June 6 - The first biking day on the road.

I ,Phil, am writing this from a coffee shop in Folsom, CA. at 5:00 PM. Dave is still in a lot of back pain by the said he would tough it out and is riding the whole day. The weather is overcast and drizzly with temps in the mid 60s The other guys are on the road and I expect to see them in about a hour.  The guys left Vallejo at 6:45 this morning.  They had a tail wind and just flying the last I talked to them.  They decide to go all the way to Folsom - 105 miles! We will be experiencing our first camping /outdoor cooking night.  The forecast calls for rain, 50/50, with temps in the 50s.  In two days we have to go over a pass at 8,300 feet and it has been snowing there.  Two people have already warned us that it could be dicey.

Yesterday turned out to be really nice.  Gary took his bike to SF in order to visit relatives.  Dave, Pete and I walked the touristy water front and took a climb up to an observation tower with a panorama view of the city.  I can now say I visited SF. We has earlier intended to do a ceremonial tire dip in the Pacific at the Golden Gate Bridge but that was not to be.  Pete and Dave did it at a marina in Vallejo - we have pictures.

The air conditioner has larger problems than a broken belt.  It could take a minimum of a 1/2 day to fix it.
 More later.
phil

Sunday, June 5...it is rainy San Francisco

Tire Dipping in the Pacific

Bike can take the whole lane!

I'm glade we decided to leave our bikes behind.

Yesterday was our fourth and last day of road travel by car, thank goodness. Saturday was about 650 miles of basins and peaks in Utah and Nevada, then the Sierra Nevadas - nevada in Spanish means snow, I think, and we saw plenty of it - and finally grey skies and some rain of the Pacific coast.
We arrived in Vallejo and found lodging at a Motel 6 after being warned away from a Traveler's Inn by a woman walking down the street who said "don't stay there, that's a drug house". She suggested we stay at the Motel 6 some 2 miles north, and we did. Later we saw her at the motel, suggesting this pseudo good citizen was finding customers.
Today we are to see the sites of SF by bike. We are on a ferry ride to the piers of San Fran proper.  We are happy to be in SF, but woke this morning to rain, limiting our interest in bike riding. OK, we aren't as tough as we thought, with three of four of us deciding to leave our bikes in Vallejo.
Dave is still feeling back pain. But is hopeful that tomorrow, when we begin our biking east, he'll be feeling better. -- gary

It's official.  See the pic of Dave and Pete dipping their back tire in salt water at Vallejo.  San Fransisco is a very biking frendly city.  Note the sign Pete is pointing to.  We did a lot of walking up steps and down steps.

Day 3: amazing scenery, good road progress despite a/c prob, Dave having back pain

Last evening we enjoyed a good meal and conversation at Julie and Daren  Zaruba's home but three of us bike riders were somewhat jealous as our fourth member, Phil, got lots of lovin from grandkids Zoe and Levi Zaruba. Makes one aware that all the advennture of a trip like this pales in comparison to family. It was nice to get to know the Zaruba family.
Another long day of driving, some of it on roads that will be the route in CO in a couple of weeks. Our car tour was interrupted by an air conditioning failure, leading to a stop at a shop in Grand Junction where we learned we had a belt break. So two bad breaks...a problem with the  brakes yesterday and a break in a hose today.
More serious was a hospital visit by Dave this evening, leading to some Valium for his severe back pain. We are going to have to keep him out of the driver's seat for our fourth and last day of travel to the Pacific, tomorrow.
What is good about the trip? We are getting along well, enjoying each others' companionship, and learning about our respective interests and careers. I've learned that Pete has been a teacher and school administrator for more than forty years, Phil has owned a business and more recently been directing programs that aid people with tax preparation, and Dave managed human service orgs and taught social work. Quite a group! And all love the Lord.
Also we are awed by the scenery, marveling at God's handiwork. Dave in fact is planning a book on Utah, he is so infatuated with what we saw today. --gary

Getting hyped !

A plane to California would have been faster, but not as much fun. Making new friends along the way is great, but already missing Judy. This is our first time spent apart for this long, and it is only nine days to our anniversary. Hope I don't forget!
Dave G

Halfway to CA

Two days of travel have brought us to Colorado Springs. Yesterday we enjoyed the fine hospitality of John and Susan Dahm in Lincoln, NE. Susan is cousin of Phil's wife Jan. Learned from John about the life of a prison warden, and from Susan some of her efforts at early childhood education and care.

Amazing how green the west is, due to the rain that is causing problems for many people, farmers and others.

Today, bucking strong winds, thank goodness we were in a GMC Yukon, we arrived at Phil's daughter's place. I did spin my bicycle wheels for a couple of miles around the neighborhood of Julie and Darin Zaruba, finding it easy to go uphill and hard to go down, the winds being so strong. If the winds continue at the force they have been coming at us, once on bikes, we will blow back to CO from CA in record time.

Tomorrow we hope to see out of the windows of the Yukon some of the bike route that we will be on once we head back. When not enjoying the scenery, and the good treats that we packed, I have been reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", a most interesting book dealing with the medical benefits coming from the multiplication of her cancer cells that were "harvested" without her and her family's knowledge. -- gary

Day 1 and 2

These were travel days.  There is not a whole lot to report.
June 1 we traveled all day, 700 miles, and were graciously hosted by John & Susan Dahm in Lincoln NB over night. Dave decided to switch vehicles due to some uncertainty about the Honda.  The Yukon is packed to the ceiling and there is a full car top carrier too.
June 2 we left Lincoln at 7:45 and traveled to Colorado Springs (550 miles) arriving about four.  It's wonderful to see the grand kids again. It's kind of a long drive across NB and eastern CO  Dave thought it best to check out the brakes and Firestone found some major problems.  Fortunately it could be fixed today
so we can be on our way early tomorrow.
Phil

Planning

Time is getting short.  Let's see now ... Extra tires and tubes - yup.  How about new undershorts - nope gotta get those yet.  Is it all going to fit?  What's the weather going to be like?  I hear there was a snow storm dumping 12 inches of new stuff  on one of the roads we will be riding.  This is going to be an adventure.