day 3

woke up early to cars and the sun; everything's much louder in a tent. we packed our things and rolled our bikes up back to the road. it was nice and cool in the shade where we camped but hot in the sun; we started pedaling to placerville. we encountered hills the whole way; we got a work out for sure but are learning to cope with them as much as possible, hills are still hard. it was a different terrain today, more mountain like with rocks and some streams so that was nice. i derailed and had to fix my chain but at that road we pulled of on we got to see the mountains we are approaching! pretty great feeling to see where we are heading to. after 20+ miles of biking up hills we got to placerville; we went to riley's (grocery store) and got some fruits, yogurt, vegetables, and some odwalla juices. we hungout there getting fruit leather samples for a good couple hours. evan left his phone at his friend's mike's place back in davis but luckily him and his dad were heading up that way to visit his grandma so we got evan's phone back. evan found some cardboard and made us our "san fracisco to boston" signs. we then went to historical placerville to see the sights. right when we got there, they were finishing up an old car show; it was so sweet! we walked around a bit and through the town to see some places. a nice little town, very old time feeling. we went into this coffee shop and there was a tunnel like mining tunnel that you could walk in, so we did. didn't go back too far but it was still crazy. then went to a pub to watch a hockey game and get some clam chowder. it was a sweet place. met and talked with lots of people there about our trip and found an alternative route to go over the mountains, a less grueling one. got a call from mike and sandy, who we met at the grocery store, and met up with them to head to their house. it was a short 2 mile ride to their wonderful home. we decided to stay here and not go any farther today because there is a storm coming in tomorrow, monday, and there isn't much of anything between here and the mountains so we thought we'd wait it out since its supposed to be gone by tuesday. at their house they let us put our bikes in the garage, let us shower, gave us beds to sleep in, and even shared some pizza with us. God is good! seriously a theme on this trip. we shared some good conversations about traveling, scuba diving, nate's sleep walking adventures, and a scary story about head trauma. evan made a new friend with their dog, tristan, they love each other. even not showering for a couple of days has made us stinky and our clothes a bit nasty, we washed our clothes and showered. luxuries folks, felt so good. evan journaled and read for the rest of the evening while i blogged. hopefully this storm isn't too bad tomorrow. until tomorrow.

day 2

we awoke at mikes with fresh watermelon, bananas, and bagels to energize us for our ride up to Folsom via Sacramento. we were a bit sore but stretched it out and loaded up. once again, Davis is a sweet town and in the top 10 cities for biking i think in the world (don't quote me people). we basically rode bike paths out of davis to sacramento to folsom; it was glorious!

it was hot out but what do you expect, its california in the summer. so we got to sacramento and went past the river so we thought "how about a swim?", so we just dove right in with our bike stuff on. it was really cold, and when i say dive, i mean wade in until we get numb and then dunk ourselves. it was so refreshing! there were some cool kids boogie boarding and doing tricks there. gonna try to upload a little video of it. we then were on a long awesome bike path through sacramento for like 20 miles; i think we encountered a couple hundred bikers and saw some sweet tandem riders who were training! we finally got to folsom, where johnny cash's song is about and we found a winco and loaded up on some delicious foods: chocolate milk, italian subs, bananas, apples, pears, oranges, bell peppers, bagles, carrots, and i spoiled myself with chocolate covered gummi bears (i love em). we sat and enjoyed the food while we talked to passer-byers. we then biked out on green valley rd which would take us to placerville and we found a campingspot right off the side of the road. it was on a little incline, which we slid down in the night, and possibly poison oak but we steered clear. we setup tent in the dark, hung our food from a tree, and locked our bikes; right before we laid in the tent cause it was still warm out. it wasn't the best sleep since we tossed and turned all night but eventually we got some in and felt better in the morning.

day 1

dipped our tires in the pacific ocean in san francisco and had evan's dad, sister, and friend, tom bom, come see us off. we got off to a bit of a late start but that happens. today we biked to davis, california which was about 80 miles. it was a great day, tons of sunshine, vineyards, and wonderful people. biking through downtown san fran was a bit nuts; i almost ate it getting my back tire stuck in a train track and having to swerve around a taxi that cut me of in the bike lane. luckily i didn't get hurt or ruin my tire. we biked down to the docks where we caught a ferry to take us to vallejo, california; we didn't find a good, safe route to bike out of san fran. the ferry was fun and super windy, lets just say that it certainly isn't a fashion show for us. i look extremely rough since i haven't cut my hair or shaved in a month and don't plan on it until after the trip! evan looked normal, so maybe it was just me that looked real rough. i will say we do nip out a lot in our bike jerseys, you have been warned people! ok so we started biking and it was nice and warm out with some headwinds and some nice hills to get us warmed up. we only got lost once, my bad, but luckily it was only a couple of miles long. the countryside and the vineyards were amazing, never seen anything like it before. God blessed us so much today with his strength, beauty, and community. we finally arrived into davis later than expected, around 8 or 9 ish and stayed the night with evan's friend, mike, what a great guy with a big heart. he took us out to an amazing mexican dinner and opened up his house to us and has breakfast all lined up for us too! thanks a bunch mike!

ok side note before some pics: we didn't eat as much as we should've today so tomorrow we will be eating a good amount and getting some snacks for the road since all we have are camp dehydrated food pouches. we were pretty dang hungry and low on energy until we came across a strawberry vendor on the side of the road just seconds after evan was saying, "if we run into someone selling strawberries, we're gonna get some"; so we got 3 baskets full for the price of 2! we devoured them like nobodies business. the little asian couple that was selling them knew little english but were still willing to give us more than we paid for. just plain wonderful. she didn't want a picture taken of her so she hid while i took the picture :) alright here are some pics (UNEDITED) of day 1. i can't guarantee these daily updates but since we have time and internet tonight you are lucky.

Gear List

here is all the gear we will be carrying.

Alex Hackett:

2 shirts

2 short sleeved cycling jerseys

1 long sleeved cycling jerseys

2 cycling shorts

1 cycling pants

1 rain jacket

1 speedo

1 pair of pants

3 pairs of socks

1 pair of liner socks

1 pair of wool socks

1 light jacket

1 thermal top

1 thermal bottom

2 pairs of underwear

1 pair of shorts

1 bandana

1 pair of gloves

1 helmet

1 camp stove

1 cooking pot

1 camera + bag

4 batteries

6 camera sd cards

1 nd filter

1 battery charger (camera)

1 sleeping pad

1 sleeping bag

1 camp pillow

2 books (wild at heart/dharma bums)

1 external hard drive

1 journal/pen

1 pair of ear plugs

1 pair of shoes

1 camping towel

2 sponges

1 spork

1 camp bowl

1 pair of sunglasses

3 face sunscreens

3 body sunscreens

2 lip chapsticks

1 spot device

1 broken toothbrush

1 multipurpose soap

1 toothpaste

1 usb charger

2 usb to ipod chargers

1 thing of toilet paper

2 multi-tools

1 patch kit

5 bike tubes

2 spokes

2 tire levers

1 first aid kit

1 bottle of lube

2 freeze dried meals

1 top ramen

4 power gels

1 clif bar

1 bag of beef jerky

1 small bag of trail mix

1 pair of headphones

1 ipod

1 iphone

1 watch

1 swiss army knife

1 small backpack

1 camel back

7 maps

1 tarp

1 two man tent

2 front panniers

2 back panniers

1 cyclo computer

1 front light

1 rear light

2 fenders

2 racks

2 water bottle cages

2 water bottles

1 tire pump

1 mirror

6 trash bags

1 knee brace

1 helmet

1 cycling cap

1 C2W hat

Evan Emo Chaney:

3 face sunscreens

3 body sunscreens

2 chapsticks

3 pairs of socks

1 pair of wool socks

6 tubes

2 tire levers

2 multi-tools

6 maps

1 toe nail clippers

1 bag of zipties

1 bag of bolts

1 bag of bandaids

2 books

1 pair of eurotrunks

1 bandana

2 shirts

1 tank top

2 cycling jerseys

1 pair of shorts

1 pair of pants

1 pair of cycling shorts

1 water proof pants

1 under armor pants

1 under armor shirt

1 long sleeve shirt

1 knife

1 spork

1 swiss army knife

1 multi-soap

1 camp gas

3 bags of dry food

1 U bike lock

1 chain bike lock

1 icy hot

1 bowl

1 dental floss

1 pair of gloves

2 spoke wrenches

1 camp towel

1 sleeping bag

1 sleeping pad

1 bottle of iodine pills

1 cell phone

1 charger

1 ipod

1 laptop/charger

1 set of pliers

1 camp pillow

2 racks

1 cyclo computer

1 mirror

2 lights

2 water bottle cages
2 water bottles

1 small pack

1 camelback

1 bike pump

4 knee braces

1 helmet

1 cycling cap

1 pair of sunglasses

1 C2W hat

cycling jerseys!

alright, after much talk and what-not about getting jersey's from the American Cancer Society, we finally have them! wahoo! ok, so, Bonnie, who we are working with from ACS, sent us some nice running jersey's. evan thought maybe i told her we were running across the US and they were also women's running jerseys. ha. that was alright with us since we don't care what we wear but after some e-mails back and forth we just got in today our NEW cycling jerseys from ACS. they are great and we weren't sure if we'd get them in time before our trip, but Bonnie comes through as usual! thanks Bonnie for your continual help.

t-minus 2 days

today i am sitting in evan's bedroom in san jose; i drove down from salem, oregon yesterday where i spent a day and a half visiting family. i successfully packed up all of my belongings and crammed them into my jetta. unloaded my stuff at my brother's house and headed down to cali-for-ni-a (as the beach boys would say). picked up a hitchhiker, matt, who got laid off and was heading down to arizona to look for some work. it was good to have company. evan headed down to san jose sunday morning too. it rained on him the entire way but he made it. now we are just getting everything ready for our trip. we leave in 2 days!

                                       

got our sunscreen from mission sunscreen and it's a lot! we got spray on, rub on, chapstick, and some other stuff. thankful for it for sure.

evan's dad, sister, and friend, tom, are going to take us up to san francisco on friday to see us off. stay tuned for more updates! this is actually happening people, this isn't some big elaborate joke. 

our anthem