Day 41 – San Diego – 55 km
We positioned ourselves for an easy ride into San Diego today. Although it was shorter, somehow it didn’t feel any easier. Every hill is still an effort to climb. And there were more of them than we’ve seen in the past few days.
Arriving in San Diego at 2:30 on a Monday afternoon I was stunned by how quiet the downtown area of this city is. There was no traffic on the roads and ridiculously few people walking about. It was as you might expect on a national holiday. All around us were office towers that I had to imagine were filled with people as there was little evidence of any human presence anywhere. Such a contrast with San Francisco and the many cities of the LA corridor. We virtually owned the downtown streets as we road to our hostel.
My roommates in my four-bed room include two friendly young guys from Finland who’ve been exploring Southern California by car for the past ten days, and a blonde, Scandi-looking guy who hasn’t said a word and avoids eye contact. More than that, he seems intent on avoiding any kind of social contact by going to bed later and getting up earlier than any of us others. In the cafeteria I watched as he kept his face stuck in his ipad for at least an hour, not once looking up or acknowledging anyone else. I have to wonder if I should be worried. Until I’ve had some intereraction with this guy I’m tempted to think my bunk mate (he’s sleeps above me) might be an axe murder or a white supremecist plotting his revenge on liberal society.