Crossing the mountains

Sunday, July 3rd
Taft, CA to Ojai, CA

Crossing the mountains in Los Padres National Forest. 80 miles of travel.

Ojai is pronounced "Oh, hi!"

Saturday night fireworks in Taft.

7 am. I don't wanna go to school today.

Morning camp. Community college dental classroom.

Mega trash cans.

Reminds me of this mega pawn chess set we had in middle school, where the pieces were 10x as big and had instructions written on the base. We'd set up the big board swapping out everything but the mega pawns with regular size pieces, so the pawns could swallow anything they captured.

source

 Dry desert roads to the mountain.

Thistles and thorns that puncture times.

Dusty hilly dunes.

No trees or cover from the morning sun. The air was dry and dusty. It stuck in my throat.

I overheated many times and had to stop. Wanted just to sleep, using heat reflective blanket as a sun shelter.

The only diner in Ventucopa, CA was like an oasis in the desert.

Lots of motorcyclists pass by and they keep tally. Twenty eight stopped in by the afternoon. There were about a hundred on the road.

The lady behind the counter said once it reaches thirteen (thousand?), they give a free BBQ. I asked if she'd seen any bicyclists. Nope, I think I'm the first.

Forest service station was a base for a handful of firefighters. They were working to put out a fire in the badlands near the south of the forest. I don't see how a forest with three foot scrubs for trees becomes a concern, but I saw red smoke rising as I rode out of the forest in the night.

The television news reports the areas I've passed through in the valley have raging blazes that have displaced residents from their homes and destroyed many acres of property. That guy who thought I was a firefighter had good reason to believe I was. Fire season calls for a lot of servicemen. Good thing I traveled ahead of the fires. Kinda spooky that I leave a trail of flames in my wake.

I have a name for my bicycle: Veltro (Italian word for greyhound).

In Dante's Inferno Canto I,

A craven she-wolf blocks the path to virtue, slays all who attempt to pass, and feed and mates greedily. A greyhound is prophesied to arrive between "felt and felt," and slay this wicked beast, driving her back to the depths of hell and restoring righteousness to the land.

Molti son li animali a cui s'ammoglia,
e piu` saranno ancora, infin che 'l veltro
verra`, che la fara` morir con doglia.

Questi non ciberà terra né peltro,
ma sapienza, amore e virtute,
e sua nazion sarà tra feltro e feltro

Di quella umile Italia fia salute 
per cui mori` la vergine Cammilla,
Eurialo e Turno e Niso di ferute. 

Questi la caccera` per ogne villa,
fin che l'avra` rimessa ne lo 'nferno,
la` onde 'nvidia prima dipartilla. 


(translation)
Many the animals with whom she weds,
And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound
Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.

He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,
But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;
'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be;  

Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,
On whose account the maid Camilla died,
Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; 

Through every city shall he hunt her down,
Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,
There from whence envy first did let her loose. 

Dante is not explicit what locations 'tra feltro e feltro' refers to, but to me the sense is simple. From one side of the land to the other, over everything between.

For my Veltro, his land is America from coast to coast.

As to what my she-wolf represents, well, it encompasses all the human vices within and without. Hypocrisy, ego, greed, ignorance, deceit, selfishness... all the qualities of man that makes one believe he is justified in exploiting another.


Long day, long shadows.

Still making the climb.

PB&J break.

No buffets today

Reaching the summit.

The view.

I wanted to turn back and coast the road I came up, just because it looked so much fun!

Tide turns. Heat subsides and the road ahead cedes downhill.

8pm sunset. 50 miles from Taft. 30 miles to Ojai.

Don't worry, Ulix. I'll get you there. Even in the dark.

The descent was dark and cold. Wind and screeching brakes, clutching my phone flashlight. Checking my six for headlights. Fortunately, not many cars.

11 pm landing. Safeway grocery store. Ojai, CA.

Night was cold. About 20F lower than it had been in the valley. 90F was normal at 11 pm. Here it was a 60F with 100% humidity. My handlebars and bags were covered in a slippery film.

Morning camp. High school.

Beautiful start to Independence Day.