A Respite, an Adieu, an Interstice

I made the decision to stay in Emporia, KS to save money, eat as much as I could and enjoy spending some time with my family. I spent my days accomplishing as much as I could after a good night's rest. I feel like I made a decent amount of progress on their landscape and even got to help my uncle Jim and my man Don Whon do some lighting. When I wasn't busy working I was generally doing one of my five year old cousins favorite activities of either "building" with Legos or outside riding a scooter or bike. All activities I enjoy to this day, so I did not mind at all. He was always quite entertaining! I got to see a couple of Bri and David's soccer games, watch swim lessons and just enjoy both of their young inquisitive minds. I didn't do quite as much training as I had hoped for the trip, but I did get out at least one day for a decent ten or so mile hike along with a few good runs. Since I was stagnant for awhile my mother decided she would come visit this last weekend to see me off. It was nice seeing her and asking her a few questions about me as a child after spending time with someone who is often compared to me when I was a kid. Other than that there is not a great deal to update. I went to a wine and beer tasting fundraiser, saw a bull in search of some lovin' and have flown into San Diego, CA. Going to spend the next few days here hanging out enjoying what the city has to offer. Stayed with a very kind and interesting gentleman last night by the name of Dustin that I got connected with through the old faithful couchsurfing website. A bit more reliable than just stopping and asking farmers to stay in their barn in my opinion. Slept pretty well on the couch in a warm, dry place. Dustin had a pretty rough weekend, so he said he was going to sleep until about noon or so. I woke up and headed out to a breakfast burrito place he recommended. It was pretty good. Then, I decided to walk around and explore the area on my own. Walked up and down a few major streets and did some people watching. Got back to the duplex about noon and Dustin was awake. Headed out to meet up with some of his friends for lunch. Very nice and interesting people. Chad, who is getting ready to ride from Seattle to San Diego, wanted to go for a ride that day. An Italian going by the name Andy, Andrea, who is staying with Chad wanted to get a Nacho Libre mask. Like the one Rey Mysterio Jr. used to wear. The combination of the two came up with the idea to cycle down to Tijuana. Asked if I wanted to join. I said as long as I can get a bike and helmet. After lunch we were getting the ball rolling for Chad, Andy, Dustin and myself to head to TJ. Didn't get on the road until about two or so. It was about 25 miles down there. Not too bad of a ride. Got to see some interesting parts of San Diego. Locked up our bikes on the US side of the border and headed over. Ended up having a few too many beers, shots of tequila and delicious tacos to bike back. I tried what I believed to be fried crickets with lime juice, salt and hot sauce. A weird texture but not too bad. We took the trolly back around ten. Once we were back in San Diego we cycled to Balboa Park, and in the dark the four of us hung out to kill a pint of tequila Chad had bought in Mexico.