After all the climbing over the last few days, today was a relatively easy day.  We split the breakfast this morning...some went to a local restaurant while a couple others chowed down at the motel.  It was a sunny but cool morning as we departed, it was  hard to figure what to wear as the morning promised to warm up fast after we got on the road.  When Karen and I got to the first SAG, we put away all our cool weather gear and enjoyed the rest of the day in only a jersey.

Our route took us through some primo wine country as we passed by winery after winery.  There were times we were on a narrow, no line road that was so close to the grapes that we could have picked them ourselves.  The road meandered up and down through the grape harbors and made a great backdrop for interesting photos all morning.  This area seems to be a favorite of the local cyclists as we saw several groups before we made our way through the wine country.  Since Karen and I left so late, I didn't get any photos of anyone but her today.  She's going to have a large portfolio of great shots to show her family someday. 

After the first SAG, our route went off into tree line back roads through several small interesting towns...Occidental, Freestone, Guerneville, and Valley Ford.  These little spots in the road took us all back to another time before expansion sprawl started taking over most towns.  These towns appeared to be as they were at the turn of the century...slower lifestyle than most of us are probably used to.  Almost everyone stopped at one town or another to sample the local fare...I think one little bakery in Occidental was a definite hit...carrot cake to die for from what was reported.

This was definitely a great day but it wasn't without incident.  Dave was unlucky enough to have hit a big pothole that was hiding in the shadows on the shoulder and went down.  He's got a pretty sore shoulder and a cut on his arm, but the hospital checkout didn't show any permanent damage but he'll be sore for a few days.  Gerard was on the spot with the paint to mark the dastardly hole and if he hadn't, I probably would have hit it too.  I saw the markings just in time to avoid the front wheel swallowing hole.  We're happy he's going to be OK and we'll try to get him back on the bike as soon as we can.

Everyone commented on how great a day it was...I didn't want to stop when we got to Petaluma.  Hey, it was only another 40 to San Francisco...hmmmm.  But aside from my contemplation, the temperature was fine, plenty of sunshine, beautiful scenery, not too much climbing, and an occasional tailwind to help us along...what could be better?  Dave not falling comes to mind, but other than that, it was a great day to give the climbing legs a little rest.

Tomorrow we ascend on San Francisco.  It's hard to believe we're this far already.  We're enjoying this ride and the group so much that the time just zipps by.  On the sad side though, tonight we said farewells to 2 of our riders...Peter and Norbert will be leaving in San Francisco.  We hate to see them go, but they all have lives to get back to.  We'll miss them and wish them well.  I tried to talk them into staying, but life calls.  Hope we'll see them back to finish sometime.  Good night...see you tomorrow.