Hello to All!

It is Day three into our cross-country journey and John and I are at the base of the Sierra mountains in California. We are currently staying with cousins of mine (Noah), Brian and Faye in Placerville.

The journey so far has been truly incredible. As we left San Francisco we started biking in Vallejo and made our way Northeast towards Rockville and Cordelia. The golden hills of California and the vibrant greenery of wineries and vineyards has been spectacular. We spent our first night in the town of Winters at a camp ground on Lake Solano. We waded around in the lake up to our lower thighs and it took a little goading on from each of us to motivate the initial plunge. The early summer water temperature took our breath away and assured our short lived lake experience. That night we made quesadillas and fell asleep to the sounds of a peacock that resided near our tent.

Day two we continued Northeast and made our way into Davis. The bike capital of the world! It's a great college town, home of UC Davis, and truly packed full of bikers. I must say, the ladies were very attractive as well. Oh how we miss college. We biked through Davis and had lunch in Sacramento in a portion of the city called the Old Town. It resembled the old west with the three story saloon style buildings, which for some reason appeared to be home to the Tattoo district of Sacramento. We didn't get one, yet... It was in Sacramento where we picked up the Jedediah Smith National bike trial. We met so many bikers who took an interest in our travels. Having this support was great as the other cyclists would ride and talk with us about our journey and provide us with a bit of inspiration and energy. After a 65 mile day, we arrived in Folsom, content but utterly exhausted. We stayed at Lake Natoma Inn, had our first shower and some great Mexican food. From the hospitable staff at the Inn we learned some interesting facts about Folsom. It has the cleanest water in California, which is why Kikkoman(the soy sauce) is made in Folsom! Folsom is also home to the Intel front offices.

After a nice shower we started day three riding past the Folsom Prison where Johnny Cash played. You can barely see it from the road, but you can't help having a Cash song in your head as you cruise by. The hills were tough today, but every single day we get stronger. Now, as we write to you, we are in Placerville at about 2,200 feet. Tomorrow we will bike up the Sierra Mountains which are at about 8,000 feet and soon come into Nevada. We have quite the day ahead of us.

We will be in touch when we can. We love you all.

Noah & Johnny---aka SAUL