July 23, 2017
Day 1, San Francisco to Davis: A Hard Day's Night
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(The map distance above includes the ferry ride from San Francisco to Vallejo)
Mileage Today; 65 Total So Far; 65 Remaining; 1,535
Climbing Today; 1,864 Total So Far; 1,864 Remaining; 92,550
Max Grade Today; 13.4% Average Uphill Grade; 1.4%
Average Speed While Riding; 10.3 mph
Mechanical Issues; Flat tire (Doc)
Photos Credit; Bud, unless noted otherwise
Bud speaking;
3 a.m. seemed to come early this morning, especially after not getting to sleep until about midnight last night. The small notebook computer that I used to do the journal on my Trans Am Trip 2 years ago decided to die late last night. It seems that the first unanticipated issue of this trip is that somewhere along the way I need to stop at a Best Buy and replace my little tablet. Obviously that happened, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.
Sleepy though I was, still I enjoyed talking to a fellow passenger on the trip to Dallas. He's involved in construction and travels all over the country and lives in Oregon near the path of my Trans Am Journey 2 years ago, so we had a lot of things to discuss. Arriving in Dallas a bit early, I decided to have some breakfast at the TGI Fridays at the airport. The leg to San Francisco is a three and a half hour flight, so getting a bite of food now seems like a good idea.
I'm still a bit too sleepy to realize that the adventure is really taking off, otherwise I'm sure I'd be quite giddy with excitement right now. The traffic is apparently pretty bad in San Francisco due to this being the day of the San Francisco Marathon (what are the odds of us starting our journey on the same day as the marathon?), so I will take BART from the San Fran airport to downtown to avoid the surface traffic. Sis and Doc were able to get our bicycles yesterday, and after some argument with the hotel management, they were able to take them upstairs to their room and store them safely for the night.
FYI, I'm dictating into an Android cell phone using it's voice-to-text translation ability, so if my writing seems a bit jumbled it's probably because I didn't get it cleaned up properly.
My flights were on time, and I arrived at the San Fran airport in a bit of a daze after a few unsuccessful attempts at snoozing on the plane. I rode the airport train to the BART connecter, bought $9.00 worth of ticket from the machine, and used $8.95 to get downtown and exit at the Civic Center/UN Plaza stop. A few blocks of walking and I was at the hotel and found my way up to Sis and Doc’s room. Quickly as we could we all changed into biking togs and I assembled the remaining parts of my bike and then we made several trips down the elevator hauling bikes and gear to the street. Once we got the panniers loaded, it was time to commence! The Hula Girl that adorns my bike had been damaged during shipping, but I knew this and had brought a replacement.
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Market Street leads directly to the Ferry Building, and it’s downhill of course (since, you know, water flows downhill, right?). I thought it was a blast dodging around the cable cars and buses that intruded into the bike lane to drop off and pick up passengers, all the while being careful not to slip a tire into the recessed rail tracks; but I think that Sis didn’t share my enthusiasm.
Sis speaking:
I'm definitely not a fan of trolley tracks. The last time I tangled up with them was in downtown Little Rock in March 2017, and this was the result:
Bud Speaking:
San Fran is a bike-friendly place, and there were lots of other bikers out and about. Arriving down at the Ferry Building, the place was an absolute zoo of people that had either ran in the marathon or had come to watch it. We had to dismount and walk through the crowd, and after some miscues we finally discovered the place to purchase ferry tickets and bought 3 for Vallejo.
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The ferry ride was enjoyable; there was plenty of room onboard and we secured a table where we could look out towards Alcatraz as we cruised. We had lashed the bikes to the railing on the rear of the boat, and it’s good that we did; this ferry was no slowpoke, it cruised along about 28 knots which was rather surprising considering its size.
We reached Vallejo about 1:30pm, but it was 2:00 pm before we got rolling after doing some more adjusting to the bikes and after I got my little science project hooked up and activated (more on that later).
Using the Adventure Cycling Association maps, I led the way, Sis followed, and Doc brought up the rear as we worked our way through Vallejo riding mostly in bike lanes but occasionally on dedicated paths. It was hot, and very dry, and this was a very different climate for us. We later learned that Sacramento had registered 105 degrees Fahrenheit that afternoon, so yeah; it really was hot. Sis had some difficulty dealing with the heat as we labored up a steep grade on a bike path. We later learned that she hadn’t drank or ate regularly as we biked along that day, so that likely had a lot to do with it as she hit the wall and “bonked.” After eating and drinking a bit, she recovered and we moved on – we were already behind our planned schedule and had miles to go yet this day.
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I needed to replace my tablet computer, else you wouldn’t be reading this right now; so you can guess how that story ended. We found a BestBuy store not too far off our planned route in Vacaville, and we detoured there and I made one of the fastest ever purchases of a computer. I replaced my 8-inch Insignia tablet with another 8-inch Insignia tablet; the newer version had twice the ram and twice the SSD capacity of the older unit, but was otherwise very much the same. Box unopened, packed away in a pannier, off we rode; sort of, as we struggled a wee bit to find our way back to our planned route. As we were doing so, Doc got a flat tire! Yikes, we didn’t even make it one day without a flat; but this one was special. Somehow Doc rode over a 3-inch nail that punctured tire and tube; none of us ever saw it in the roadway.
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We pushed on steadily as we entered rural countryside leaving the Vacaville area. The roads were narrow, but there was little traffic and most folks were polite and careful when passing. We were delighted to discover a fruit stand on our path, and we pulled in and managed to purchase a small watermelon even though they had technically closed for the day. We devoured the watermelon, and continued on our way.
The day grew dark, and we found ourselves riding in unfamiliar countryside and following the ACA Maps. As we neared the town of Winter, I saw a fellow exiting a building that looked like it was only partially complete. We stopped and asked him if there was a place we could get some water nearby as we were running a bit low. I had expected that he might allow us to use a faucet inside or outside the building that he just exited, but instead he told us to follow him for a couple of blocks and he drove off in his pickup with us in pursuit. He brought us several bottles each of ice cold water, and we consumed one or two each and poured the rest into our bottles. Jerry is a really nice guy, and the building we saw him exiting will soon be the new Green River Taproom. He was born in Ozark, AR so we had a common connection – I told him my wife would be tickled to hear that he was from Ozark, and he and his friends laughed at my use of the word “tickled” – they don’t talk like that in California, apparently. We thanked Jerry heartily for his kindness, and we now knew that we had enough water to make it to Davis. If you happen to pass by Winter, stop in at the Green River Taproom and tell Jerry that Bud, Sis, and Doc sent you.
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Pushing on through the night we had some difficulty in following the ACA Maps. The maps were really quite accurate, but we were getting tired enough now and it was late enough that we wanted to be certain that we didn't make any mistakes. Eventually we hooked up with the bike path that lead us into Davis, and it took us all the way into the campus of the University of California at Davis. Again we had a bit of hesitation about getting out of the campus on the proper streets, but once we did it was easy enough to find our way to the Econo Lodge hotel. In a former lifetime I had taught portions of a week-long course at the Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center in Davis, and I thought I knew my way around the town – that probably contributed to our directional hesitation as much as it helped.
We eventually found our way to the Econo Lodge Motel and stood our bikes outside. When we walked to the door we found a note that said there was no one available after 11 p.m. and that we should go to the Best Western hotel nearby to check in. So Doc and I left Sis with the bikes and walked a half-block away to the Best Western hotel that we had just passed and went inside to check in. The desk clerk told us that she had no idea why the Econo Lodge had sent us there, and that they had no connection to the Econo Lodge and could not check us in. It was now approaching midnight and my patience was wearing thin, especially after the small amount of sleep I had the night before. So I was rather harsh with the desk clerk and told her she was mistaken, and she called her manager to find out what was going on. As it turns out, there was another Best Western only a few blocks away, and this is where we needed to go.
So we walked back to the Econo Lodge and explained things to Sis, and again left her with the bikes while Doc and I walked off a few blocks to the other Best Western Hotel. When we arrived at the proper Best Western we were told that the same folks owned both hotels and that's why they had sent us to check in at the Best Western after hours. However, they gave us a better offer to stay at that Best Western instead of the Econolodge, and so we checked in there. Now we had to walk back to the Econo Lodge where Sis was waiting with the bikes, and take them to the Best Western Hotel. On our way into town we had passed a restaurant/bar that was still open, and we were afraid it was going to close soon and we wouldn't be able to get anything to eat. So Sis and Doc headed toward the restaurant with their bikes while I rolled my bike on down to the Best Western. I stored my bike in my room and then walked the few blocks to the restaurant – I was so zombied out that I actually walked a block past the restaurant before I realized what I was doing. Sis and Doc had already ordered us some burgers to go because the restaurant was about to close. So now we walked back to the Best Western, and I ate my burger in my room. I was so tired that I wasn't even hungry but I knew I needed food. When I finally got to bed I had been up for 24 hours and 15 minutes, after having only slept 3 hours the night before. So all righty then, I deserved to be a bit tired. Good night all, I hope you rest better than I have recently...
Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 65 miles (105 km)
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