Day 2 -- Vallejo, CA to Sacramento, CA

Miles: 70.16

Total Miles: 143.50

Time: 4:40

Average Speed: 15.0 mph

Max Speed: 28.8 mph

Flats Today: 0
Total Flats: 0
Elevation Gain: 1302 ft

Weather: Warm and sunny with a nice breeze around 80 degrees

We headed out from our hotel today and about 2 miles in we came upon an amusement park with some huge roller coasters. Look Brian (Barney) we even found a purple and green one for you... too bad you didn't come along. Once again, within the first 5 miles, we had a large hill. We started the day at different times, which is what we'll do from here on out, so there wasn't a large separation of the pack of riders on this hill because we were already separated. That means I wasn't the first one up the hill this time. The best part of the day was just at the top of the hill and around the corner. There was a construction site in the road that we had to take, which apparently is under construction every year. We first had to go up, under, or around a fence, then we walked our bikes across some gravel. Just past the gravel we came upon a large fill area. Even on a two month vacation I'm still visiting construction sites. At the end of that came the best part: A big excavation hole, which was about 40 feet deep, and the only way around it was a narrow path along the steep cliff-like edge. We had to climb across that narrow path while holding our bikes... don't tell Joan or I'll be in trouble for letting her baby cross it. Past that was just another fence... After the excavation hole, a fence in the road seems like a walk in the park.Just about 5 or so miles after that, we arrived at the Jelly Belly factory. We stopped along with another 7 riders and took a nice 1 hour free tour of the factory. The whole place smelled like sweet, delicious candy, and afterward we got a free complimentary bag of Jelly Bellies. Here's just a few facts that I remember: The number one flavor of Americans is Very Cherry, and the second is Butter Popcorn. It takes 21 days to make a jelly bean. The Jelly Beans that don't meet the specifications are called Belly Flops - We bought some Sports Belly Flops, which are Belly Flops with electrolytes and vitamins in them.

After the factory, we started moving away from the mountains and into Ohio looking roads: fields on all both sides; however you could see mountains in the background. We had some nice riding through the fields, then the fields disappeared and UC Davis, a college near Sacramento, appeared. It was a beautiful campus, and very enjoyable to bike around.

Next, we came to the fast food restaurant that puts McDonald's and Burger King to shame. It was called "In and Out Burger", and the burgers there were absolutely delicious. I got a cheesburger, animal style, which means it has all the toppings plus fried onions and their special sauce. Wade got a double double, animal style, which means it had double the meat, double the cheese and the animal style stuff that mine had. There was a small menu, and it was rather inexpensive too. Sadly, the In and Out Burger food chain is only in the Western United States, even though it's slowly moving east.

Finally, we finished up the day on some beautiful bike paths, one of which ran right along side of the Interstate. It was separated by a fence, so we didn't have to dodge traffic from on ramps and debris along the road. There were some very long bridges along this stretch of the interstate including one that was over a mile long. Plus, there were wetlands on both sides. We arrived just on the edge of Sacramento, and found our hotel.

One more day of riding until the biggest climbing day of the trip. We're just a little nervous about climbing the Sierra Nevadas on Day 4. I take that back... we're very nervous. I was excited to find out from the other guys that if you're in great shape, have legs of steel, and don't weigh much, then you'll be just fine... Then I realized they were talking about Wade, not me. Oh well, I guess day 4 will still be all that I anticipated. By the way, if you didn't notice, engineers get excited about construction zones.