There is just one last thing to do to finish the journey, dipping my wheels in the Pacific Ocean. I mentioned at the beginning that the tradition for cross-country tourists is to dip your wheels in one ocean, ride across the continent and dip your wheels in the other ocean. The salt water is probably bad for the rims and spokes, but who am I to argue with tradition.
After a much too short visit with my brother, I had one last day to ride. Leaving Napa, I rode through wine country. It wasn’t quite as pretty as I expected. Many of the leaves on the grape vines have turned brown. I don’t know if that is because it is fall or because of the drought.
I was really tired yesterday, still feeling the effects of Thursday’s long day. Saturday’s ride against the wind didn’t help. The second storm brought more wind and rain, so I decided to stay put in Davis. I’m glad I did. Today was a much better day to ride. It was warmer, sunnier and with virtually no wind.
The storm yesterday was not quite as bad as I expected. There was a gusty wind and light rain most of the day. From what I heard, the higher elevations had it much worse with much stronger winds. I’m glad I made it down the mountains before it hit. I was still feeling Thursday’s long ride a bit, but needed to get back on the road.
After a good night’s sleep, I felt better in the morning. Even though I had crossed Carson Pass yesterday, I still had a couple of humps to get over before I started to descend. Once again, the mountains were beautiful and a pleasure to ride through.
I just wanted to sleep this morning, but I really need to get over the mountains before Friday. I am racing a storm. There are two storms coming, one on Friday and the other on Sunday. At lower altitudes, it shouldn’t be too bad, just some rain and gusty wind. Up in the mountains, the forecast is calling for rain, snow and winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour. If I don’t get over the mountains and at least half way down the other side by the time I finish riding on Thursday, I may be stuck up here until Monday.
Today I had to start climbing the last mountains I will climb on this trip. The highway went south along the east side of the mountains for several miles until crossing into California, then it turned west overt the mountains.
The plan today was to get a little way up the Sierra Nevada mountains and then take a rest day tomorrow before climbing Carson Pass. In Carson City, I had to run a few errands. By the time I was done, it was after 3:00 p.m., so I decided just to stay put.
Today was a fairly easy ride, except that the wind picked up in the afternoon. I wanted to get to Carson City today, but with the wind, I didn’t quite make it. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about today.
The weather started warming up, and the terrain is flattening out. It is making the ride more pleasant and reminding me a bit of crossing the plains earlier this summer. Then again, maybe I just needed to find the right music to go with the ride.
Pedaling America 