More Pix, Day 15 (Final Day): La Jolla - Tijuana

Here's photographic proof that Jody has superhuman powers. Just check out those rays of light coming out of his eyes! That's crazy!

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. we were riding past San Diego International Airport. I'd be back there about six hours later for my flight home to San Francisco.














This is a pretty funny shot, as obvious as it isn't. Those shoes (and the newspaper that I took along, for some dumb reason) belong on top of my rack bag, not on the ground. They're on the ground because they fell off of my bike while I was riding. What's worse: That was the third time that my shoes managed to wrestle their way out of my bag's stretch cord grip in an attempt to go for a walk. The first time was way back in Oregon. That time, I didn't notice until about an hour after the escape attempt. I had heard a sort of "thump!" after reaching the top of a long climb, and my first thought was that something must have fallen off of my bike, but, since I had already started my quick descent down the other side of the hill, I failed to look back and simply kept on riding. When I finally noticed that my shoes were gone, there was no way for me to know where or when they had fallen off, so I didn't even attempt to recover them. I just figured I'd buy a pair of flip-flops somewhere and I'd be set. I was, however, holding out hope that, since he was behind me, Joe would come across my shoes and be good enough to pick them up and bring them back to me. Well, that's exactly what happened, lucky for me! Thanks, Joe! (The second time my shoes tried to escape was somewhere in southern California. When I heard the "thump!" that time, I knew to stop and look. Same with the third time. I guess I'll just have to practice securing my shoes to my rack.)

If you look closely, you'll see the Tijuana Arch off in the distance in the middle of this picture. When I saw that arch, I absolutely, positively knew, for the first time, that I was going to achieve my goal of pedaling all the way from Vancouver to Tijuana!

It's always easier to get in to Mexico than it is to get out...


















Here's one last look at me holding up my "I made it!" sign written in Japanese. Jody took this picture of me just after we crossed back into the United States. I was totally elated to be standing there with my sign, and I kept wanting Jody to take more and more pictures of the two of us, to make sure that we captured the moment on film and because I didn't want the moment to end.

Before we made it to the border, especially when we were within days of arriving in Tijuana, there were several very emotional moments for me when the thought of standing at the border in a pose like this one above entered my mind. Yes, I really did shed a tear or two thinking about it. Oddly enough, however, the actual finish to our ride was incredibly anti-climactic.

There was no welcome party, no big celebration, no cake, no champagne, no fireworks, no applause, no tears, no television interviews, no trophy presentation, no nothing.

Well, nothing but the satisfaction that we felt regarding our phenomenal accomplishment, that is.

All Jody and I did was cross into Mexico, and the ride was over.

Nevertheless, no one can ever take this one away from us. We can now say with pride what not many others can:

"I two-wheeled it from Vancouver to Tijuana! In two weeks."