Transportation

January 2009

Photos of Biagio carrying home supplies from Home Depot and me wearing and carrying my new dive BCD.

Everyone who has talked with us here in San Diego has said, ‘Isn’t it hard to get around without a car here?’ I tell them it’s a trade off. A car and a house or a boat and a bicycle. We decided. Getting the bicycles down to a science is a trick. Reflective tape. Carrier baskets. Backpacks. Flashlights for the early night falls at 4:30pm. All of these things help.

When someone asked me if it was late to ride a bicycle at 5:00pm in the dark, I replied, ‘No, the sun just set early.’ He laughed.

We have found there is nothing you can’t carry on your bicycle except for dive air tanks. How do you roll an air tank home? Or put an air tank in your carrier? They are so darn heavy but so light in the water! Even aluminum rather than steel are heavy. So, it’s taxi time with the air tanks. But we CAN take the dive BCD home on the bicycle. See photo.

So, there are buses with bicycles racks, trolleys with space in the back car, and if you are Biagio, sheer energy to go the distance. No it’s not hard to get around on bicycles, it’s easy! Our friends Liz and Michael know as they also cruise down the coast on their sailboat and Bike Friday bicycles.

Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, CA (LaJolla).

Photos below: Left: Clark & Suzie now back in San Diego from Final Straw with thoughts of going out again; Center: San Diego's Torrey Pines Rock Layers; Right: A hike at beautiful Torrey Pines with Jess & Tracy, Matt, Biagio and Jill.