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Day 6: Leaving Lake McSwain we immediately noticed a change in grade. Nothing too steep but definitely not the flat we’d had the last few days. We ran into our bike racer friend again, twice today, on his way out & back from another training ride. We stopped to chat both times. He was so nice. Swinging through Hornitos,CA we snuck water from someone’s hose & asked a local for the best route to our destination (Mariposa). Good thing we asked because the road Garmin wanted to take us on had been washed out (bridge & all) so we had to take a longer route through Catheys Valley,CA. We stopped there for lunch at Oasis (a 3-for-1 kind of place: post office, convenience store, restaurant). Food was tasty. We napped on a picnic table out back, picked up cherries from a roadside stand for dessert & hit the road. Here’s where everything changed. Now we were climbing a mountain. 7-8 miles of constant steep uphill (6-9% grade), narrow-to-no shoulder, a little scary with traffic. We definitely took our sweet time & lots of breaks. Ben was feeling a bit overwhelmed & that he was letting me down but I didn’t care how long it took or how slow we were. I was just happy to be doing it, knowing we could make it. Training for & running marathons definitely prepared me for this mentally. It’s like Dori & The Brave Little Toaster (?) said: just keep swimming & I think I can, I think I can. He just needed some encouragement that he wasn’t letting me down & if we just focused on the next break point we could slowly make our way up & up we went! After the 8 mile climb up we had 2 miles downhill to our resting point for the day. Holy guacamole, those 2 miles were bliss. No pedalling, a nice breeze & we covered that distance in no time! Wahoo! I did fall at the top of the hill before the descent (my mistake with clip pedals that left a baseball-sized bruise on my thigh where my bike pinned my leg to the road) but knowing all that was left was a sweet downhill made it not hurt so much (at least not until later). Luckily it was on the side of the road & no traffic was coming. After that challenging day we decided to splurge & get a cheap motel room at The Mother Lode. Nothing fancy but when you’re living on the road anything seems fancy. Shower, bed, fridge, pool – yes please! After dumping our gear we jumped in the pool. Chilly but refreshing. We cooked a rice dinner on our camp stove & hung laundry on the balcony. Ahhh, what a day. Ups & downs (literally & emotionally) but we made it. Just 1 day at a time, we can do this.

Reflections for that day:

1. Every state has red-necks. Who knew?

2. Big contrast between busy Bay area & small town, country, middle of nowhere. Happened so quickly.

Not two-tired today but Wi-Fi spot about to close so gotta go, until next time!

Whitney

This whole blogging while traveling is a blessing & a curse: so much to see & do = so little time to catch up! 5 days behind, aaaahhhh! Dinner plans in 30 mins, here goes.

Day 5: We didn’t get great sleep in Fox Grove Park: I’m irrationally afraid of animals, Ben afraid of getting caught & in trouble. We’ll both have to get over that quickly! Oatmeal & coffee for breakfast then on the road to Merced Falls. Another beautiful day. Biking was nice. Some rolling hills & long country stretches.We biked through miles & miles of almond & walnut trees as well as vineyards. It was so quiet, peaceful & beautiful. We stopped at a roadside market for produce with the hopes of filling up our water as well but no luck. No worries, we just stopped at a big farm/ranch up the road & asked to use their hose. They were happy to help & even gave us ice! We stopped for lunch in the middle of an almond field, under a shade tree. While we were eating another biker was coming up the hill & stopped when he saw us. We chatted a bit about our trip, his training rides & he gave us some tips about the roads ahead of us. Sweet! Thanks, stranger.

Next stop was Snelling,CA for water fill-up at a gas station & a drink at a small town bar, called Buds. 1st thing the bartender said when we walked in was “you’re not who I usually see in here”. She’s used to a different kind of biker: leather-clad, not lycra lovers 🙂 We were the only ones there & chatted with her a bit. She used to work in banking & mentioned how much has changed from when she first started. She recalled a time the new computers went down & she was the only one who knew the old system, which came in handy. New can be good but old doesn’t have to mean useless. We played some cards, she gave us tips on road closures ahead & we were on our way again.

Last stop of the day was Merced Falls. The ride there was littered with plenty of roadkill, baking in the hot sun. Yum 🙁 Our final destination for the day was Lake McSwain Park, where we rented a campsite on the water. This place was absolutely perfect to me. The weather was gorgeous, our site was right on the water, it was quiet, the view around the lake was breathtaking. It looked like Switzerland or Austria with rolling hills scattered with rocks, trees & cows. I felt like I should run up the hill singing songs from The Sound of Music (if my legs weren’t tired, I might have!). This place was so relaxing; exactly what we needed after a hot day of biking. We jumped in the water to cool off & ooohhh it was chilly but refreshing. We set up camp, got things charging on the solar charger, quick shower, did some laundry in the scrubba wash bag using lake water, took a nap, made dinner & went to bed early. What a day. We felt like kings in this place. My favorite day so far.

Reflections:

1. Have we just been lucky or is the weather always this nice?

2. Water conservation here isn’t what I would expect in a state of drought. Most of the sinks, toilets & showerheads are high-use & waste a lot 🙁

3. Recycling is also hard to come by. Either they do it differently here or it’s only in big cities. Again, not what I expected for CA.

4. My new twist on a common phrase is bikers can’t be choosers 🙂 Being on the road, at the mercy of others (be it water, food, a place to sleep, a shower, safety on the road) we’re so thankful for anything. Things I normally take for granted are now luxuries. A sink? A flushing toilet? Ice? Wow!

Well, I’m still 4 days behind but my sleeping bag & pad in the Lower Pines campground of Yosemite are calling me. More on that later! Two-tired to continue, until next time.

Whitney

Another 3 days have come & gone & again it feels like a week since my last post. It’s so weird! Anywhoozle, not much time this morning before we need to hit the road so straight to the updates.

Day 4: We quick made oatmeal, packed our bags & were on our way. Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality, Jerad & family. It was much appreciated. Good luck on your trip! Our morning didn’t start out great but it ended nicely. We tried getting coffee in town but nothing was open. We had planned to have a down day with little biking but turns out I needed more plans. We had a general idea of where we wanted to be by the end of the day but that was it so we were just wondering around Modesto,CA & I was feeling lost (not literally but mentally: “what are we doing?”). I just needed direction, even if it was to do nothing, but to sort of do something & not know what was frustrating for me. We got a little cranky with each other but once we decided how to spend our down day I felt better. We swung by Dicks Sporting Goods for a few things we needed (propane tank, brighter shirts for Ben, new helmet for me-neon green, can’t miss me now!) & then off to a park to chill for the day. The weather was perfect. We had lunch, Ben caught up with friends on the phone, & I finally added photos to the blog. Ben took a nap while I ran some errands: Goodwill to donate my old helmet & pick up some books to read (The Piano Teacher & Don’t Let Go) & the grocery store for dinner fixings to add to rice. I met Ben back at the park, we loaded up & hit the road for a short jaunt (about 15 miles) to Fox Grove Park in Hughson, CA. It was a nice location right on a river & looked like a good spot to set up camp for the night. I was surprised by how much litter was on the ground. It seemed like no one took the effort to walk things to a garbage can (which I’m finding hard to come by, along with public restrooms here in CA) & instead just threw everything on the ground. That was a little disappointing 🙁 We picked up a little until I realized I’d lost one of my hiking sandals during the ride. NO! Ben went looking for it while I set up camp. He went out a few miles & didn’t see it but he DID find it right by the entrance to the park, only a few yards from us when he came back 🙂 Thanks, Ben! While he was gone, a Muscovy duck made friends with me, or rather with my food! It was a very bold bird & not afraid of anything. It was a constant (albeit hilarious) battle of me chasing it away with a stick. They’re very pretty birds with a red face. If you haven’t seen one before, look it up! They’re cool. We made a rice dinner with peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, avocado & a meatless Chipotle sausage & enjoyed it with some wine. Pretty fine dining for a camp meal 🙂 It was quite tasty. We had a nice relaxed evening, waited for the park to empty & then set up our tent in the furthest-back corner. Technically there was no camping allowed but we weren’t hurting anyone, & we made it better by picking up trash. It was nice to finally be just us again. I love staying with Warm Showers hosts but sometimes it’s nice to be alone & not feel like you’re imposing on anyone. Neither one of us got great sleep (me afraid of every sound thinking it was an animal, Ben afraid of people & getting in trouble) but it’ll get better the more we do it.

That was only 1 day but it’s all I have time for now. Time to head to Yosemite! I’m not two-tired this time since I’m writing in the morning & slept in a motel bed last night but more on that later!

Until next time,

Whitney

WARNING: This one’s a long one! Wowza, these last few days have been pretty busy. Finally, a little down time to catch my breath & catch up on this blog. We’ve only been biking for 3 days but it feels like we’ve been gone for several weeks. So much to say, where to start?

Day 1: We biked up to the Eastern Coastal Trail Overlook in San Fran to snap a quick photo with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, then biked down the hill a few miles to a spot on the beach to dip our bikes in the ocean. The hardest part of our entire day was pushing our loaded bikes through the sand to the water. Heavy bikes + deep, dry sand = an almost impossible task but great workout! Ben would’ve been fine dipping a cup in the ocean & pouring the water on our bikes on the road but not me! I wanted the full experience & got it 🙂 It was pretty powerful standing in the water, looking out at the vast ocean, thinking about all the land we’re going to cover, people we’re going to meet, things we’re going to see & do until we reach the other ocean. After schlepping our bikes back up the beach, we needed a break (no, I’m kidding) but we did stop to talk to a couple who noticed our bikes & had lots of questions. We chatted a bit about our trip and a photo project one of them is working on. Not even one inch on our bikes since the dip & we were already meeting people. Perfect way to start the ride. Without further ado, we hit the road & had fairly smooth sailing for 15 miles until our Garmin wanted to take us on a very different route than we had planned. After a few wrong turns & walking our bikes up a short unexpected hill we weren’t prepared for (16.8% grade, something I’m still very unfamiliar with but I’m told that’s hella steep; a map app called that particular hill a ball buster) we took a quick break to eat, regroup & plan a new route sans Garmin. The day had started out cold, windy & misty but the further we biked inland the nicer it got. The rest of our day was lovely, beautiful weather, & good biking. Total mileage for the day roughly 55. We made it to our next Warm Showers destination in Fremont, CA around 6:30pm. Don & Gail were our next hosts. They were wonderful. Very warm & welcoming. They had several pets (dog, cat, macaw), which always makes me happy. They even had chickens so I felt right at home! They showed us around, we chatted about our day & biking in general, unpacked a few things, rinsed our sweaty clothes & cleaned up while Don & Gail made a tasty dinner: frittata with goat cheese, roasted squash, strawberries for dessert. Most things were from their backyard which was pretty cool. It was a nice evening, learning about all the things we don’t know yet 🙂

Day 2: Don made us oatmeal & coffee, then showed us lots of stuff about our bikes we should already know but don’t 🙂 He was very helpful & I’m very thankful for the knowledge he passed onto us. I’m pretty sure he thinks we’ll be flying home in the next few weeks but I have faith we’ll figure it out. Just you wait & see, Don 🙂 Once we were loaded up, we swung by the grocery store for few things & ran into another bike touring couple. We chatted a bit, wished each other well & hit the road for Livermore, CA. In terms of mileage we took it fairly easy (only 23 miles this day), but the beginning was a little hairy. Don had suggested a different route that was slightly longer & hillier but safer, we just decided to go slow & take our chances on the shorter/flatter route. We did fine, nothing bad happened, but it was a little nerve-racking with barely a shoulder on the side of the road in some spots. Luckily it was only a portion of the ride, not the entire time. We took a short break after 15 miles & met another bike tourist out for a spin. He’s training for a ride in Oregon with his brother. It was nice chatting with him. We’re meeting so many other cyclists, it’s awesome! On the road again & to our destination by 2:30pm, another Warm Showers host. This time, Krista & Zack. They were absolutely lovely. I can’t say enough nice things about them. When we arrived, Zack was still at work but Krista welcomed us in & introduced us to their kids. We unloaded, cleaned up, & tagged along with Krista to a local winery where we met a group of her friends & their kids for a chill afternoon. Zack met us there. Later, back at their place, they made dinner for their friends (a rotating Friday night tradition with 2 other families) & they let us join 🙂 Dinner was super tasty tacos & homemade strawberry ice cream. Yum! We ran some errands, helped clean up after dinner, planned our next day & got some shut-eye.

Day 3: Zack & Krista made a delicious egg-bake, coffee, sausage & cut up orange slices. A lot of the ingredients (for both dinner & breakfast) were from their garden. What a treat! Zack checked out our bikes, gave them a once-over to make sure things were working properly & gave us a few much-needed lessons. Thank you! We loaded our bikes, snapped a few pictures, exchanged hugs & hit the road. I really enjoyed our time with them & am so thankful they were a part of our adventure. It was nice chatting about their experiences both bike/camping related & general life too. Such a warm, loving family. They made it easier to be away from home. Today’s destination: Ripon, CA (a 43 mile trek). We rode past a kids Motocross park on the outskirts of town which was pretty fun to stop & watch for a bit. We also enjoyed some seriously sweet biking: downhill, in the country, very little traffic, through some big wind farms and through a valley. It was beautiful & relaxing. We bought some lemonade from a kids stand & stopped for pizza. We also passed a mud obstacle course used for 5k running events & had to take a turn through one of them. Pretty fun 🙂 We picked up some fresh strawberries from a roadside stand. These were day-makers. So good you could only eat them while closing your eyes in pure bliss. Ahhh, so good. We took a break in Manteca, CA, under a big shaded tree & finally reached our next Warm Showers host around 4:30pm: Jerad & family. Again, such a nice family. Very welcoming, helpful, generous. Jerad gave us lots of tips on routes, maps, things to do & see, & how to use our Garmin (Ben has a little PTSD from the 1st day & doesn’t trust it, but it will definitely be useful, we just need to know how to use it & Jerad helped with that. Thank you!). We chatted a bit about his own upcoming bike trip for the month of June with his 13 year-old daughter from Canada to Mexico (1,850+ miles). They’re raising money for kids with cancer. If you want to help them reach their goal, check out http://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/KatelynCardoza. To follow their blog: Cardozasbikethecoast.blogspot.com. His family made a tasty taco bar; very delicious. We’ve been so spoiled this past week. We did some laundry, planned our next day & I finally had time to catch up on some things.

Reflections thus far:

1. Time has completely changed: Every day is Saturday & so many things happen in 1 day that when I look back at the end of the day if feels like a week’s worth of experiences. There’s no way we’ve only been gone 1 week. It definitely feels like at least 3. How will we feel at the end of the trip? Like we’ve been gone years & normal life is on the road?

2. The generosity of strangers gives me faith/hope in humanity. News & social media is saturated with so many negative things happening in the world (not to say those things aren’t real or important) but your worldview gets skewed when you don’t see any of the positive stories. I’m blown away by & so grateful for everyone’s generosity towards total strangers.

3. Taking things one day at a time is a game changer. Thinking about the big picture and thousands of miles and all the things we don’t know is overwhelming & makes me want to shut down but if I just think about what I have to do today, I can handle that. Even if we just bike 10 or 20 miles, it’s further than if I’d gone nowhere.

4. Every day gets a little easier. We’re slowly but surely figuring out routines & picking up new skills every day. The longer we’re out here the more confident I get that we can handle almost anything.

5. I’m not sure I’m doing this whole blog thing correctly. It’s pretty much a journal right now & who wants to read that other than the person who wrote it? Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that one & switch things up if this isn’t working.

6. I am way two-tired to continue and need to get some sleep! For your sake, I need to be done because by the time you’ve finished reading this post it will not only seem like days went but, but ACTUAL days may have gone by.

Until next time,

-Whitney

Less than 11 hours to go until we dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean & head out on this biking adventure towards the Atlantic Ocean. It’s after midnight & I’m too excited to sleep. I know I should head to bed but my mind won’t let me. I’m ready to be out there seeing, doing, experiencing; I’ve had enough of the waiting & wondering. I’ve been thinking about this for over 15 years & the day is finally here. I get a little emotional when I realize it’s no longer just one more item on a list of things I want to do some day; it’s actually happening! Today!

Well, since I can’t fall asleep, I’ll fill you in on our last few days. We’ve spent the past 5 nights with a wonderful Warm Showers host in San Fran. She’s great & really set the bar high. It’s been an awesome 1st experience & I’m so grateful we picked her. I felt at home immediately.

During our few days here we went to a Giants baseball game, rode a couple cable cars, caught a sunset, assembled our bikes, took a tour of the Haas-Lilienthal house, stopped by the Full House & Ms.Doubtfire houses, enjoyed some California wine, watched sea lions bathe & bark at Pier 39, went for a few training rides, & did a few house chores for our Warm Showers host (cleaned windows, hung a mirror, fed/cared for cats, vaccumed, did a load of laundry). I never thought I’d say I missed cleaning but I did! While I’ve definitely enjoyed our last few days of sightseeing, it felt good to be useful, productive & help someone else. It also magically cured our crankiness with each other. Cranky after only 5 days, and 4 months to go? Uh oh 😉 Guess we’ll just have to keep helping other people.

Finally, I’m starting to fade & two-tired to continue…until next time.

Whitney

Fair warning: I’ve never done a blog before & have no idea what I’m doing 🙂 If anyone has any tips or pointers, let me know! I started this for our friends & family (& strangers we meet along the way) who wanted to follow our journey. This first post will be fairly short since our biking doesn’t actually start until Thursday, May 3rd. It’s mostly just a quick update but here goes…

24 hours from now we’ll be landing in San Francisco. I can’t believe it’s finally here! I’ve been thinking about this since I was a teenager & now it’s actually happening. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with all the emotions I’m experiencing but am grateful at the same time. I’m thankful for this opportunity & the privileges I have to make it happen. I’m excited for what’s to come but nervous for so many changes all at once.

I wanted to let everyone know we surpassed our goal of raising $1,000 before we left for the MN bike nonprofit, Cycles For Change: $1,600! Thanks to everyone who donated; what a huge help! We couldn’t have done it without you.

We’ll be spending the next 4-5 days in San Fran: putting our bikes back together, getting last minute gear, and doing a little sightseeing. We’ll be staying with a Warm Showers host the whole time which is awesome. Not sure what Warm Showers is? Check it out, it’s pretty sweet. Essentially, it’s a community for bikers to exchange hospitality in many different forms: a space to camp in someone’s yard, an extra bed or couch to sleep in, a bathroom or kitchen to use, and many other options, depending on the host. It’s free and I encourage you to become a host yourself to help others who are out on the road looking for a safe place to rest up for the night.

Well, for anyone who knows me & the epic procrastinator that I am, I STILL HAVE SO MUCH TO DO & better be on my way! Lots of cleaning, packing and last minute kitty cuddles to squeeze in 🙂

Two-tired to continue…until next time.

Whitney