The Pacific

sleeping in the airport...sorry but the pictures won't cut and paste so they are all up top!



Fearless leader Jay guiding through the urban jungle!



From one coast...



tearing up the Napa scenery

The evening started at JFK, at least for part of the group. Sarah and Alex conveniently chose to attend the Dave Matthews Concert the night before the early flight to San Francisco. The end result, however, was the same for all of us. We got little or no sleep prior to our flight.

Our hopes were high for American Airlines but in the end we were left disappointed. $100 per bike box they wanted. By the end of our somewhat unusual check in, we negotiated the price of $100 for all 5 boxes. Although at a price, I think we can call this our first successful negotiation in the name of Coast to Coast. Before we knew it, we were boarding the plane. I think all of our thoughts were the same, we are actually going to be doing what we had been talking about for the past several months, biking from coast to coast. A shock to all of us and quickly reality set in. There was no turning around now.

Thank goodness there was an in-flight movie on our 5+ hour plus flight. I don't think any of us made it past the opening credits. Lacking in sleep, it did not take us long close our eyes and sleep our way to California. Before we knew it, out the plane windows we saw mountainous Colorado scenery. Luckily for us we won't have to bike across the Rockies. Just kidding of course, we will be there in a about 2-3 weeks. A short while later we landed at San Francisco International airport. All of us were in good spirits and ready to assemble our bikes, providing all of them made it safely on the flight with us. It worked out, everyone's box arrived and we began assembling immediately at baggage claim. We isolated ourselves in a corner if you will in attempts to stay out of other passengers way. It didn't take long for people to come up to us and ask us where we were biking and what it was we planned to do. Many people were interested to hear our story and wished us luck. It took a bit longer than expected to assemble our bikes and load our gear. Luckily for us, Russ' friend J was there to meet us at the airport. He became our official tour guide of San Fran and more importantly he got us out of the airport highway system.

We owe Jay many thanks, he took us on a great route through San Fran. We avoided the main city center but made our way directly to the Golden Gate Bridge. I think it is important to note here that we had a great, large burrito for lunch on the way. With our stomachs full, we pedaled toward the San Francisco Bay amidst windy conditions and a thick fog. Our first sight of the bridge was pretty amazing. We stopped for some quick pictures and crossed the bridge. Our big moment came shortly after crossing the bridge. We headed to the water to wet our rear tires in the Pacific waters. Again, Jay came through by finding us the perfect spot.

After officially marking the start if you will of our coast to coast ride we parted ways with our tour guide Jay and biked our own way to San Raphael. We encountered a few testing uphills before our descent into the valley. By now, with the daylight starting to dwindle, we made a quick stop at the grocery store where once again we lucked out and two very interested gentleman, Scott and Mark, began talking of us and trying to decide how they could best help us find our campsight for the night. In the end, with much helpful advice from Scott, Mark trailed us in his mini van to the the China Camp campground. We quickly set up our tents as we ended the riding for the day with roughly 50 miles under our belt. We had a nice candlelight dinner (except not by candle but rather by head lamps). It was great, the food was cold but we didn't care. There's only one type of food after a long day of biking, and that is good food.

In the morning we got up on the earlier side, and began biking again. Our destination was Napa valley. We found some beautiful but hilly riding in that direction. Napa was pretty incredible, with vineyards and mountainous landscape surrounding us as we biked farther toward Davis.

That, however, was not as easy as it sounded. We had some rather steep climbs in front of us at that point. Our toughest climb to date was after leaving Napa. We were faced with a 6 mile uphill climb that seemed to never end. Even the two experienced riders of the group, Russ and Jen, had to admit that it was difficult. Jen adds, she readily agrees with this statement. Did I say steep, well that's what it was, real steep.

Finally, after completing our first full day of cycling, we made it to our end destination Davis. The more than generous Wilkes family took us in for the night. To be quite frank they spoiled us beyond anything we could have imagined. An elaborate dinner was waiting for us and refreshments to start. While they finished the preparations of our meal, they let us take a dip in their beautiful pool. What a house by the way. A great back porch was the setting of our dinner. We all ate too much but could not help ourselves. It was just too good. Of course they offered us more than just dinner, a great desert followed. As if that weren't enough, they continued being excellent hosts by offering us beds, showers, and great conversation. The Wilkes residence gets five stars in our book and we certainly recommend it to anyone fortunate enough to be offered a stay. More coming soon.