Day 130, there are truly good people in the world!

Day 130, November 13, 19.7km and 415m climb, stealth camp 10km before Alpine to Ma Tar Awa campsite

Wow, what a day! When we woke at 6 this morning in order to scarper from our stealth camp before anyone asked questions, we had no idea it would turn out as it did and all in a good way! 

My rear wheel bearings have had a wee bit of play and we have tried a couple of places to see if we could get them replaced.  We decided they would be ok until we got back to San Diego in a couple of weeks. Yesterday though, the thrashing I gave the bike through the mountain bike park loosened them to the point where heading off into the desert was probably not a good idea.  Our plan this morning was to swing by the local bike shop in the town of Alpine and see if we could get them sorted. The bike shop didn't open until 11 so we found a laundromat and did some washing and had some breakfast at McDonald's before popping down to the shop.

The owner helpfully pulled the spacer caps out so we could see the number of the bearings but he didn't have the bearings and wasn't comfortable doing the job anyway so we headed off to use some wifi at Starbucks to do our own research.

While stealing Starbucks wifi, we met David who was just finishing his Sunday morning ride on his gravel bike. We got to talking and next thing you know, he's found us a bike shop in San Diego with the bearing in stock and offered to drive us there! After a quick stop at his place, where Shannon (his partner in crime, along with deputy Ava) made us the most delicious sandwich ever, we were on our way to San Diego!

The shop (Moment Cycles) had the part (I should note here that every other shop we'd tried did not have it in stock and it was a Sunday) and Larry the mechanic worked his magic to replace the bearings on both sides while we headed off to shout David a coffee. By 4.30pm we were in the car heading back to Alpine. A quick stop to grab the bikes from David's place, load them on the back of his car and we took up David's offer to drop us at the campground 15km along the route we had planned to stay at via the supermarket.

So, lesson from today, there are kind and generous people everywhere. Today we met a whole family of the most kind and generous out there. Toss Larry the mechanic into the mix and our faith in humanity has grown exponentially today. Thank you David, Shannon, Ava (and Booker the dog)!