21176 km San Diego

After chilling and relaxing for a couple of days in Mazatlan, it was time to leave the comfy hostel and get on the bike again. Before getting back on the bike however, I had to take a ferry trip accros the Gulf of California to bring me to Baja California Sur. At the ferry I finally met another cyclist again, I have met very few since I entered mexico 2,5 months ago. It was Wilbert, another Dutch guy travelling solo. We had a good time exchanging travelstories and we cycled a little bit together to the town of La Paz. After lunch however it was already time to say our goodbyes since Wilbert wanted to move on North to meet some friends in LA at a certain date. I prefered to stay in La Paz for two days because I did not want to miss out on the opportunity to swim with the whalesharks. 

I was not disappointed, we saw tons of them in the bay near La Paz. When swimming we got instructions to not get any closer then 2 meters to the animals, in order not to disturb them. I guess no one told this rule to the sharks though. One came straight at me and gave me a nice little bump with his sidefin when passing. I prefer to think of it as a brofist and not as a collision, sounds better that way. They are very gentle creatures and an awesome sight to behold. To bad it was almost impossible to me a good picture of them without an underwater camera. From above the water you just see a dark spot in the ocean where they are swimming. I included some pictures I made while cycling allong the bay of Cortez later in the week.

The next day I left La Paz, it was time to head north in the direction of the USA. Still a bit of a ride of about 1475km. It started out fairly boring for the first 240km or so to Ciudad Constitution. A fairly straighforward ride through desert landscapes. I’m carrying a bit more food and water here, because there are not to many places to stock up. From Ciudad Insurgentes the road turns back to the coast again and this was a beautifull ride. The road goes through canyons, in a very scenic wild west like, type of landscape. You could just picture indians and cowboys passing through here. When I reached the coast I had some beautifull views of the ocean. It really is a great to be riding here. The only thing getting on my nerves a bit is the constant headwind here. It’s just always there and the direction never seems to change. The road followed along the coast until a town called Santa Rosalia. Here the road turns inland again, to the pacific at the other side. A fairly easy ride, with towns every 75km to get food and water until Guerrero Negro. Here it’s back into a bit more serious desert again for 360 km until El Rosario.

I was not to worried though, because camping in the wild is easy here, so your not dependant on finding hotels. Just make sure to have enough food and water at all times. After El Rosario there are plenty of towns again to restock. Apart from a big ass sandstorm while leaving El Rosario, I made my way up to Ensenada without to much problems. Here I took a couple of days of rest in a nice hostel and enjoyed some more fish and shrimp taco’s you can never have to much of those. After Ensenada I made my way to the border at Tecate. I cycled with a Frenchman named Francois for most of the day. He’s 71 and still cycling. Obviously a little bit slower but he made the 110km with headwind and uphill in a single day. The utmost respect for that, I can only dream I will still be able to do that at that age. 

The bordercrossing itself was fairly easy. A friendly lady asked me some questions and a small form needed to be filled in, after that I was on my way to San Diego. It’s a big change cycling in the US now. Cycling on highways is not allowed here, so I had to find my way to a maze of little streets to make my way to the city center. Googlemap is your friend in these kind of circumstances. The bikelanes are as expected awefull when available. In fact it’s safer when there is no bikelane at all. Unless you like to slalom around garbagecans and plenty of other items that are blocking your lane. I’m affraid I will see a fair bit more of this once I head on to Los Angeles, guess time will tell. 

I visited the USS Midway aircraft carrier today, which has been turned into a museum after her service. It was a pretty amazing museum and I can recommend it to anyone that visits San Diego. I walked around and enjoyed the Gaslamp Quarter as well and tomorrow I plan to visit the baseball stadium and Balboa Park. After that I’m heading up north again for the very last part of this bikeride. The end is getting in sight. In fact San Fransisco is just about 1000km and less then a month away. I got plenty of time for the last section though and on the 15th of May, I’ll take KLM flight 606 back home. In the morning of the 16th I will land on Dutch soil again. 

But first there is one more country to explore.... Last blog from San Fransisco!!!!