Our first overnight, self contained trip!

In preparation of our upcoming trip, we did our first self-contained overnight ride. We drove to Filmore, CA and left the car near City Hall. Leaving around 5PM from Filmore, we rode to Oxnard, CA. There was a steady head wind the entire trip. We found our way out of Filmore and rode on Hwy 126. Lots of traffic and pretty noisy - we had to really concentrate on riding. We were carrying almost 6o lbs. of gear for the first time. When riding with the added weight, it did not feel that different. Riding slowly or pushing the bike and you can really feel it.

We got off 126 at Santa Paula to Telegraph Road. After a short ride through the city, we were riding through orchards and commercial flower farms. The sky turned overcast and there was a heavy mist in the air. These were not really ideal riding conditions; my sunglasses were pretty blurry.

We made it to McGrath campground around 7:30PM. We checked in and paid for a hiker/biker site ($5/person) and set up camp. There was one other biker there, but we never saw him until the morning. We really tried to mimic our upcoming trip. Ev had prepackaged a pasta dinner. We had planned to stop for some wine or beer on the way, but always thought there would be one more opportunity. We asked one of the camp hosts if there was a store close and he said there was one about a mile away. We rode over to the store and purchased some wine, crackers, oysters and Nutter Butters. All total, we rode a little over 30 miles (we will average 50 on our trip)

We got back and started cooking our dinner using our head lamps. A large Boy Scout Troop descended on us and started to set up camp. We feared a long noisy night, but did not hear them once after we went into our tent for the night.

The night was wet and uncomfortable. I guess our old and injured bodies are not made for thin thermarests any more (See below for the trip to REI). It was again heavily misting at 2AM.

Breakfast was instant oatmeal and coffee. We got around, packed up and ate. We were out of the campground by 9AM, the required checkout time for the site.

The ride back to Filmore was much better than ride the day before. We had the wind to our backs and no mist. We stopped a couple times for a break or snack. Hwy 126 was again busy but not as bad. Trucks full of lemons sped by and smelled wonderful. We had a rubbing/grinding noise that we never could find the origin of. We were back at the car around 11:30AM. We rode just under 30 miles.

After a quick lunch at a local taco stand we went to see Taylor in Pasadena. We then went to REI and purchased some blow up sleeping pads and other essential items from our list we made. Even though it was a short trip, we learned a lot for the big trip (see next post)

Rob