Day 5: El Centro to Jacumba, CA

Well after saying goodbye to Brian I hit the road it felt good to be riding again it was nice to get a day break yesterday. Also when I got the ride last night Dennis pointed out the hazards of hwy 78 and indeed there were a lot of dips and blind corners and some cars were goin 80+mph so going on hwy 78 definitely would of been dangerous and besides there's plenty more biking to be had.

 So  today I had only 45 miles but almost 4000 ft elevation and all of it was in the last 20 miles! So I made my way to hwy 80 and started heading west everything was goin good for the first few miles then the road got super rough and riddled with potholes!

As far as I could tell the adventure cycling map doesn't say anything about the terrain of roads lol so I went a little slower then planned and dodge around potholes and weaved my way down the road after awile I made my way to Plaster City about 15 miles in.

It was all pretty deserted except for a few  industrial buildings.

The roads were still pretty rough so I kept weaving on and at some points when I knew no vehicles were comming I rode on the other side of the road since it was smoother on the left and 10 miles later I made it to Ocotillo, Ca 25 miles in whare the roads finally got better its a small town with a population of 266 this was the last stop before climbing into the mountains so I went to the local cafe and grabbed some lunch and filled up on water before the big climb!

After that I made my way about a mile to  I-8 west. I would of rode I-8 all the way from El Centro but east of Ocotillo bikes are not allowed on I-8. Well the climb started slow and got more  steeper the further I progressed so I was snailing my way up at 5mph once I got a groove goin I was at 2000 feet I decided to stop every 1000 feet for a min

The climb had some flats which was nice and when the semis passed I would get some cool air and slight tailwind which was nice too and eventually me and the 90 lb Brommie made our way to 3000 feet!

After this things started to level out more and I got off I-8 to move to old hwy 80 to head for Jacumba after a few small climbs I got a big down hill and was goin 25mph before I knew it I arrived in Jacumba, CA 45 miles in!

Well after that I hit the library but before I went in I noticed this big statue of a Rattlesnake!

 Then I entered the library to catch up on some blogging and check email and I asked the librarian if there was camping in the area and she said right behind the library was the community park and that all I had to do was talk to the camp host about 200 ft away from the library so I did and it was a go!

I got all set up for the night and made a little dinner and a few hours later headed to bed! Here's a pic of my spot.

 

Well that's all for today thanks for reading!