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.
Vago Damitio is the Vagabond in Chief. He is also a writer, blogger, traveler, adventurer and teacher. He has spent his life mastering how to have incredible adventures on minuscule budgets. Someday he hopes to have the option of using gigantic budgets for miniscule adventures.
