The "Lost Boys' memorial bike ride

Time to update the blog! What a difference a week makes This past week it turned rainy and cool and even with the sun out it has been decidely cool.  No more pool time here.  I shut off the pool heater and overnight the water went from 81F to 72F. But last weekend was hot and sunny here in Happy Acres, the location of Grouch estates. On Sunday I decided that it was time to get old wobbly out and go for a good bike ride. It's called old wobbly because both wheels are bent from the crash in April and I still haven't gotten around to getting them fixed.  The weather was warm, the sun was out, the wobbling wheels imparted a nice motion like gently rolling waves and life was good.  I decided to take a ride through the industrial center with its myriad of wide streets deserted on Sunday for some hassle-free riding.  This was the venue for all four Grouch offspring to pilot the auto de jour to learn to drive.  I came to a bike path on the perimeter of the plan that looked like it didn't get much action which was perfect for me.  First stop was an access road that led to a water tank set high up on a ridge.  On an impulse up I went.  That sucker was steep!  I was in low-low-low gear and still huffing and puffing.  I encountered two guys, one speed walking and one running up the hill.  The walker suggested I select a lower gear to make it easier for me.  Too bad I was already there.   I made it about 9/10th of the way up but just couldn't go any further without hurling so I decided to take a pause to catch my breath and settle the stomach.   The runner passed me up and said that I made it further than just about most bikers he usually encounters.  That was nice of him to say even if it probably wasn't true.  From the vantage point I spied the old iron railroad bridge used in the 80s teenager vampire flick "The Lost Boys".
 In case you haven't heard of it, here's a link to the movie :http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/
And, for those folks who say the bridge in their town is the correct bridge, I offer this link to the movie which shows the bridge I was on: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4sm7d_the-lost-boys-bridge-scene_shortfilms   Hmmm, difficult to see from my picture, but take my word on it!
The local paper had an article about movie locations in our happy valley and this is one of them.  This was used in the scene where the vampire gang is jumping off of a bridge at night and they fly away, or something like that.  It's been awhile since I've seen the movie.   So anyway access to the bridge has been off limits all these years.  It was those pesky no trespassing signs that stopped me from checking it out.  Now it has been incorporated into the burgeoning municipal bike trail system so off I went to check it out.

The bridge has a date of 1888 on one end and 1898 on the other.  10 years to build this thing?  A nice iron bridge that spans the creek bed which is about 30 feet below.  From the deck you get a nice view of the local amusement park where young son works as a ride operator when he isn't being a scholar

After riding across and back again I continued along the path, under the freewayette (looks like a freeway but has stop lights on it) until the paved trail ended and it turned into gravel and dirt and had several signs telling wayward cyclists that we didn't belong there.  So I turned around and encountered this sign.  I've got to say, only in California will someone see something like this:

Will the sensitive ant's and animal's feelings be hurt if they are spoken to harshly?  Will their self-esteem by impacted?  Give me a break!  I finished up by riding home, taking a dip in the pool and falling asleep on the lounge poolside.  Life is good!