Leo Carillo to Hermosa Beach, into the Big City

Greg and "Chompy" our new mascot crocodile that now rides on Greg's front rack. We found him at Leo Carillo State park on our Picnic table. He gets to be the third member on our trip, but he doesn't even have to pedal. He is that cool

Venice Beach.

Venice beach we didn't see any break dancers or body builders. Bummer.

The LA shoreline from Malibu.

Leo Carillo State Park to Hermosa Beach, CA
11/28/09
Day 43 45 miles


Today we woke up to a dry tent again. It is so nice to have things finally drying out. In fact, last night some warm dry air moved into the area. We had a nice warm breeze blowing through the dry leaves still hanging onto the sycamore trees. It was a nice sound to sleep to. Any way, we ate a bunch of bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and packed our gear and headed out. We came into Malibu and found a coffee shop so we could get internet and check to see if anyone in L.A. responded to our warmshowers host request. We were so disappointed when we found out that no one had. Where to stay in L.A?

We used the powers of the internet to start searching hostels and hotels in the city. We quickly found what we usually find, hostels are within ten dollars of a hotel. We found a hotel in Torrance for $62 per night and booked it. While I was booking the room on the phone I received a phone call from a number I didn't know. When I got off of the phone I check my messages and it happened to be a warmshowers host, Steve, in Hermosa Beach. I called Steve back and he said we were welcome to stay at their house for the night. What luck! I called the motel right back and cancelled our reservation.

We left the coffee shop and rode through the rest of Malibu. We could not believe the money just dripping from this area. I started pointing out all of the vehicles to Dani that cost over $100,000. There were a bunch. We saw multiple Ferrari's, Bentley's, and even a Rolls Royce, many Porsche's, an Alfa Romeo, the list goes on, and all of these cars just in a small area. Riding through Malibu was the worst riding conditions. There were many cars parked along the shoulder and they were pulling in and out and opening and closing doors right in our riding area. Then to add to the scariness, there were three lanes of fast moving traffic buzzing right by us so we were squeezed into tight spots more often than we would have liked.

Once we got out of Malibu we rode onto the sidewalk/bike paths that line the beaches along the L.A. area that you have probably heard of or seen. We were hoping to see some of the body builders or other odd people out on the sidewalks along Venice, but I think it was to cold for the locals. It was only around 65 degrees. We took our time and saw the sights as we rode along the bike path. We rode to the Hermosa Pier at around 4:00 pm. We called Steve and he gave us directions to he and Linda's house, only four blocks off our route!

When we arrived at their house, Steve and Linda instantly made us feel right at home. We were expecting a place in the yard to pitch a tent, but they provided us with a bedroom and futon with our own bathroom. It couldn't have been any better. After we unpacked a bit, they told us we could shower up if we wanted because we were invited to a second Thanksgiving dinner at their friends house! We took really nice showers and got all cleaned up for the first time in awhile.

After meeting Steve and Linda's four cats and hanging out for a bit with them all, we went to their friends, the Miller's, house and met some of their friends. One of them has been photographing beach volleyball since the sixties and the other was a film maker and was working on a film about wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone. We had a great thanksgiving meal with all of the fixings. We stuffed ourselves with this great food and got to relax and meet some new people. It was a great night.

Greg