A 15 month Adventure of an Intrepid Norfolkian: Everything's Groovy... Maybe a bit too Groovy

Picture this...

Relaxing on the outskirts of LA in Long Beach in the hot tub at around 100 degrees fahrenheit, lapping up the mid 30s heat of the sun with beer in hand and the bike (now named Ingrid the On One Inbred) peering over at me, longing to be ridden. Well that has pretty much what my first one and half weeks have consisted of. Cycling has been kept to a minimum and I am probably average less than 50 miles a day, however I keep reminding myself that "I have got fifteen months for me to get close to my girl and these things have to take time...". I have already made her look ~~stunning~~ ridulous, to stop any pikey from being tempting to take my baby from me when she is not in my sight; I have also oiled her up a few times and she is finding her gear just right.

Ingrid in all her beauty

The poor gurl all ladened up...

So about California. It has been superb! The people I have found here are the most enthused, interested and hospitable people I have met in any developed western country. A great example of this is just the shear amount of families that have been happy to host, feed and supply me on my travels. On a couple of occasions I have been offered a place to stay from just chatting with people on the road and I have even been welcomed into people's homes by just knocking on their door and asking for a piece of lawn to set my tent on; not only that, they have fed, bathed (not literally, because that would be strange) and provided a warm and safe place to sleep in the form of a bed. If I mentioned all the names the list would be extremely long, so I will mention a few that have gone the extra mile and really surprised me by how kind and caring they have been: namely, Darlene and Dan (who not only providing me with spiritual protection, but protection in the form of a 6" flip blade), Ryan and Murdoch (who were happy to share contacts all along the Pacific Coast and parts of Central and South America; as well as getting some groovy photos with the firearms) and Jim and Mary (who took me into their beautiful coastal home from the street and fed me a meal fit for a king) among many many others..! (including some Hispanic farmers who put me up for a night... conversation was limited)

The view from Gary and Michelle's home in Cayucos

I have a number of reasons for doing this trip and one of those is for the adventure; i.e. to put myself in uncomfortable situations that I would have to solve and crawl out of. So far, this adventure has been more of a luxurious holiday - I have honestly bathed and showered more than I would at home, I have spent only one night under canvas and I wouldn't be surprised if I have put on a few pounds from all this delightful American cuisine I have been forced into eating (not that I was complaining).

I hate to do it (take photos of food), but here are my first ever American Waffles with Murdoch's special topping

The only hiccups I have had on this trip are being escorted off the freeway (the equivalent of a motorway) by the highway police - I did wonder why cars were flying past me so quickly and I was getting the occasional toot from a Californian; the thing that actually made my mind click was when I got a siren and an announcement from the highway police telling me to "Please, get off of the highway". Among other things, my camera has died and I had to buy a new one and cycling through a few not so quaint areas with gangstars hurling a bit of lip and climbing a F*** O** large pass in extreme heat with little water.

The f*** o** large pass into Santa Barbara

My time in California and the US are nearly up and it has been absolutely fantastic and many good memories and friends have been made and not a lot of bad ones. Next up is Mexico, Baja California; which essentially is a desert, this should make for some interesting stories and a bit more adventure and I hope that my next post will be a bit more of an entertaining read than this one. Apologies for it being a bit dull.