Author: jeffjinn

Today the plan was to catch the 8:20 ferry to Vallejo and then start pedaling. Right away I noticed that something was up with my Garmin GPS as it had updated but was stuck in some kind of weird loop and wouldn’t come on – a little research showed that this is fairly common, but there is no easy fix. Garmin wants you to hook the unit up to your computer to reboot and then re-load your maps – not a good solution for those of us who are traveling and don’t have a computer. I guess it will be paper maps with help from Google maps today. Right after dawn I loaded up the bike and rode down to the SF Ferry Building. There was very little traffic at that time, so it was peaceful and cool and very serene. The ferry building is a really nice facility – kind of like a mall/food court to serve the commuters and travelers. When I got there around 7 most of the businesses weren’t open yet, but it was still fun to look around. I ate breakfast at a little coffee/bakery place and wrote in my journal as I waited for the ferry to leave.

The ferries coming in from Vallejo were packed with commuters – but our ferry going back was practically empty. It was a beautiful ride going down the coast. The guy who takes tickets was named Greg and we spent time talking about life on the water as he was semi-retired from being a tugboat captain. He was also a cyclist, so we had that in common. After an hour or so we docked and I rode off towards the hills above Vallejo. The hills were pretty brutal coming up from the coast, but soon it leveled out and became flat ranch land and farm land. It was a cool day and I had a little tailwind behind me and was cruising along and feeling good. One of the things I like to do while riding is look for unusual things on the road – I will be reporting on these as I go along. Here is my first – on a hill a few miles from Vallejo:

Yup, that’s a brand-new softball glove. For some reason I picked it up and it is on my bike. If I come across a pick-up softball game, I’m ready! My second find was even more epic – the only explanation I can come up with is that I came across the hallowed ground where a miracle took place – if you have a better explanation, put it in the comments!

And no, I am not traveling with two crutches and a cane strapped to my bike, although I might need them! I rode on through vineyards and fields of tomatoes, cantaloupe, sunflowers and corn as well as through lots of nut orchards as I made my way towards Davis. I stopped at a Walmart in Fairfield to pick up some fruit for lunch – and remembering the advice about never letting my bike out of my sight I just took it in with me. No one batted an eye. Hmm. When I pulled in to Dixon I stopped for a coffee as I was making good time and didn’t want to get to my Warmshowers hosts home too early. Davis was about an hour away and I rode in around 5:30 or so, stopping to take this pic:

I was greeting by Cathy and John as I pulled up to their home. They were super nice and welcoming and I soon had a cold Sierra Nevada beer in my hand and we talked about biking and life. They are very interesting people, both retired. Cathy from teaching and John from a career in agronomy. They had lived and worked in Africa for a few years and had become friends with a couple in Burkina Faso, a country in the Western Central part of the continent. Chantel and her husband (darn it I can’t remember his name) had won the US lottery visa and are living with Cathy and John as their paperwork is processed. Three other friends, Mimi, Rama and Naz came over and joined us for dinner. They were all very intelligent and interesting and we had a great time having dinner together and talking. I never felt like an outsider as they welcomed me right into their group. They were my first Warmshowers hosts and it is going to be tough for future hosts to measure up! My first day was a success!

Me, Mimi, Naz, Chantel, Rama, Cathy and John (Chantel’s husband had already gone to bed by the time we took this photo)

Finally! The day arrived and I hit the road. The days leading up to today were a flurry of activity as I tried to wrap things up at work and leave my household in order. On Monday evening John, Javy and I sat down and had a drink to commemorate and celebrate the moment.

Early the next morning my daughter Suzi’s boyfriend Ed picked me up and delivered me to the airport. One flight to Phoenix (where a guy stopped me in the airport to comment on my La Reforma T-shirt and let me how much he loves the restaurant!) and then another to San Francisco and in no time I was in an Uber headed to Roaring Mouse Cycles to retrieve my bicycle. The guys there were super cool and competent – they had my bike ready to go and gave me a space to work so I could get all my packs etc. situated and ready to go. I soon came to the realization that I have packed too much as I could barely fit all my stuff on the bike and then I could barely lift it! I am going to have spend the next week or so making some tough decisions on what stays and what goes…..but not today.

Next on the agenda was heading to beach over on the Pacific to perform the honored traditional salute of placing your rear tire in the surf. Luckily the bike shop was really close to the Golden Gate Bridge and I was able to cycle over to Baker Beach on a very nice bike-friendly road – not an easy road though as the hills in San Francisco are monsters! I had to test out my lowest “Granny” gears, passing some of the less-hardy who had to walk their bikes and getting a “thumbs up” from bike-friendly drivers who could see and appreciate the pain I was in. I pulled into Baker Beach with a sigh of relief only to realize that to get to the waters edge I was going to push my extra heavy bike through several miles of loose beach sand (actually only 100 yards or so, but it seemed like miles!). I had come this far, so I drug the bike through the sand, sweating and cursing to the waters edge. I was happy I did it though, so my smile is real.

After the beach, I biked around the waterfront area for awhile as it was a gorgeous, cool day – perfect for a ride. I local rider befriended me and we cycled together for a few miles as he pointed out landmarks and gave me cycling advice – the most important that was – do not ever let your bike out of your sight in San Francisco or it will be gone. I heeded his advice. Now I am comfortably bedded down in a nice hotel after having a burger and a beer at a local brewery. Tomorrow I will be eastbound.

It seemed like I had so much time……and now my departure date is rushing to me! I feel a sense of exhilaration and a little bit of anxiety and panic. Yesterday I shipped my bike and a lot of gear to the Roaring Mouse Cycle Shop in San Francisco – they will reassemble it for me and hold it until I arrive on the fifth. I figured this was a safer way to have my bike ready than trying to check it on my flight and then reassemble it in the airport. Although one thing I didn’t count on was the cost to ship the bike was 4X the cost of my plane ticket to San Francisco! WOW. Almost $500 bucks. I still think it was the right way to go as the last time I checked my bike on a plane it got lost for two days – granted that was almost 40 years ago on a now-defunct airline…..but I’m sure it still happens all the time – right?

You know how things always seem to go haywire when you have a big trip coming up? Well, this has been no different as one of my Filta work vans full of work equipment was stolen the week before last. No recovery so far, so I am losing hope on that. In the meantime my operations manager Elias and I have scrambled to replace the van and equipment and just succeeded in getting a new van ready and on the road yesterday. Couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Rusty and Victor down in El Paso who provided equipment and Mel and Brock here who fired up the welding equipment at their shop to outfit a new (used) van I was able to find. While this was going on my partner Carmenza’s mom became very ill and Carmenza had to make an emergency trip down to Colombia to tend to her. It is a tenuous situation and we are not sure when she will return. Luckily, things at the restaurant have been fairly smooth (knock on wood). I have kept my departure date on schedule and my biggest worry now is this heat dome that is cooking much of the US – I need some good mojo for cooler weather as I head East.

About a year and a half ago, when I first started seriously thinking about riding my bike coast to coast, the fall of 2023 seemed far away. Even as I arranged to take to take the time off of work, started training for the ride and began to assemble the gear needed for the journey – it seemed so far away. And now, with only weeks to go before I leave – I can’t believe it got here so quickly! In two weeks I ship my bike out to San Francisco and four weeks from today I will begin pedaling East. I am both nervous and excited. I feel ready, but my body is 40 years older than it was on that epic trip in 1983. Thanks for joining me on my trip and I hope you make it your trip too. My goal is to keep my blog posts up to date and interesting, but not too long. Here we go!