I had to leave Big Bear and I didn’t want to wait, so I threw out everything that wouldn’t fit on my back, got on my $2 tenspeed and rode down the mountain.
(Note: the videos aren’t mine but from YouTube but they give you an idea of what it might be like on a bike…words can’t really describe though…it was awesome.)
I’ve always wanted to do this ride. It’s a near 3000 foot descent to the high desert on windy turny roads with traffic whizzing by and not much of a shoulder in a lot of places.
I’d managed to make my old Schwinn 10 speed that only had one speed into a bike that had two and while the wheels wobbled dangerously, I made it down. It was exhilarating.
‘And so it goes’ as that old sage Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was fond of saying. At the bottom, I sat in the public library in Lucerne Valley and planned my next moves.
Frankly, I was glad to be away from my awful father. The desert is hot as hell. It’s about 105 degrees fahrenheit in the shade but living with my Dad was far worse.
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About Vago Damitio
Vago Damitio (@vagodamitio) is the Editor-in-Chief for Vagobond. He jumped ship from a sinking dotcom in 2000 and decided to reclaim his most valuable commodity, time. He bought a VW bus for $100, moved into it and set out on a journey to show the world that it was possible to live life on your own terms. That journey took him from waking up under icy blankets in the Pacific Northwest to waking up under palm tress in Southeast Asia. Three years later, his first book, Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond was published. After diving into the Anthropology of Tourism and Electronic Anthropology at the University of Hawaii (with undeclared minors in film and surf) he hit the road again in 2008. Since that time,he's lived primarily in Morocco and Turkey, married a Moroccan girl he couchsurfed with, and become a proud father. He's been to more than 40 countries, founded a successful online travel magazine (this one!), and still doesn't have a boss. Life is good. You can also find him on Google+ and at Facebook