The herald., 1893-08-13
A CYCLING TRIP TO SAN DIEGO,
Pleasant Experience of Three
Los Angeles Boys.
A Running Account of the Long
Journey.
Description OF the Surrounding Country
Down Grade aud Up-Frightened
Mules - Pretty Scenery.
Under Haystsck.

means of locomotion, outside OF boats. A
wheel enthusiast likes nothing better
than to don mis- "sweater" and other
paraphernalia of the cyclist, mount his
silent steed and spin away to explore the
country. To bowl along over smooth
roads, amid orchards and meadows and
gree 4 fields, breathing the fresh, pure
air, now in the shadow, now in the sun
shine, coasting down this grade or pull
ing leisurely up that, always moving
onward to new sights and scenes; these
are the joys of the cyclist.
With such pleasant fancies 40 these
meandering through our gray matter we
left Los Angeles one cool, foggy morn
| ing, q trio OF as light-hearted and san
guine wheelmen as ever scorned q
"header." We were San Diego bound,
and our motto, translated into English,
was something like this: "San Diego or
bust." We rode up to Pomona leisurely
and stopped for dinner with genial DR..
Howeth OF the Weston hotel, who fed US
go we'll that kits found it hard to leave
the place.
From Pomona, where Dorm took q
most beautiful header into a ditch, we
started for South Riverside via Chino
and Rincon. Between Rincon an South
Riverside we enjoyed the pleasant nov
city of being blown up q per cent grade
by the gentle zephyrs from the Santa
Ana cafion, which struck us square iu the
back and helped US on our weary way in
good style.
We reached South Riverside at 4 p.
M, and after enjoying the courtesies OF
Messre. Joy and Jameson of the land
and water company for an hour or 30,
pushed on toward Elsinore, % miles
further, through Temescal pass. Snch
distance, to q cyclist. is a mere baga-
telle. Spinning along we soon reached
Temescal, IL miles out Of Elsinore. Alter
! supping sumptuously on corned beef and
soda crackers, we rode gaily on, but soon
rode gaily off-dismounted, in fact.
regret exceedingly to be obliged to add
that we remained in that lamentabls
condition most of the way to Lucerne,
two miles from Elsinore. If you care to
know the reason l can say it in one
word, but 1t means volumes-sand. 1t
is doubtful whether the sulphurous blue
clouds have dispersed from that desert
yet.
We got to Elsinore, anyway, about
thrse hours behind schedule time. The
town is very prettily situated on Lake
Elsinore, a sheet of water about six
miles long and two miles wide. The
place Is something of health resort,
having warm springs OF sulphur and
mineral waters, whose medical proper
ties are euch that many invalids annu-
ally visit Elsinore Tor the benefit Of the
baths, there being Two bath houses for
the purpose. Not being invalide, we
had no time for medical baths, but hsv-
ing by this time accumulated the appe-
tite of the proverbial ostrich, we. after
nights sleep, ate everything the hotel
had on hand for breakfast and departed
Tor Temecula.
Our route lay along smooth, hard
loads through the pretty towns OF
Wildomar and Murrieta, surrounded by
extensive grainfislds, where threshers
and hay balers were hard at work clean
ing up the crop. At Temecula we de-
voured ths usual extensive meal, and
set out again toward our destination,
and were soon pushing our wheels up
the Veycitas pass. Reaching the sum-
NIT we got aboard our wagons and slid
down the grade. Did gay ''slid ?" We
fairly few at times. The mountains
here are more extensively supplied with
rocks and boulders than any have ever
before seen. They crop out like warts
on the hand OF backwoods boy, and
stand like giants on the ridges and sum-
mits.
We were soon at McComber's ranch,
on the San Luis Rey river. Here we
met brother wheelmen returning home
to Temecula from Oceanside. He as
eured us we would have to wade the
river, and advised us to 90 to Oceanside
via San Luis Rey mission. When We
reached the river, where our whilom
acquaintance had spent half hour
taking off and putting on his shoes, we
found it not over 40 feet wide, and only
six inches deep at best. We rode
through it, as we had every other stream
or the way. We pushed On al rapidly
as possible, hoping TO make Escondido,
our objective point for the day, by night
fall. BY the advise of misguided and
eccentric individual who keeps the post
Office at Bernards we turned into the
Little Moos& cai1on instead of going to
| the Big Moosa, as we had been directed
to do. The riding was very nice here
until we struck stretch OF the most
beautiful sand l ever looked upon. 1t
wac lovely sand. l wish they had it
here In Los Angeles all piled up to make
mortar. 1t certainly was exquisite, from
a sandy point of view.
By this time it was growing dark, and
we were tired and hungry, as a matter
of course. We inquired of some sgricul-
tural gentlemen coming along in a
wagon how much there might be OF that
Iosd. Said they. in all seriousness,
Eight miles" Said we, "Gee whiz /"
AS the road was knee deep in willows
we had no means of knowing that the
agricultural gentlemen's statements
were highly facetious, but We next
morning discovered that we were not
over 300 yards from the grade out OF the
cafIon.
Fortunately we found farm house
few rods ahead, and having stated our
case to the head of the house, a genial
man whose name is Kincaid, we were
allowed to stay over night. Mrs. K.
got us some supper, and alter smoking q
pipe of our Yale mixture with our host
Except Dorm, he don't smoke), we
helped to make up our bed, which was
mattress laid in the lee of haystack
under the friendly shelter of a load Of
the same commodity.
Next morning by 6 O'Clock we had
breakfast, and were climbing out of the
cafion and soon were rolling smoothly
along on the IL mile run to Escondido,
under the friendly shade of live oaks
and sycamores. Our ride to Escondido
was without incident. There are many