One if by land, two if by sea

View PCH to Work by Bicycle in a larger map

:-) I just learned how to embed Google Maps into this blog, with routes and icons and everything! (Soon I hope to make a route with Google Earth for my epic run).

The first route I present is that of my Wednesday morning commute to work. I decided to ride my bicycle along the ocean all the way to BRCM. The weather this time of year is fantastic because there is no fog (June gloom) in the mornings yet and before daylight savings change the sun rises at 6:30am. This combination offered me a cool sunny ride along PCH.

The downside is battling traffic. I HATE STREETS WITH PARKED CARS!!! It makes sharing the lane MOST difficult. I have to either take up the whole lane and have angry cars waiting behind me, or cars that come by within inches. For example, when I took up the whole lane and was letting a school bus enter traffic after picking up students. The bus stopped halfway into merging to let me pass AND the SUV behind surprised me as it went around me.

Anyways, today I took the same route, but this time on my motorcycle. The weather was again a fantastic reminder of why living in OC isn't so bad.

Transit Advocates of Orange County

Last week I joined a group (http://www.transitrideroc.com/transit-advocates-orange-county) which works to improve bus, rail, biking and walking in Orange County. I am a user of all the above modes from the moment I moved back to OC. Therefore, I jumped on the chance to help the cause. My task will be to translate materials, presentations and meetings into Spanish.

The first meeting was last Wednesday. I took my usual bike/train/bus/bike combination to work. To get to Santa Ana train station, where the meeting was located, I biked to catch the 59 bus and then Amtrak home (because Metrolink stops running at a ridiculously early time, the only trains passing at 9pm are Amtrak which is ~$5 more expensive).

I realized that in HS and CIT I was part of many clubs and organizations so it seems natural that now that I'm in the "real world" I joined a group. I admit that in the past my affiliation with some organizations have been to pad an application/resume or tag along with friends. This time it's different because it's personal and something that I fully support.

(btw, in the picture I'm near the railing, behind the guy in the white shirt.)