We had a GREAT meal last night at the local Italian restaurant . . . I had a BIG salad, Eggplant Parmesan with penne pasta, and canoli for dessert . . . all washed down with two glasses of Josh Cellars Cab. Getting ready to go back to my old eating habits ?????

Rich and Michael had kitchen duty this morning and set up the breakfast and lunch in the open air parking lot below the hotel . . . all the guests park their vehicles out on the street. mmmmm . . . wonder if they know something we don’t  . . . earthquakes????

The peloton starting to assemble out in the sunlight . . . still wearing a light wrap at the start of riding. Temps around 50 degrees!!!

Today we would be on and off bike paths for much of the day. A strong east wind blowing onto our left sides as we headed south . . . but no headwind!!!

. . . another prayer service being held on the beach . . .the guy sitting on the stonewall was doing the preaching . . . no table, but I did spy the requisite coffee and donuts!!!

We continue to see oil platforms off shore and they seem to be getting closer to shore!!!!

Not sure if it is the end of beach season, still LOTS of surfers, they all wear wetsuits, but the lifeguard shacks are being pulled together . . .

. . . as this row was. Maybe for maintenance???

Speaking of surfing. Many arrive by car with racks on their roofs, but MANY arrive by bicycle with a surfboard rack made of two big U shaped tubes. Wonder if Saris makes them????

Today we will ride through Huntington Beach (189,000 pop), Newport Beach (85,000), Laguna Beach (22,000), Dana Point, Capistrano Beach, San Clemente and into Carlsbad for the night. Many times you can gauge the wealth of he community not only by the marinas, shopping and restaurants but also how the town presents itself as you roll into it. LOTS of flowers on the boulevards in towns today . . .

. . . including lots of Birds of Paradise.

If you can’t afford beach front property you can still have ‘a room with a view’ !!!

Nice setting . . .

In Laguna Beach there was an artist celebrating his 40 year with a BIG sale. He had this neat painting outside made of tile, with water running down the front. NICE!!!

Love Shack . . . Love shack, babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Love Shack!!!!

Near Interstate Highway 5 we passed this Ghost Bike (white) denoting someone riding a bike had died here. Not sure what the blue bike means????

We also passed this California Edison ‘nuke plant’ . . .

. . . where several of us noted the large speaker/sirens mounted on poles. For emergency warnings regarding a leak . . . for those close enough to hear, it would probably be too late for them!!!

. . . concrete casks for shipping out spent fuel?????

Soon we were paralleling Interstate 5 again on a GREAT bicycle trail . . . .

BUT Camp Pendleton was in our way. The road rolls right through the Marine base, but 5 months ago, because of security issues, if was closed and you now need to have a permit to drive through. Since we did not have permits and the road was closed to us . . . the only alternative was to RIDE ON THE INTERSTATE!!!!

. . . which we did for eight miles. Along the way you could see some of the practice areas used for training, including this mock village . . .

. . . and this half track type machine hauling Marines up the hills . . .

oh, oh this was not  good sign for us . . .

. . . and this one even looked worse!!!! Luckily there was no road work going on as we rolled through . . .

. . . and we were happy to exit on Harbor Drive and try to get our hearing back again after all the LOUD traffic for the last eight miles.

Jenny has a riding companion from her TransAm group that lives in Carlsbad, our home for the night, and he is having us over for dinner. NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!