We procrastinated the inevitable by sleeping in and then getting breakfast and coffee at the Starbucks under the hotel this morning. Thanks to the Hegarty’s for the gift card!
We contemplated leaving the bags on our bikes for the obligatory trip-end pictures, but decided not to, to save ourselves the trouble. We aren’t sure we are strong enough, anyhow, to lift the loaded bikes overhead; our workouts have been pretty lopsided lately (every day for the past 100 has been leg day…)
It was fun to see all the cyclists in and around Davis on our way out of town this morning. We were very impressed by the bicycle infrastructure (including roundabouts near the UC Davis Campus), so it makes sense why this area is so well-known for cycling. In addition to being popular for cycling, it is Rachel’s grandfather’s old stomping grounds (http://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/memorials/HOGUE.pdf), so it was fun to spend a little bit of time here.
After a fabulous breakfast with Jerry, Tess, and Jarryn (and Rachel playing with Jarryn for quite a while), we packed up our bikes and headed west from El Dorado Hills. Thank you all so much; it was such a pleasure to meet you!
Believe it or not, we are still enjoying riding after about 5,300 miles in 93 days so far, but it has never been easy to get back on the bikes after rest days. We were so happy that Jim and Jeanette made the trek from Bozeman to South Lake Tahoe to spend some time with us. It also felt nice to know that we had plenty of rest days very soon ahead of us, since San Francisco is only ~200 miles from Lake Tahoe. So, we packed up the bikes for the last time and said our goodbyes.
Rather than backtracking for the first hour or two this morning, we bummed a car ride to Luther Pass from Jim :-). From the top, it was a short descent to a meadow where the Sierra Cascades and Western Express routes intersect, and then we were on the way up to Carson Pass. This was the last major climb of the whole trip :-/.
We had another slow morning today, which always feels great after so many early ones throughout the trip. The plan for today was to go for a hike, but, first, Rachel needed to find a dress for her brother Wes’ rehearsal dinner, which will happen a few days after we make it to Bozeman.
She found the needle in the haystack at Ross’, and then we made our way to D.L. Bliss State Park, where we would start hiking. Our plan was to follow the Rubicon Trail along the perimeter of the lake to Vikingsholm, in Emerald Bay.
