blowing so hard that we were worried about our safety — sudden gusts would blow us sideways, then swing around to hit us from other angles. Fortunately, after a leisurely brunch, it died down, and we had a mellow last day ride.

Most of the ride was on a bike path
Santa Monica

Back at the hotel we divided up our stuff — I had always been amazed that we fit everything into the van every day.

Heading Home

We all got home different ways – I took the train to Oakland (as did Beth and Tom). The tracks went right along our route for a bit, then headed inland. It was weird seeing the route go by so fast.

The fires were still burning

The next day I drove the van back to Longview, got my car, and drove home.

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