31 May Day 2 - Corral Hollow - Lake McSwain: 140 km @21.1 km/h

I woke up after an OK but not great sleep. It was cool, but not cold, and I was surprised not to have any aches and pains after yesterday's ride. Even my bum wasn't too bad. I had not had time to train and usually the first week is very unpleasant but hopefully with a good seat and a good bike it won't be too bad.

After a light breakfast it was on the road again. It was a downhill run which is always a great way to start the day. As a cyclist momentum is your friend and gravity the enemy (an adaptation of a saying by Kat Brown who described gravity more graphically). The place was quite desolate with lots of barren, empty hills. I wondered why there were all these no trespassing signs; who in their right mind would be out here in the middle of nowhere-and then I passed some centre associated with Lawrence Livemore. That explained the signs.

There were lots of trucks and the shoulder disappeared so I was a bit uncomfortable. Fortunately, I found a canal and cycled along next to it. It was quite unlike England where there are trees and bridges etc. next to the canals. Very sparse (see photo below). However, in spite of the gravel track I was pleased to be on the canal as there were no trucks to terrorise me. After about 5 km there was a road with a gate and a fisherman who looked at me strangely 'why aren't you using the other side of the canal where the road is paved?'. Because I was a moron who assumed both sides were the same. Needless to say I changed sides and continued on the nice paved route. Except for having to haul my heavy bike over gates it was great and made great time.

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The San Joaquin valley that I was cycling through is renowned as one of the most fertile places in the world. Although to the right of the canal was dry desert, the land to the left was full of orchards and fields of crops. The soil was the rich, dark brown alluvial soil that is great for growing. It is apparently an old lake bed which explains things. It was great to see the farmers ploughing the land and attending the trees-on a bike one becomes much more aware of ones environs than when ensconced in a vehicle.

After 50 km I had worked up a mighty appetite. That is one of the great things about cycle touring, one eats with such a clear conscience. I was fantacising about a submarine sandwhich, something simple with crisp, cool lettuce and other salads thinking that is just what I needed. I was leaving the canal before Paterson and what do I find but a truck stop with Subway submarines. I thanked the Lord for that indulgence. I sat outside enjoying it, althought the winds made it a bit of an effort at times. There were phones there and I was tempted to call Lis (collect) but since it was about 6 a.m. in NZ I decided to let the poor girl sleep.

I cycled into Paterson and the sign said 'Apricot Capital of the World'. Since Lis has absolutely no control when it comes to eating Apricots I thought that it was a good thing she wasn't along or I may have been stranded here. Particularly since the annual Apricot festival was in 3 days time! It was a pleasant small town but there were a few hoons in 1960s Ford Mustangs about. They were all in immaculate condition and were it not for the testosteone laden driving habits of their owners I would have like to admire some of them closer.

The road from Paterson to Turlock was called 'Las Pinas' and for many km it was lined with the tallest palm trees I've ever seen, all evenly spaced. What amazed me was that the line was unbroken for such a long distance. I would have thought that some hoon (driving a Mustang?) would have taken a few out over the many years that they have been gowing. There was a nice wide shoulder so it was a pleasure to cycle along, although it did get a bit boring at times.

Turlock was a big town which had too much traffic. I stopped in a park to fill my water bottles and ask directions. The fellow as particularly perceptive: 'are you cycle touring'? I wanted to say no, I always ride to the park with a fully laden bike and with my funny accent as directions out of town, but managed to be polite. Like many people he didn't appreciate the cyclists want a direct route and he was going to take me way out of my way. I smiled and thanked him appreciatively before riding off in the other direction. I don't think he noticed.

The road I was on was very quiet with about one vehicle every 10 mins. That seems to be the case once one is off the main routes. Very convenient when nature calls as there are not a lot of places to be discrete in the flat farming land with few trees. All one does is wait for a car to pass and then you are sure that there is enough time to answer nature's call without embarassment (to the motorists).

After a few hours of cycling I pulled off the road into a peach orchard where I lay under the trees and read my book in the comfort of the shade. The birds were in the air, there was no traffic and I thought how good it was to be alive.

Continued on to Snelling where I managed to find an egg salad sandwich for dinner. Food is the great problem for me since vegetarianism is not that common in outback USA (or outback anywhere). To add to my problem is the fact that I don't want sugar in everything. For example, I decided to buy some baked beans as 'emergency' food. The shop had about 20 different brands (being America one is spoiled for choice in all things). However, everthing had pork, bacon, sausages, chillis, brown sugar, molasses. Not all of them had all things, just different combinations of each. Fat chance if you didn't want meat.

Another aspect to food in the USA is the way in which they label everything with the number of calories. The fact that a sizeable portion of the population ignore this (pun intended) does not diminish the importance of the information. However, manufacturer's still go to great lengths to put their products forward in the best possible light. Take my egg salad sandwich for example. Like most sandwiches of its type it was a square piece of bread cut into two halves in a plastic container. Being concerned about my caloric intake (Lis will be doing her 'fat test' on me when I get home and woe betide me if I fail) I was surprised to find that it had only 250 calories-impressive given the size of the sandwich. However, upon closer inspection this applied to half a sandwich. I wonder if they could have said 125 calories for 1/4 sandwich; or 50 calories for 1/10 sandwich. This opens up endless possibilities. As you can see, one has a lot of time for deep thinking when cycling.

It was on to Lake McSwain which was a resevoir with a camp site. Paid $14 but at least it had a warm shower. I also found that I could plug my palmtop into one of the sites for RV vehicles which was a good thing as I had forgotten that Gustav Rohde was expecting part of a conference paper from me by that day. So I sat in the dark, after a well needed shower and shave, and worked away as the mosquitoes buzzed around. It was a lovely place, as the photo below shows. I had the campground all to myself and slept relatively fitfully.

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On to the Next Day

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