American Thanksgiving!

Back in 2013 we hosted Ilan when he rode his bike from Whitehorse to Anchorage, so we thought of contacting him on this trip, but weren't quite sure we were brave enough to cycle through Los Angeles. However, in a demonstration of how small the cycling world is, Robert, a British cyclist we met along the coast, got hosted by Ilan and so Ilan, realizing we may be heading through LA, emailed us to offer to return the hosting favour if we did end up in his neck of the woods. That invitation tipped the scales, convincing us to visit LA. Ilan, however, one-upped us, and invited us to his family Thanksgiving, so we cycled back toward Malibu and into the Pacific Palisades neighborhood after we returned from Joshua Tree. And what a great thanksgiving dinner it was: Ilan and his girlfriend Emma were the bartenders, Tito, his brother, the chef of the deep-friend turkey, Ilan's mother the chef of the roasted turkey and many delicous other dishes, with siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents as sous-chefs and providers of energetic and interesting conversations. At the end of the night we crammed Ilan, Emma, us, their two dogs Mama and Spooky, our bikes and our many panniers into Ilan's little car and drove to their place in the city.Read more