“Mom” Piccarilli died suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday, May 10, 1980. ‘Mom” was the proprietor of Piccarilli’s Bar on the corner of Evans and Buchanan Sts, just up from the 3rd St offices at Bethlehem Steel. Our local watering hole after work. Very rotund and in her late 70’s, she was the no nonsense, motherly depository of life’s lessons. I remember attending her church service at noon on the following Thursday. It’s one of those personal trivia facts that one sometimes remembers forever – unexplainably. I suppose I remember the date because it was so close to my planned departure date for my first long- distance bike tour.
On Saturday, two days later, I was in the Santa Ana airport baggage area; assembling my bike in an out-of-the-way corner. In about an hour and a half, I was on my way, trying to navigate strange and heavily trafficked roadways near the airport. The front wheel was shimmying, a result of too hastily packing the panniers. I had to stop and shift some of the heavier objects to lower positions, particularly excess weight in the handlebar bag. With much better control, I was able to focus on getting over to the Coast Highway about ten miles west. Stopping at the first available motel as I headed down the coast, I was able to spend the evening carefully repacking things and double-checking the bike components.
Trip Maps:
S. California S. Arizona N. Arizona Colorado
Sunday morning, May 18, probably while I was cruising through Camp Pendleton Marine Base, something else suddenly and unexpectedly happened. Mt. St. Helens erupted at 8:32. Of course, I had no idea and it was not until later that day I learned the details on TV at a motel in Oceanside. What a sendoff!
The Coast Highway and roads heading inland were fairly heavily trafficked, but were in good shape with reasonable shoulders in most places. On the morning of the 3rd full day, I left behind the relatively bland and congested “West Coast” as I descended from the highlands to the desert areas at Anza Borrego State Park. I knew from this point on, for the rest of the trip, the scenery would be wide open and much more dramatic. While I had great tailwinds headed toward Brawley, I was concerned that I would eventually encounter heavy headwinds. Fortunately, I made it through the entire trip with no abnormal headwinds. The “prevailing westerlies” were with me.
No flats or mechanical problems were encountered on this trip. Having never done a long bike tour, I naturally assumed that I would have some flats or other problems; possibly a problem with cactus thorns. Perhaps I was just lucky. I did, however, decide to replace the rear tire in Flagstaff, AZ because it exhibited more wear than I anticipated.
The trip took a little over three weeks, covering about 1300 miles, and included a couple of extra days as layovers such as at Grand Canyon.
The success and enjoyment of the trip “gave me the green flag” to start planning the next year’s vacation.
