STARTING THE BIKE RIDE ACROSS U.S.A

It felt great to be out on the road again. The city of San Diego, in the state of California, is in the most southern western part of the U.S. Resting next to the Pacific Ocean and just a few hours bike ride from Mexico, it was as good a place as any to start a U.S. coast to coast bicycle ride.
Firstly, I left San Diego (and all its low flying aircraft) and headed north on the famous Route 101. This is a gorgeous trip over rolling hills which hugged the Pacific coastline. Passing fancy neighbourhoods and too many restaurants that were outside my budget. The temptation was strong to just keep going north through Los Angeles and on to San Francisco, but I was supposed to be heading east not north. And besides, fly tentin' (i.e. to put up the tent illegally in some random spot) opportunities were of slim picking. After a day of biking north, I headed east. Along Route 76 through many Indian reservations. Then along past Lake Henshaw and into Anza Borrego desert state park. It felt good to be heading back into the desert. There's just something real special about heading into a desert on a bicycle.