Come Hell or High Water

“Great call!” This praise for my decision to delay one week came from The Bob a few days ago during a phone conversation while we discussed a few navigation and logistical items reference our impending journey. And he was absolutely correct, although this decision was a “no-brainer,” one that would have been grossly negligent not to have made. Here in San Diego and the local mountains, the predicted storm showed up as advertised (albeit a day late), as Mother Nature unleashed her rage in wave after wave of glorious chaos. First came ferocious, mercurial winds that howled and shifted directions for several days, followed by rain, then sleet and several feet of snow in the higher elevations that fell squarely along the route we must follow to start the ride.

Odie, who has necessarily conducted all of his training on a stationary bike in a freezing garage, had to regroup and continue with one more week of going absolutely nowhere as he logs mile after lonely mile before jumping on a train this coming Wednesday for a roughly thirty-hour trip from Seattle to San Diego along the country’s western spine. You’re probably wondering why he doesn’t fly, and the short version is that Odie can no longer fly due to the effects the pressure changes associated with high altitudes have on his physiology.

The Bob will arrive in San Diego this coming Friday, driving in from Phoenix with his wife Suzy after hosting relatives for several days. He was grateful for the delay, as was I, but it’s time to go. And go we will, because come hell or high water, we will begin our adventure early in the morning on Saturday March 4^th. The weather looks okay with the possibility of rain and wind still present, but nothing like the wild and wooly weather we just experienced. It’ll be cold, and for the first couple of days I anticipate having a semi-permanent snot stalactite dangling from my nose, but that’s what a sleeve is for, right? It’s time...

Btw, Odie will be writing about our journey as well, and his well-crafted and always unique offerings will be available here:

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