Day 63: Victory.

So I made it to San Francisco in one piece! Well, I guess two pieces, if you count the bike. It has a way of becoming an extension of yourself after two months. Right now we're in San Jose, picked up by friends of Lou from school who moved out here after graduating.

Since the last post we teamed up with another group, this time a father and son, and blew through the last two states. Guy and Miles are from Palo Alto, CA and are riding from Boston to San Francisco. We actually met them pretty much immediately after you last heard from me; when we walked out of the library in Milford we saw two loaded bikes propped up outside and of course had to wait to see who they were. Miles walked out of the restaurant across the street a minute later and we invited them to stay in the house with us to wait out the storm (we figured Eddie wouldn't mind!) We're really lucky to have met them; these are two of the most genuine, kind people I've met and they had us laughing a lot over the last week and a half.

Nevada for us had pretty much two sights to see: desert basins and mountain ranges. Notice how the word "towns" didn't even make the list. We went through exactly one per day and this wasn't because we weren't putting in enough miles; they're just 60-80 miles apart. Aside from the monotonous scenery, Nevada wasn't too hot thanks to the cold front brought in by the dust storm in Milford. I was actually colder during the day in Nevada more often than I'd been on the whole trip, and on a few nights it got pretty frigid. Nevada really wasn't as bad as I was told to expect; I actually found it beautiful (in a lonely, desolate sort of way...) Stayed in a town called Baker, population 52, where the owner of the only restaurant/motel in town lets cyclists camp for free in the backyard. He left us while we were eating dinner to keep an eye on the shop while he stepped out for a few minutes and when he came back said to us in his deadpan voice, "I have to kick you out now, because I have to start drinking."

Had some really good Chinese food (go figure) in a town called Eureka. We were excited when we saw the $3 glasses of wine on the menu, because there are few things more satisfying than a glass of wine after a long ride. I don't know why this didn't cross my mind immediately, but we soon discovered why they were only $3: the wine was pretty watered down, as was the soap in the bathroom in that place and the place in Baker. For an area where you see "Please Conserve Water" signs everywhere, they sure do like to use it in places I wish they wouldn't. The single waiter in the Chinese food place had a little trouble keeping up with all the tables, and when the very thirsty bikers finally got the refills we needed for our waters Miles warned us, "I don't know, guys, this tastes a little watered down."

California was a big change of scenery (trees! streams! other bicycles!) Actually, I think we saw more bikes in the two days in California than we saw in the entire rest of the country combined. The majority of the route after getting into CA was on bike trails or dedicated bike lanes on roads, which was really nice. The four of us stopped along the way yesterday to take a swim in a river that the bike trail was following, and a girl there was so shocked by my tan lines that she yelled to her boyfriend to look. I can't really blame her, because they are pretty appalling.

Started our last day with breakfast at Denny's, rode through the cutest farmer's market ever in Davis, and passed through miles of fruit trees and fields of vegetables before taking the ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco. Before saying goodbye to Guy and Miles we took a little victory lap with them to the sound of "We Are The Champions" coming from my portable speakers that we rigged to my handlebars. Navigating a strange city on a Saturday night was um, interesting, but we made it to the Golden Gate bridge and rode across it all lit up. (Don't worry, we used the bike/pedestrian walkway, fenced off from the car traffic!) I can hardly believe we got here on bicycles, but we have a few days to explore San Francisco and San Jose to let it sink in.

More later, including reflections on the trip.