Sacramento, Yosemite - The Penultimate day!

Day 61 – Kirkwood, CA to Sacramento, CA 101 miles, 5 burgers, 2 waves SIX THOUSAND KILOMETRES!

Day 62 – “Rest Day” – Yosemite National Park – walked 10 miles up 1000ft, 2 burgers

Day 63 – “Rest Day” – Yosemite National Park – 1 burger

The cold woke me up this morning, but kept me in bed slightly longer than planned. I got up at 5.50 to take the cover off the tent and start packing up, and it was only then that I realized that we had camped 3 metres from a massive pile of snow. Definitely a first for both of us! Neither of us can wait to get to proper beds, and a nice lie in. Although camping is great, we were both very happy last night in the knowledge that this was our last night in a tent for quite a while.

We were on our bikes by 6.28 – 38 mins between get up and go, we are getting better – but it has taken 61 days! We cycled 25 miles by 9am, and had a big breakfast at Ham Station – the first breakfast place we came to. The first bit was tough – with a lot of uphill, despite having already past the highest point we’ll reach for the rest of the trip. Although from the start of the day at 7100ft to the end of the day at 30ft, our average speed was slower than it would have been on the flat: the hills down were steep, but very twisty so we had to go slow downhill, and then there were extremely steep, short, sharp uphill’s to contend with. We also had to contend with 0 degrees at the start of the day and 30 degrees in the middle of the day, with a very sudden change between the two. After possibly our last McDonalds for lunch in Placerville – having covered 70 miles to get there, we headed out on the last 30 miles, and were lucky to be helped by a passing cyclist to point us in the right direction to the bike path. We have come out of one hazard – lack of services – and back into the original hazards: getting lost and traffic.

I worked out that we have had 3 roads 96, 56 and lots of 50 for more than half of the last 2000 miles, since Jefferson City in Missouri, so it was a shock today to have to do so many turns (more turns in one hour today than the last month). There were more road changes today than we have done in the last month. It’s an odd feeling and we may have to resort to listing name changes again (like we did in the beginning).

We got to Sacramento to the Brown’s house, and were posed with the question: Shower, Cold drink, or Swimming pool… not many questions I prefer, and the best thing to hear after 8 hours of cycling. The answer of course is all 3, so we duly accepted first the drink, then the pool, and finally the shower.

That evening we started chatting and worked out that we could and should go to check out Yosemite national park. So, plans were changed rapidly, and early the next morning Peter and his daughter Katya, and Alex and I set out to the park. It is a very long way away, so we had to go out overnight to make the most of it. We thought we were done with camping, but the next evening found us back in our tent, camped on the side of the road just out of the park.

Yosemite is a great place, but so big and varied that to fully appreciate it, at least a week is needed. As it was, we had 1 and a half days, and we were too tired to really go at it. We still had a good time, and saw some amazing things. Thank you to Peter for giving us the opportunity to go.

Tomorrow we are up at 4.15 for our last day! We aim to catch the 4.30pm ferry 95 miles away, and then cycle to the Golden Gate bridge, before cruising down the beach into the freezing cold sea. We are sure our jubilation at having completed this will keep us warm against the pacific’s icy tendrils.