1000 miles

Part of the reason the climb to Neihart was so reasonable: it was not, as we had thought, particularly close to the summit - the highest summit we will cross on our trip. Actually, it was about 8 miles & almost 2000' short of the 7300' summit.

We got up, had oatmeal with Marsha, and headed out. Once again, the climb was steady & slow for a few miles. I have to admit I was doing some mental math problems - if we still have to climb x amount and we have y miles left, the average grade will have to be x-steep? C'mon, let's get climbing here! I've gone over to a compact double & steep is not always my friend! So at about 4 miles things started to happen. It was never too bad - sort of a hybrid of Old La Honda & Kings Mountain.

We stopped for a snack at the top. Bruce took a picture of me next to the pass sign, but we still lack the technology to get it into this. Then we headed on down to - we thought - White Sulphur Springs. It's a town that appeared on Google to be a variation on the older bits of Calistoga. We didn't expect anything but another very basic place to stay. But Willie got there ahead of us and found a B&B a bit off the route. She has the car, so we went a few extra miles on tomorrow's ride, hopped in the car, and are now happily ensconced in a very comfortable place with views of a lake, mountains, and thunderheads. Tomorrow's ride may break our little streak of weather luck. Until then we are warm and happy.

Miles today 49
Total so far 1042!!!
1/4 of the ride!