The mother load!

Hello world,

Today we woke up to the smell of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and coffee! That's a great way to wake up even when your not on a cross county bike trip! We enjoyed our breakfast with Dean and Elizabeth Doerksen (Thanks so much for letting us stay with you, we had a great time!) and got on the road by about 10. We made fantastic time most if the morning to the town of Merced, pretty much all flat or very gradual hill with lots of tail wind, and it wasn't too hot either. We stopped for lunch outside of a best buy in Merced and got back on the road around 1 I think.

We got back on he road and headed toward mariposa, our proposed stopping spot for the night, but after lunch it seemed like all that happened to me was, it got steeper on the hills, it got hotter, and we hit lots of head or side wind, no tailwind anymore. But we kept moving and it was pretty uneventful through this leg of the trip. Just slow going up the hills. I think we were movin around 6 miles an hour up em (flying, I know). But we got to mariposa and we saw a billboard for a restaurant called happy burger. It almost had a waffle house feel to it, but with a dinner menu you feel safe ordering from. So we decided to stop in and grab some grub. David had a guacamole burger, Paul had a signature happy burger, and I got some mammoth called the Mother load burger. When this thing came out, I couldn't believe it, it was four parties, bacon, and lots of condiments stuck between a bun. the waitress said it weighed a pound. In addition to that behemoth, it came with a bowl of fries, and I stupidly ordered a Reece's pieces milkshake, which wasn't small either. She also said the only person she had seen eat the whole burger, fries, and a shake had been some 95 pound girl.

Well now the challenge was set, and there was no backing down. The people from the booths next to us wanted to see If i could do it or not. So taking advice from my cousin, When he had eaten a monster burger, I took the burger and just kept eating, I never set it down. Well i finished the burger, not with ease, but it was doable. Bu I still had the fries and shake left. So with Paul and Dave waiting patiently, since they were long done, I finished the fries and shake. And you know what, that was one of the best burgers I've had in a while. The bacon added some nice flavor. However, as I'm writing this in my tent, it's all settling, and it doesn't feel great. My stomach is making all sorts of noises. Nothing bad, it was just a lot more food than I'm used to. 

Anyways, after we left happy burger, we started on our way to a campsite. However, we took a left when it should have been a right and ended up going two miles uphill. In the wrong direction. So we turned around and headed back and on the way, we passed by a fire station. We went up and asked if there was a spot to pitch our tent, I guess I didn't word it right, because we were trying to pitch a tent in the firemen's woods behind their building, but they directed us to the county park saying that no one should bother us there. So that brings us here to my tent, total, about 70 miles today. 

All in all a good day, no breakdowns, not unbearably hot, and we aren't exhausted so we are all prepped for our climb tomorrow into Yosemite. We should be able to sleep right in Yosemite valley, which would be awesome!

Other than that, it's still super cool to see how diverse the land can be from day to day. From rolling hills, to redwoods, to coastline, to flat, to mountains, the beauty of all of it is astounding. Everything is so beautiful and different from what we experience on the east coast. God's creation thus far is awesome, and tomorrow should be a special view of that in Yosemite. And his blessing and protection are very evident on the trip as well, from generous donations from people to lack of injury, to bikes breaking in areas where people are able to fix them, it's all very cool to be a part of.

Alright, we'll goodnight everyone, I hope you've enjoyed the update! 

-Tom

P.S. here's some pics from today.

Here is our breakfast (Dean took the pic)

Here's Paul on the ride

And here's the mother load!