I see Mexico! Campo, California

Day 71: Campo, CA

Tonight was our last night together as a team. While I’m excited to reach San Diego a part of me is also sad to think that tomorrow at this time we will be done.

Today’s ride from El Centro to Campo was a difficult one because of the heat. We departed the church in El Centro as soon as the sun rose (5:15 a.m.) after a send off by Clay. Jon and Anish were in the van with Jon driving and Anish putting the finishing touches on the Portrait Project interviews that we will be showcasing in San Diego.

Our first water stop came 20 miles into the ride and after refueling we continued on upward with a 3,000+ foot morning climb. We did some highway riding on I-8 before exiting onto Old Highway 80 where we could see the Mexico border as we approached Jacumba, California at our fourth water stop of the day. In Jacumba we took a short break at the Mountain Sage Market. I bought a Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tart while others bought Pop-Tarts, granola bars and other snacks and of course Milk to hold us over until lunch. Before leaving Jacumba Jon and Dan switched driving duties and we were on our way. Right after leaving Jacumba we came as close as we would get to Mexico while on the ride. Riding along Old Highway 80 off to our left the Mexican border was only about 200 feet away. I have to say I was rather entertained by the fence that stood between the US and Mexico as having never been out west prior to this summer I’ve heard and read about the US wanting to build a giant fence to separate the two countries. As you can see in the photo the fence is currently nothing more than a simple wooden fence. I guess it serves the purpose of marking the border but I find it funny after all the hype the topic has gotten from Washington. As we came around a corner and headed up a small hill we were only about 150 feet away from the border and stopped to take pictures of the almighty little fence while Andrew and Nick decided to test their arms and see how far the border really was. I think if their hadn’t been border patrol cars passing us every few minutes some of us would have ran to the fence and put a foot in Mexico so we could say we’d been to Mexico but with the patrolmen on the road this didn’t seem like a good idea.

From Jacumba we continued on to Boulevard where we stopped outside a restaurant for lunch. Jon, Nick, Andrew, Anish, James, Sehee, Alex and I enjoyed a traditional I4K lunch of cold cuts, PBJ and whatever other concoctions we could come up with while the rest of the team went inside to eat.

From lunch we had a hot 15 mile +/- ride to the Lake Morena Community Church in Campo. Shortly after departing lunch we ran into flat tire trouble as both Andrew and Nick got flats at virtually the same time. Our group of eight pulled over to wait as they changed their tires seeking out shade under the roadside shrubs to escape the heat. Once fixed we were on our way making one last stop about five miles out of Campo to refill our water before continuing on toward the church north of Campo. We were about 2 ½ miles from the church when we heard a loud pop. Alex’s back tire had blown out and now had a giant hole in it requiring the van to give her a lift to the church. It was around 4 p.m. by the time we reached the church.

When we arrived the church was wrapping up a week of vacation bible school with a picnic for the children and their families and invited us to join in on the festivities. They gave us bread, cheese and watermelon to snack on as we relaxed, rested and went over our plans for the ride into San Diego tomorrow with Don a University of Illinois Alum who lives in San Diego. Jon and Nick made dinner for us while everyone else unpacked the van. Once we had the van unloaded Anish and James headed to San Diego in search of a Kinko’s to print off our Portrait Project previews that will be on display at the picnic tomorrow afternoon. For dinner Jon and Nick made Nachos and beans while the church let us partake in their picnic of hot dogs and cake!

After dinner we had a meeting to talk about the future of the Illini 4000 including what can be done to make things better in the future. All in all I think the meeting went well. I think this year involved a lot of learning as nobody in our group had done anything of this magnitude before. When we rode with the Hopkins 4K team in Colorado it was obvious that they were a veteran program by the way they operated. I personally have very few complaints with the way things went this summer as I came into the summer with a very open mind knowing that this was new for everyone and that there would be bumps in the road. Being on the road for two months it would be silly for me to think everything would follow a script, that's something that would be a challenge for a veteran program. Sure I may have eaten 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the course of the summer but that’s just something that adds to my memories from this summer. (For the record I still like Peanut Butter and Jelly) I really hope that I4K will continue to grow in the coming years and that every year they will be able to raise more and more money for Cancer research until Cancer becomes a thing of the past!

When the meeting concluded many people headed to bed to rest up for our ride into San Diego tomorrow. Sean and I just finished writing out the route for tomorrows ride and now I'm sitting here still awake enjoying the warm night and journaling. Brandt Moshered* me this afternoon and I now hold the almighty Erick Mosher card. I’m honestly rather excited and honored to have it as it’s only the second time I’ve possessed it since we started the Mosher game in Colorado. It’s getting late; I think I’ll jot down a few things for my Mosher speech before calling it a night. Goodnight!

[* The Mosher explained – the Mosher is actually a little plastic card that Nick found on the side of the road as we were entering Telluride. The card appears to be the ski pass of Erick Mosher from the 2000-2001 ski season in Telluride. Whoever possesses the Mosher card after breakfast each morning has to give an inspirational quote or message for the day prior to leaving. Normally this is done by having the person with the Mosher stand with their bike in the middle of a circle while everyone else surrounds them on their bikes. One may pass off the Mosher but must do it without the person being Moshered knowing. After the Mosher card has been on the other person for more than five seconds the person who passed the card off tells the Moshered person that they’ve been Moshered. If one is caught in the act of Moshering the person who is being Moshered can reject the card. There are other rules like you cannot Mosher someone while their sleeping or on their bike and you cannot pass the card after breakfast has started among others I cannot remember at the moment.]