I flew out to Southern California a couple days ago and time has flown. I came out looking for a new car. I’d like an AWD Sienna van, but it isn’t working out, as of now. But, there are a ton of cars on Craiglist, between San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.

A couple days ago, I drove from Cable to Winona and got a permanent fix for my front teeth from Dr. David Gilmer. We had to leave Cable by 5:15am to get there by 9. David was super quick and the fix is great. Trudi and I then drove straight to Minneapolis, which is just a couple hours, and headed over to Grand Performance, where Pat and Gwen live above, to borrow a bike bag. It worked out perfect, better than perfect, because Pat pretty much packed my bike for me.

I got out here and made it to La Jolla good. Then things started going sideways. Somehow my I sort of hurt my right knee somehow. I was riding singletrack with Bill or Pat, in Cable, and it popped a little, right on the patella tendon. Then when I started riding here, just on the coast, my right knee, right above the kneecap, by the tendon coming off the IT band, started aching. I’ve not been riding much and have been taking ibuprofen.

So, I’ve been a little bit of a handyman around Don and Sue’s. Their washing machine and toilet broke, so I put in a new pump in the washer and a new pressure regulator in the toilet. I also went swimming in the ocean twice now. It is amazing how buoyant I feel in the salt water. The water is pretty warm compared to the lake water up in Cable. I haven’t been in the ocean for a long time. There are pretty big waves going on right now, so I have a hard time, with my gimpy hip, getting out at the beach. It is super good my my hip, other than that. I frog kicked for nearly a half hour yesterday. Plus walking on the beach is way easier on my hip that on pavement. Pretty good PT.

Yesterday was sort of a write-off, initially. I was fixing the toilet and left the garage door open. Next thing I knew was one of Sue’s dogs was out front. They have two new German Shorthairs, both adopted in the last few months. Hunter, which is 9 years old, tends to like to wander. So, Hank, was out front and Hunter was nowhere to be found. I looked around the house and yard and finally came to the conclusion that he had run off. I got on my bike and started doing laps. I rode down to the park, where they are walked twice a day, but no luck. I did laps around the neighborhood on my bike, then on a scooter. Finally, after a couple hours, I decided to call Sue and tell her. She told me I should go out back and look under the deck. I went out there and, of course, Hunter was hiding under the deck. I was relieved. But, it pretty much blew most of the day. I had been planning on driving up to Shimano in Irving, but that obviously didn’t work. Trying to drive around here on Friday afternoons and evening doesn’t work too well.

Today I’m going to ride up the coast and check out my knee. Plus, there is a car up in Oceanside I want to look at. Hopefully both will work out.

Pat washed my bike before packing it.

Pat and Gwen measuring for a tent at the Rivers Eatery.

All tidy.

Dr. Gilmer working on me.

There were doing some sort of color guard funeral at the Denver airport.

Hunter emerging from his daytime hiding spot.

Hunter above ground.

Hank just hanging.

And Kaya, their reservation dog, just bouncing around.

At the San Diego airport.

New washer pump.

Dismantled toilet.

Beach where I’ve been swimming.

I drove up to Los Angeles and didn’t bring a phone charger. I didn’t think I would be there that long. Little did I know. Traffic in LA is beyond horrible. For sure, it is one place I could never live. It is impossible to plan anything when you have no idea whether it is going to take you 15 minutes or 6 hours to get to where you’re going.

My iPhone is still not working all that great. The main complaint is battery life. It sometimes lasts a few hours, but not normally. Apple put a new battery in a couple months ago, but that didn’t fix the problem.

So, about half way into the “trip”, my phone’s battery is showing red, which isn’t good. I’ve had some time to think about it now and I truly don’t understand the stress. Intellectually, I can figure it out easily. No phone, no problem, really. But, emotionally, your mind starts playing all these tricks on me that tell me I really need my phone. Like really bad.

I’m thinking about all the potential calls I might be missing. Or if I’m not going to meet up with the people I supposed to see. All these things that rarely ever happen. Plus not being able to check in with people. I think that is the weirdest one.

Somewhere down the line, cellphones became a way to update people we’re close to, what we are doing and where we are at. Like it really matters. It is so strange that we feel that is an important part of our lives. And people that are used to the updates, sort of get worried or stressed that they aren’t getting them. Intellectually it makes no sense, but emotionally it is just there.

I’m half way thinking about just leaving my cell phone at home when I go out and ride. I have only once, that I can remember, had to call someone to come get me during a ride. And if I need that, I’m sure just about anyone I ask will let me use their phone for a call.

The key is having a phone number. I used to have dozens of phone numbers memorized. Now just a few. And maybe only one or two of those are cell numbers. That could be a problem.

I’ll think about the whole thing awhile. Cellphone both add and subtract from a good life experience.

Anyway, I finally made it up to Shimano. I got a few new pairs of shoes and some wheels. Shipping is so outrageously expensive now, I feel it is my obligation to personally pick up stuff when I’m close by. Plus, it’s always nice to catch up with Wayne and the guys up there.

It seems like Wayne is nearly all dressed to ride when I show up. Kind of strange. His legs look amazingly fit.

I haven’t had any black cycling shoes for quite a while. Makes sense for cross and MTB racing.

I stopped in Laguna Hills and visited an old friend, Marcel Calborn. He used to own Celo Europa in Manhattan Beach and now is down south. He is a true master mechanic. His current shop is almost of mirror image of his old shop. I can’t believe the number of steel frames he has. Very old school, which is appropriate.

This Delorean passed me right by the nuclear power plant north of Camp Pendleton. I hadn’t see a Delorean in a long time and it made me chuckle it was right near a nuclear power plant.