We had planned a camping and mountain bike trip for this week. The state of my foot prevented both, so we rented a Ford Expedition and some hotel rooms and headed north, up highway 395.

On the first day, we stopped at Ridgecrest where we visited a local museum (bell ringing), stayed at a decent hotel with a great pool for John Michael, then proceeded north the following day.

That morning we stopped at the Fossil Falls, a volcanic area dotted with cinder cones and notable for this ancient and long-ago dried falls. It was quite beautiful, but by midday the temperature was already hitting 100F.

A bit further north we stopped at the Manzanar relocation camp where, after the Pearl Harbor attack, many American citizens of Japanese heritage were, essentially, imprisoned. This site has been very well restored and gives one a sense of the huge injustice of this action.

In his last camp of the summer, John Michael attended the equestrian camp of the YMCA.

I was able to go to the ranch on Friday to see his skills. Two of the women who run the camp came to me and said how much he had progressed and one said he was the MVP of the week because on Monday he was hanging on for dear life and saying, “Don’t leave me, don’t go away!” and by today he was completely at ease and ready to try new things.

He had a great time.

Obstacle Course

Going fast!

Passing by Dad

Whoa!

Mary Pat was in town for a number of weeks, helping me cope with my injury – she was invaluable.

Kevin and LaDonna visited over a long weekend and we were able to celebrate Kevin’s birthday with visits to Old Town State Park and Cabrillo National Monument.

This week’s camp was voice camp at the Recreational Music Center.

It was clear that John Michael enjoyed a week of girls paying attention to him! “Oh, you’re John Michael’s parents!”

Today, Friday, they had a concert for the families.

Let’s Hear it for the Boys

I Need a Hero

Footloose

https://vimeo.com/228148756/3e92173873

When we arrived on Friday to see what they had learned, Dale Holmes came up to kc and me and said that John Michael had spoken to him that morning. He said that John Michael came up close to him, and in a soft voice said, “Dale, I think I’m ready to race.”

John Michael did great and was particularly proud that he had mastered the starting gate.

And repeating as champion, Jack Hines

John Michael is at the YMCA’s BMX Pro Camp this week. It is run by a local coach, Dale Holmes, who is a former BMX world champion.

John Michael says that this is the best camp he ever attended, which is a pretty high bar. He won an award for “Best Crash” yesterday after someone ran into his rear wheel while he was going around the “berm” (banked turn). The kid who crashed him had a creative excuse – “I had passed-out for like 3 seconds”!

John Michael is by far the youngest and smallest kid there, but he holds his own. I spoke with Dale today and he said he could be a good racer because most kids don’t pedal enough and John Michael probably pedals too much!

John Michael is scheduled to return in a couple of weeks.

Here are two videos.

Low perspective

High perspective

It was supposed to be a hot day, but the water and air was cold at the beach and the fog was reaching a quarter mile or so onshore.

John Michael had a great time, although he ended up super cold. I was surprised by how much battering in the surf he tolerated and still enjoyed.

We both got wiped-out by a particularly large wave and called it a day. He was freezing and I broke a bone in my foot.

Video

From our Cuyamaca State Park ride.

Look at those legs go!

This ride is in the northern part of the park and actually crosses over into the Anza Borrego State Park territory for a while.

Here is the Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1012111824