More pictures from Califronia

Kate and Crocodile hunter in action
Two love birds nesting in the trees of Sedona.
Resting Pudding on the California Coast.
Philip (mini me) and I playing soccer in Santa Cruz. Great day of riding and playing. He is taller but I am heavier so we both are in great balance. This is how a work out looks like San Fran style. It is rather cold here in SF and the hills help to warm you up and/or burn some of the seal blubber of my belly. I thought going on a trip like this would mean thinning out but I think quite the opposite is happening. at any rate I have not attempted to write for quite some time so it is time again to get something out there for my audience.
Adding to the story from Zenni we left Sedona quite sad as the time came to an end with Kate and Aaron. It was a real pleasure to see the two come out and I have to thank them again for going through the effort and fly for 5 hours just to see us for 3 days with both leading very busy work and social life it always takes a lot of energy to do those trips. I had a blast though and it was a new experience for me to remember mornings after hanging out with Aaron for a night so this one was a first (great success!! as Borat used to say). from there we decided to cover as much ground as possible heading west to California and going through the desert. we did our longest day of riding that day (440 miles) out of which 4-5 hours were in 120 degrees (44 in Celsius). You could not hydrate quick enough out there, so at the end of the day we had big heads with swollen eyes. All was compensated the next day when we hit California and stopped for a nice big burger and a cool blond in Santa Barbara which is a very nice town. Then my highlight for the day, the ride up from there towards Carmel with as many curves and hills as the eye can see. At the beginning of the road there was a sign that said: careful curves and mountains and bridges for the next 65 miles. Now where is that a problem?!
Then we met up with Philip and he took us around for some nice rides around town with food and beer and soccer which was much appreciated and needed.
Now we are in SF in a super cool hostel again right in down town next to bars and good food with lots of international travellers and there we hooked up again with our road friend from Holland (Michiel) whom we met earlier in Santa Fe and Taos. His trip came to an end here and we celebrated his last night. The night and I went out in a big bang and I had almost forgotten how shitty it feels to wake up in the morning when you go to bed at 4am in the morning. A day of rest and hibernation followed. We actually explored the city by foot. we started in t shirt and shorts in the morning and then started to freeze our much needed behinds off in the afternoon so we headed towards the old hippie district and bought some warm cloth and boots to wear for the night. which brings us to today. we started with a great tour of Alcatraz in the wee hours (for me at least) and almost had the entire prison for us as we were one of the first group to enter the island. spend 3 hours there and heard a lot of great stories!! Now my friends comes something that I rarely do but was much needed.....MY beauty sleep in the afternoon to tank some energy for this article.

All is well, the bikes run great with no technical problems, new tires for Zenni, new oil for both of us, almost 7000 miles driven concluding that the gear selection was the right one and that we are in the middle of a great experience. Current top three places. 1. Boulder Colorado, 2. SF, 3. Santa Fe New Mexico.

Now it is Saturday night and time for a beer at the local street fest with good live music .

Good night and good luck
Till