Day 2 :Jacumba Hot Springs

9/9/19

The Priest is Naked!

As I pulled into the church yard after an exhausting day our only female route leader came over to me a little flushed. “ Nick, when I got here the priest was asleep naked on a pew! He covered up when I awakened him but told me we were in a nudist  colony for the night!”.

well, well…

Today’s ride was difficult for me, the end of 10,000 feet of climbing over 36 hours. Last time I did this I had ridden the Pacific Coast ride, was in better shape and weighed 15 lbs less. Yet with pure grit I ground out the climbs to the top of the lower peaks of the Sierra Range near the Mexican Border.

 

 

On the way down at 38 mph Angel and Flossie finally appeared to join the ride. Great help they were on the way up never to be seen , now present on my shoulders for the coast down.

It was with mixed emotions that I pulled into Jacumba Hot Springs. This is where I first encountered the Wall two years ago. I will try to post that story below.

This time my arrival was turned on its head with the announcement that we were in a nudist colony. After being made aware of my surroundings I wandered outside to see the priest watering the garden in a skimpy skirt situated below his his navel for our modesty. The roses needed work….

I set up my tent with a  discreet  eye turned towards him and scanned the neighborhood for nudies…no one in site.

Not really sure I believed all this I look up the town on the internet to discover…the Nudist SPA, the nudist campground, the nudist motel…

Well, well…

The church, though very accommodating lacked shower facilities so we used our trusty outside shower.

Half way through, Angel and Flossie giggling at the naked priest, brought forth a puff of wind …. and blew my cleans clothes away…

Well well…

Standing buck naked in the flimsy shower at first I was not sure what to do but then I remembered I was in a nudist colony….so…when in Rome do as the Romans do…I exited the shower to the amusement of the other riders, walked around to pick up my clothes, and got dressed. Angel and Flossie , tears of laughter running down their cheeks, decided to explore the rest of the town and winked out of site. I sure I will hear of their mischief later this evening…

As I was fixing my supper I wondered if I should walk down to the Wall again but glancing up saw this on the church wall inside.

One trip 300 yards to the South

would bum me out but instead here was this, on another Wall,  to warm my soul.

Maybe nudist colony churches aren’t that bad after all…

 

Here is the post from 2 years ago:

The Wall
I wake rested today though by all odds it should have been considered a “ restless” night. Three of us were in a hotel room with two beds so I volunteered to take the floor. Besides I wanted to try out an air mattress I bought from a rider on the Pacific Coast. She warned me it leaked a bit but I figured it was better than what I had…my pad fully inflated is one inch thick, her’s a whopping 6 .
Well, it sure looked good blown up and I fell off to sleep…to wake at midnight with my six shriveled to 1/10 of an inch…Might have a leak??? No kidding.
As quietly as I could in the dark I blew it back up but by 5:30 AM I was back to sleeping on concrete floor covered with indoor/outdoor carpet…but I slept really well!
As I walked to the dining area for a free breakfast I look to the East and then at my side to even different flowers.
A stranger approaches and asks about my orange

garbs. After I fill him in about the trip he pulls out a100$ bill and gives it to my as a donation…I am blown away but thank him profusely and then deposit it in the account of a rider who has not yet met his goal.
After breakfast two of us start the ride…32 miles up hill…
Three riders do not complete the climb but at the top the view West to the ocean is magnificent
…and to our sides, mountain tops…

before we descend into the desert basin where we will be below sea level for part of two days. We peak at 4000 feet and descend 1000 to Jacumba Hot Springs where we spend the night. A mile from town I see a strange railroad track to the right but as I get closer I realize it is …the Wall.
I stop my bike and just look…This barrier has been so much in the press and on peoples’ minds with the present political climate…but here it is in reality not more than 50 yards to my right.
Suddenly I get all chocked up. And tears flow down my face…
All I can think is “ This is just not right”.
I know the pros and cons of the Wall on an intellectual basis but I am consumed by a gut wrenching moment…It could be me who lives on that other side. It could be me who is a 15 year old trying to escape the Gangs of Central America…It could be me who is a father of three trying to find a better world for my children…
The Wall is so real…
I am glad I am riding alone just now, the tears flow and flow…
And then Angel gently taps touches my shoulder and whispers “ You can’t save the world. Just keep doing what you are doing, consider it good, and move on”.
Flossie, bless her, presses against me so her soft fur dries my tears.
Into town I ride to spend the night at a church but a local hot springs spa has made a shower available for us for a small fee and thrown in a dip in the sulfur springs for free.
I set up my tent before I go to shower but leave the rain flap off…Jacumba Hot Springs gets 11 inches of rain a year, all should be well.
And as I approach the spa? A thunderstorm from nowhere cuts loose and everything I have laying on the lawn gets drenched…
I start to run back to salvage my wet things when peels of laughter make me look skyward where what do I see but…Angel and Flossie grinning ear to ear with an empty rain cloud in tow. All I hear is “Hee Hee Hee” as they float off to return the empty grey fog sack to the ocean far to the West.
I bet Zephyr had something to do with this.
With friends like this I am never at a loss for a New Adventure on this ride…