mr_bill

Not an entry, but walking on the Minuteman Bikeway this morning saw a “rainbow” in Pokemon Go Land. It went away before I could grab my bike, and not sure how to get my bike in there anyway.



-mr. bill

3S1M

I believe that was an example. The current mission is sitll a rainbow. At least from historical research I've conducted on this last page.

Fredo_Adagio

Regarding "Which would be my assignment, if my submission is satisfactory: that's the kind of picture the city council would put on the brochure to try to get more people to move here or buy things here. So show me something that would be in the travel brochure, even if it's a lie. That pic makes it look like I live someplace fancy... which I don't.", San Bernardino is fancy enough! I lived there during my grade school years (Pacific High School, Class of 1979 - Yeah, I'm old.). In my humble opinion, San Bernardino is a better place now than it was in the 1970s when it won a national award as the "All American City". One major thing that makes San Bernardino better now is that the air is a lot cleaner. When I was in elementary school, one of the teachers had a vacuum cleaner that he would use to test the air quality by placing a sock over the inlet nozzle. He would run the vacuum cleaner for a few minutes during recess and then show us what we had been breathing. Another thing that makes San Bernardino better now is that Rosa Maria's didn't exist back then. San Bernardino is one of the few places in southern California where a person making a middle-class salary can still afford to buy a house. There is now a commuter rail line to downtown Los Angeles where good jobs can be found. Best of all, there are some great bike roads in the San Bernardino area. I liked San Timoteo Canyon Road, Reche Canyon Road, Old Route 66 in Cajon Pass from Highland Avenue to Cleghorn Road, and Mill Creek Road up into the San Bernardino National Forest. I understand there are now some rail trains, the Pacific Electric Trail and Santa Ana River Trail.

DrIsotope

The smog was never from here to begin with-- the IE smog still blows in from the LA Basin, just not as much of it, and not as often. So sure, air quality is better. But with the shuttering of Norton AFB and March AFB in the 90s, San Bernardino fell into a state of urban decay from which it is unlikely to ever recover.

The entire "downtown" area is just bleak. The train station and transit depot are places you don't want to leave anything unlocked, your car overnight, or even really spend any amount of time alone. I've lived in the IE my entire life-- born in Saint B's on Highland Ave, went to HS at Aquinas.

San Bernardino has always been the place that's in between other places. There's no real reason to actually come here... well unless you have something absolutely horrible happen to you--- Loma Linda UMC is the only Level 1 trauma center in like 4 counties.

Now on the upside, and the primary reason we still live in this area (outside of family) is that it actually is the place between other places. I can ride 3 hours north and be at the highest paved mountain pass in Southern California (Onyx Summit) or I can ride 3 hours west and be at the Pacific Ocean.

3S1M

Wow, that was quite the history on San Bernadino. My Step Dad lived in Mission Viejo for a while. I forget if I said that earlier. He was a California Highway Patrolman. I think stationed in Orange County.... Somewhere.

How long do we wait for a completed mission. It's been overcast here several days and I can't think of a place that has like a rainbow on the wall to ride by.... I have a mission in mind if need be, but I'll wait a bit longer unless enough of you say call it. It would be a cool mission to see.

I-Like-To-Bike

Wait no longer. Say hello to Rainbow Brite, my daughter's favorite friend from 30 years ago.

I-Like-To-Bike

Assuming that Rainbow Brite met the mission requirements I cede the next mission assignment to 3S1M.Let's see that "Cool Mission" assignment.

Enjoy a little more Rainbow action on a gray day, while we wait for the cool mission.

3S1M

Your bike and a donut shop. Doesn't have to be Dunkin, although not sure what else is out there..... Milwaukee has this one called "honeydipped donuts" and it looks like they bought an old Dunkin Donuts and didn't change much but the sign.... LOL.

You get extra street cred if there is a box, bag or exposed donut in the pic.... LOL.

flangehead

Absolutely according to my able assistant.

mr_bill

OBVIOUSLY not an entry?

In the land of Dunkin', we have so many donut shops. (Yeah, we got lots of Dunks, but we got lots of not Dunks too.)


-mr. bill

wipekitty

Like getting an advanced degree during a recession?

Funny thing, I just interviewed for a job in San Bernardino yesterday. And for some unknown reason, I *really* want to move there, because I think it's better than where I've been. (I won't know if I made the short-short list for another month, though.)

DrIsotope

As a lifelong resident and CSUSB graduate, while I will preface by saying that SB ain't the worst place, it certainly ain't the best either-- so wherever you were living before, I'mma take a pass on that one.

Now if we're talking about the 'burbs (like where I live) or up in Northpark or summat, it's a'ight. Still only a place between other places, though. I think the average commute for my wife's coworkers is around 25 miles each way.

As to the current mission, I will refrain from using old stock, as I have more than one pic in my file of my bike leaning against a donut shop-- the machine does kill donuts, after all.

I know I'll get sniped by an east coaster (the sun isn't even up yet here) but it gives me a destination, so I'mma go for a current pic anyway.

Slightspeed

Me too, us left coasters have a built in 3 hour disadvantage. But at least its nicer bike weather once the sun gets up.😊 I'll take it.

DrIsotope

Add to that the fact that I awoke to winds from the NNE @ 11mph, gusts to 18mph, and going out to get a pic of a donut shop (and eat a donut, obvs) is the only thing getting me on the bike today.

Oh, what's that Weather Underground? Did you have something to tell me? "Sunny skies. Becoming windy late. High 68F. Winds NNE at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph."

flangehead

I, for one, really, really, really want to see the "donut killer" in front of a donut shop.

DrIsotope

The weather report was truthful in that the wind was gonna get worse. Because it absolutely did. The last 25 minutes was grinding up a slight hill into a hella wind at about 9mph. I can hear trash cans getting whipped around as I type this.

I got almost all of the shops on the circuit I rode-- I skipped Donut Factory on 3rd and Tippecanoe because the loiter squad was already brown baggin' it at 9:30am on a Wednesday, and I felt like I was out of dress code.

In order of passage, from first to last, a nice half dozen donuts. If it hadn't been apocalyptically windy, I might have gone for a full dozen. Note: I have no idea if the two Manna Donuts are in any way affiliated. They're the furthest apart.

Fredo_Adagio

Regarding donuts, I used to be fond of Winchell's, which used to be near Highland and Del Rosa, but that has probably been gone for decades.

DrIsotope

The Yum Yum in pic #2 was a Winchell's back in the day. Apparently Winchell's was sold to Yum Yum back in the early 2000s. There's still a Yum Yum that was formerly a Winchell's way down on Highland around H street.

I know the spot you're talking about, and (almost) nothing from even the 90s remains. When they tore down the old Sages @ Del Rosa and Highland, two big blocks went in adjacent to Del Rosa Bowl-- including Miller's Outpost, The Warehouse, Fuddruckers, Maxwell Street Pizza, you name it.

They're all gone. Every single one. Anything with square footage is city/county buildings now. I grew up right around the corner, in the days of the Family Twin Cinema and the Gemco.

Sometimes it's weird to see what was in childhood an empty lot, become a big shopping center and then return to being an empty lot again.

Meanwhile, donut shops appear to be immortal. 3D Donuts has been in that location for like... 35 years? More? It's older than the city it's in (which wasn't incorporated until 1986.)

mr_bill

Oh well, well and truly late. Spectacular set of donuts above.

A few hours late, but this is my favorite donut place:



-mr. bill

Fredo_Adagio

Dr. Isotope,
Please recommend a San Bernardino area ride.
I will be visiting family in the San Bernardino area this weekend. My brother has proposed that I do a ride with him. We would both be on hardtail mountain bikes, but we wouldn't be looking to do anything off road. A round trip of about twenty miles (not more than forty) on paved roads that aren't terribly busy would be ideal. I've proposed several routes (Cajon Pass, San Timeteo Canyon, Reche Canyon, and Mill Creek), but we've done those before.
Thanks in advance,
Too Old and Slow

DrIsotope

Dunno where you're starting out of in SB, but anything out towards Sunset in Redlands with a return via Overcrest and Greenspot is where I would take a visitor on a local ride. The roads vary from "a little busy" to "virtually abandoned," and the views are excellent. Up Terracina to Serpentine and Sunset across to Alta Vista, crossing into Yucaipa to Overcrest and through Redlands/Mentone to Greenspot is always nice. Greenspot Market would fall around the midway point, if you happen to like jerky (and who doesn't.) With the forecast for this weekend, there should be a whole lotta bikes out in Redlands.

Though it's much greener right now, here's looking down from Edgemont/Sunset towards the Cajon Pass, sometime in the winter of 2017:

flangehead

Next mission?

DrIsotope

Nest mission: two of a kind, not together. Like I wanna see the same thing twice. In two different locations.

Fredo_Adagio

Dr. Isotope,

Regarding Sages, you must be fairly old too. Sages went down the drain in the early 1970s. I remember Gemco and the Twin Cinema. My sister and I went to see "Smokey and the Bandit" there. We thought Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason deserved Oscars.

Regarding Greenspot Road, my brother says he has done it, but he complains that it is too steep. My mother used to ride out in the direction on weekends well into her seventies. If you ever saw an old lady in that area on a green Trek 520, that was her.

- Too Old and Slow

DrIsotope

Florida St. hits about 5% for about 3/4 of a mile, and that's the steepest bit. Most of it is 2-3%. But if the Greenspot climb is too much, that absolutely rules out Overcrest and Sunset.