We all woke up nice and early this morning since we had gone to bed so early. After having some oatmeal and a banana, we were all packed up and on the road by about 7:30 or 8. Since we slept in the woods last night, we didn't have any way to know who won the election. We kept looking for signs or something saying who won, but didn't see anything. It turns out that we weren't that far from Laguna Beach. At one of the little convenience stores, we met a couple of touring cyclists. Marco and Dado were from Italy and were riding from San Francisco to southern Mexico or Guatemala (they hadn't decided yet). We talked with them for a little while. We figured we would see them again later today or tomorrow since that seems to happen when there are touring cyclists near each other. We rode through that area and then found a nice bike path that paralleled the 5. We stopped for a quick bathroom break at one of the restrooms in the state park. While we were there, we saw James flying down the bike path. He had his headphones in and was in the groove, so much so that he didn't see us until the last second. So, we were a group of 4 again! James had been at a host's house last night, so he was the one that told us the news that Obama had won. The bike path continued for quite a while. It eventually took us through a tunnel that had a sign reading "Caution, watch for cyclists and military vehicles" (we were getting very close to the base where Marchant is stationed. After that tunnel, the bike path was on a long road that is probably used by the military for special occasions or in case of emergency. It was long, straight and flat enough that it could probably be used as an airstrip too. After that, the bike path ended. The only way to go was on the highway or through the base. They just checked our id's at the gate and told us the way to go to get to where we wanted, which was Oceanside. It was still pretty early in the day, so we had plenty of time before we were going to meet Marchant when he got out at 4:30. As we were riding through the base we could hear gun fire from those that were doing training, saw hum-vs of course, and saw the buildings and houses that many of the Marines lived in. The base was HUGE! We rode for quite a long time to get to the other side of it. Just before we were about to head out of the base through the main gate, we stumbled upon a shopping center that had everything from a grocery store to a McDonald's. You would never know we were on a base! Since we had done quite a few miles and had yet to eat lunch, we stopped at the picnic tables outside of McDonald's to make some lunch. Joe and I had some spaghetti-o's, since we hadn't had them in such a long time, and grapes. It was pretty warm out, so a chocolate milkshake sounded good too, we ended up getting one of those from McDonald's (that also made us feel better about using their table and wifi =D ). When Joey checked his e-mail, he had an e-mail from one of the hosts that he had contacted and who said would be available to host us. For some reason, Joey thought the host was in San Diego. It turns out that the host was in Carlsbad, the next town over from Oceanside! He was emailing us because he figured we would be there either today or tomorrow. What an awesome surprise-- we didn't expect that we would get to sleep inside tonight!! Joe called our host, Steve, to check to see if it would be possible to have James come too, since we were now a group of 4. Steve said sure, so now all 4 of us have a place to go tonight! It was still only 2pm, so we decided to ride to the beach to kill some time because we knew our host wouldn't be home til around 4:30 or 5. We weren't planning on meeting Marchant until around then anyways. The only thing is that now that we have a place to go, it will make it a bit of a challenge to meet up with Marchant easily. Originally we were planning on going to visit him and then riding off base a mile or two and finding a place to camp. Even still, since it gets dark so early, it wouldn't give us very much time with him. On top of planning to see him on base, we do have a plan for him to come spend some time with us at Ryan's in San Diego this weekend, so it wasn't too big of a problem. In the end, we decided to just see Marchant this weekend instead of trying to ride 8 miles in the dark. It is so great that we have a place to go tonight because it would still be a challenge to find a place to camp in this area. All 4 of us went swimming for a while at the beach, and surprisingly the water was pretty warm- probabaly about 67 degrees. This beach was nice, but not nearly as nice as some of the other ones we've been to. There was a bunch of rocks and shells in the water that made it a little painful to get out into the water. The waves however were pretty big, so it was fun. After our swim we hopped back on the bikes and rode up the little hill to the main road. As Loic and I were standing there waiting for James and Joey, a cyclist came up to us and asked if we were by any chance coming from AK! It turns out it was our host Steve! He commutes to work by bike and likes to take the longer way because it goes along the ocean. Talk about perfect timing! It was still early, so we planned on finding a coffee shop to relax at for a while. Steve told us that his wife would be home in an hour or two, so it would work out perfect. The 4 of us found a Starbucks right near the road we needed to go down to get to our host's house. James and Loic really wanted some hot chocolate after their swim, so it worked out great. While we were sitting there, we saw the Italians riding by. We waved them down and they came to hang out for a little while too. It was almost dark when we headed up the hill to Steve and Erin's house, but it was only a couple miles away so it didn't matter. When we got there, Erin was busy making dinner- boy did it smell good! The 4 of us took turns taking showers and got to enjoy some yummy appetizers and homemade salsa. Along with Steve and Erin, their son David and his girlfriend were there along with their younger daughter Aquila, and of course the dogs Miley and Benji. It was like a big family dinner with the 4 of us added to that. For dinner we had pasta with pesto, and awesome salad, beef, tomatoes and homemade bread! It was incredible! She is one heck of a cook. After dinner, we played Monopoly (because Aquila saw my Monopoly jersey and wanted to play after that). For dessert, Steve made some awesome chocolate malt for everyone. All 4 of us got to sleep in a bed, or at least on an air mattress! The bed Joe and I were in was probably the most comfortable bed ever! What an amazing day, yet again. I continue to be amazed by the hospitality our hosts have shown us- we are so lucky to get to meet so many great people. We rode 48.91 miles today.
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