Day 66,67,68

Napa is not Just Auto Parts

Miles biked: 53
71
60

Hello from the wine capitol of the world...Napa, California! In 24 hours I will have already crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and be swimming in the Pacific Ocean. I hear it is cold this time of year.....but with the amount of champagne I plan to be drenched in....I'll need a quick bath!

From South Lake Tahoe we climbed from the lake up to 7,300ft....our last high climb on the trip. From there, it was a vacation to Placerville. We dropped over 5,000 feet in less than 50 miles! Our trip took us along Great American River which Mr. Muha informed was the start of the gold rush. Along the route Pat and I hit our final mile milestone......4,000 miles biked. The mark came in a construction site. Pat and I slowed to chalk our accomplishment when a little construction car pulled up with two burly men inside. The door swung open while I was chalking the "Biked" and he said in his construction like tone "What the F@#$% are you guys doing". When I told him how far we had come he responded with "well....I guess I can't stop you....just don't get hit by the heavy equipment."

Placerville was a small town that is only known for the days they used to hang people in it. But my definition of small town has changed.....so I guess we could call it a small town with people that actually live there. From Placerville we headed down the hillside of the Sierras to Sacramento! The ride continued along the Great American River which took us to this amazing bike path. The bike path was over 30 miles long and Pat, Corey, Collin, the Giz, Lisa, and I decided to double pace line. We flew around the curves and small hills into downtown Sacramento where we had lunch. It appeared to me that in the .5 seconds I was in the city....there wasn't much there except the capitol. I'm sure I can be proven wrong though. We ended our day in the college town of Davis.

In Davis I found a beer that had 9.8% alcohol content that would make the entire state of Utah faint. The town had a little downtown section, but the highlight of the night came when a homeless man temporarily stole our food cooler which was outside. Francis chased the cooler down and generously gave up a loaf of bread and honey. The church we were staying at seemed to be a headquarter for the Davis homeless. Pat and company met two who called themselves "T" and "Pantera". What beautiful names.

From Davis we biked to Napa county, home of endless fields of wine. Today's ride took us out of the Central Valley over one of the last mountain ranges we will face....the coastal range. Early in the day I had my 5th fall (all of which have happened while going 1mph or less). As I approached a stop light it turned yellow....I ran through it....and decided to wait on a sidewalk for Pat and Collin who were behind me. As I jumped on the sidewalk I saw there were sprinklers spraying the lawn in front of. I decided to slow down and decide on a path through the H2O. Apparently I thought too long and my bike came to a stop. Before I could unclip from my pedals my body came crashing down onto the soaking wet pavement. To top off the fall, a sprinkler head turned and sprayed me as I laid on the ground with Corey pointing and laughing hysterically. It was a great start to my day. A quick 1,300 ft climb, and an amazing curvy downhill has brought me into downtown Napa where I am California dreaming about the ocean. Wow.....this all ends tomorrow.....including this blog. This summer has been quite the adventure. I think I have experienced every emotion on this trip while getting a pretty good perspective on what America really is! Make sure to check out the grand finale blog in the next few days with TONS of pictures (I promise). I'll see many of you soon!!!! SAN FRANCISCO HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have new pictures on my computer yet.....so to hold you over, here are some Nevada-Tahoe pictures.