Day 101: Down in the Valley
Posted by the girls on Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Today was "mostly" downhill. The first part of the day was quite a nice grade, but it lessened throughout the morning. We followed Hwy. 88 to Jackson. One of Michelle's gracious drivers lives in Jackson: the man who picked her up near Baker, Nevada. If you don't remember, his name is Chuck. We decided to call him and see if he was home. We were in luck! He met us about 30 minutes later at the local Denny's restaurant. After chatting for awhile, we went over to his house to meet his partner, Helen, and catch up some more. We enjoyed learning more about his family and his life in Jackson while eating some juicy watermelon!
After saying our goodbyes, we got back on the road. It was after 1pm by that point, and we still had 40 miles to get to our destination: Lodi, CA. It went fairly fast since the valley is relatively flat. We took one pit stop at a strawberry farm. We couldn't help but taste (more than) a few samples! We agree that they were the best strawberries we've ever had. We continued biking through the valley, looking at all of the different varieties of orchards.
When we arrived in Lodi, we first stopped at bike shop to try and pick up a spare tire. We've been looking for awhile, but 700 x 32 touring tires are rarely in stock. We then went across the street to do a little grocery shopping. Finally, we were ready to swing by our Warmshowers host's house.
We stayed with an awesome couple, Joseph and Mary (not related to those in the Bible). They are hoping to do a cross-country tour within the next year or two, so they had lots of questions for us! When we got there, we were all hungry, so we decided to eat. We biked to a little Japanese restaurant and had sushi....yum yum!! Then we biked back to their house, showered, did a load of laundry, talked some more, and started planning for tomorrow's ride.
A super, big thanks to Joseph and Mary for hosting us!!! We love your house, dog, and cat! Remember, contact us any time if you questions about your upcoming adventure :)
After saying our goodbyes, we got back on the road. It was after 1pm by that point, and we still had 40 miles to get to our destination: Lodi, CA. It went fairly fast since the valley is relatively flat. We took one pit stop at a strawberry farm. We couldn't help but taste (more than) a few samples! We agree that they were the best strawberries we've ever had. We continued biking through the valley, looking at all of the different varieties of orchards.
When we arrived in Lodi, we first stopped at bike shop to try and pick up a spare tire. We've been looking for awhile, but 700 x 32 touring tires are rarely in stock. We then went across the street to do a little grocery shopping. Finally, we were ready to swing by our Warmshowers host's house.
We stayed with an awesome couple, Joseph and Mary (not related to those in the Bible). They are hoping to do a cross-country tour within the next year or two, so they had lots of questions for us! When we got there, we were all hungry, so we decided to eat. We biked to a little Japanese restaurant and had sushi....yum yum!! Then we biked back to their house, showered, did a load of laundry, talked some more, and started planning for tomorrow's ride.
A super, big thanks to Joseph and Mary for hosting us!!! We love your house, dog, and cat! Remember, contact us any time if you questions about your upcoming adventure :)
