Holy heatwave

Today we covered 72 miles in the heatwave that is hitting California. We started the morning off meeting a man who owned a car washing business next to the gas stAtion that we were drinking coffee over planning our route for the day. He was so thrilled about what we were doing and one of the first things he said street we told him why we were making this trek, was "all it takes is a dream," and then started telling us how he moved here from Chicago to get out of the life style he was born into and kind of stuck in. He told us how he studied for months to see how he could run a business in Fairfield that would stay. Then he told us about his other plans to expand into food. He didn't have much but he was proud of what he had, and he wow a huge smile on his face while he was telling us the story. It was full of pride.
We began our trek in the heat through rolling hills of fields and few trees. It looked very desert-esque and the tan grass was in stark contrast with the incredibly blue, and cloudless sky. We stopped at a bakery in Wintersand filled our water bottles up, and meet a man who told us of an incredible story about his friend who was battling gall bladder cancer that had spread all over her body. She is terminally ill and ideas about to put on an event to raise awareness about cancer of all sorts. She its trying any treatment possible.  Her fight is inspiring.
After lunch the great hit...hard. We were riding in 105 degree heat with no shade and were doing everything we could to drink. We stopped at a gas station and filled up with water and people were looking at us (and sometimes saying it) like we were nuts. That also might have been because i was sitting the sprinklers or because both of us were trying to wet or hair. The salt on our bodies was blatantly visible and it was running down into our eyes. We both have salt marks on or shorts and shirts. There is no wind to combat this heat. Usually the act of biking can chill you down as the air rushes past you as you pedal but it was not the case. We made it to sacramento where we took a dip in the river and saw some very interesting people including two men pushing their dogs in old baby strollers.

We have two extremely hard days ahead of us as we have to cross the sierra Nevadas. The elevation maps are frightening. They make the hills we have climbed look flat. We have covered a great distance today in the heat, neither if us have experienced that kind of heat, especially with 50 extra pounds. I'm proud off us. We face rough retain ahead but we will focus on one mile at a time and prepare ourselves with lots of water for the climb. We haven't been camping because honestly we aren't at places where camping is an option or feels safe. We are in highly populated areas and the parts if town we have seen would feel better behind locked doors when we aren't on the bike. We will be starting early tomorrow to avoid heat, but it means we will be done earlier too.

Tomorrow is not far away. We have challenge that lies ahead...mentally and physically.