Day 53...Oh, The Mountains...

Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."

Well put, Winston. Well put.

Today was indeed this type of hellish grind. From the first down stroke of the pedal, we were climbing. And we climbed for about 50 miles, over 5,000 feet and through what felt like a giant wind tunnel.

After 10 miles riding on the shoulder of the freeway (Interstate 8) we turned on Old Highway 80 where we remained for the next 40 miles riding first to Jacumba then Live Oak Springs, Pine Valley and finally Alpine, CA. We saw our first sign post telling us the distance to San Diego!!

Starting the climb...

The first climb today was 3,000 feet and boy was it a grind. We made it to the summit and then coasted down into the town (unincorporated) of Jacumba. We had a coffee and PB&J and set off again for our next climb.

During this ascent we saw a motorcycle with a side car. In the side car there was a dog sitting as stoic as could be with goggles on, of course! We made a brief stop 10 miles later in Live Oak Springs and we came across the duo again! We said hello, learned the dog's name was Zig, and snapped a few pictures...

Zig + Dad (check out Zig's goggles!)

A kiss from my new friend Zig

20 miles later we reached our last valley, Pine Valley. We had a short but tough 500 foot climb up to the final summit before we shot down to Alpine. On our descent, a dense layer of dark clouds formed above us. The sun tried to make her way through to keep us warm, but to no avail.

Descending into Alpine, CA

When we were nearly at the bottom of our descent Jim pulled up along side us (out of no where!) and we all flew down to Alpine together.

Today we rode 60 miles from Ocotillo, CA to Alpine, CA. We have about 40 miles of riding tomorrow until we reach San Diego. I cannot believe this journey is coming to completion. Actually, I cannot believe I will have biked 3,900 miles across the United States. Wow!!

=================

Winston Churchill also said, "Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."  This journey was definitely a continuous effort....