2014 Oregon/California - Day 32 and 33 - Headed Home

Day 32 and 33 (Monday and Tuesday) - Visalia to Sweet Home.
What we thought was a civit cat living under house #2 (niece Ayla is living there right now) turned out to be a striped skunk. Doug had set the trap for 3 nights with no success but the sardines finally proved too enticing. Mr. Skunk's "perfume" will no longer greet us at the front door.

Mom is soooo happy Doug took care of the skunk. 

Now we can hit the road. Thanks for everything Mom!!

That's a lot of cotton T-shirts!

Lots of green-ness (alfalfa)

And lots of dryness. This is Cross Creek. In Donna's youth it had many more trees and was a shady respite on hot summer days on horseback. Even then it didn't have water in the summer.

This completes the California bicycling part of our trip. This map shows our route from Anderson (Day 14) to Hanford.

If the first half of the trip was the Mountain Stage then this was the Sprint Stage!

Now it is Amtrak's turn. The bikes are boxed and the train is scheduled to arrive on time.

We mailed the camping gear home last week which makes carrying our "luggage" a lot easier.

A hazy sunset on our way to Martinez.

Still trying to catch up on the blog while we wait for the Coast Starlight. It was only a few minutes behind schedule but it was sleep time as soon as we boarded.

Central Oregon sunrise.

The aspen has turned color since we passed this way on our journey south. It is always a lovely hallmark of autumn.

That's a lot of clouds. California wishes they had some of them, especially the wet ones.

 The Willamette Valley has greened up a lot since we left.

We arrived in Albany about a half hour later than scheduled. This fact is a lot more important in October than it is in July. And Donna's front tire was flat so putting together the bikes was a little more work than usual. We left the station just before 3pm.

So far, so good, no rain, just a little bit of a headwind but no time to dilly dally either.

Home Sweet Home. Sunset 6:17, arrived 6:25!
1027 total miles; 26,300 feet of cumulative elevation gain; 4 flats (in the last 100 miles) and lots of great memories!!! Thanks for coming along for the ride. 
p.s. Doug had another flat tire the next morning.....darn bullheads anyway.

Day 26 to 31 - Family Time

Days 26 to 31 - October 14 to 19 - Visalia
This is what processing pistachios by hand looks like. The incentive is we get to take them home and eat them!

The pulpy flesh on the outside needs to be rubbed off and then separated from the nut. Then they are put on a dehydrator for a couple days. Salted ones are put in a brine prior to drying.

We played tourist in Hanford for a day. Even though it is Donna's home town things change over time. Her relatives had a hand in the construction of this civic auditorium.

No trip to Hanford is complete without a stop at Superior Dairy.

And this is why.....these are "One Sccop" bowls of their delicious ice cream. 

Clark Center for Japanese Art, an oasis of culture found in the middle farm fields and orchards just south of town.

The current exhibit is called "33 Dances" on Japanese calligraphers. This one is in Seal Script style and is from the mid 18th century. It says:
River winds seek my chanting;
The mountain moon invites me to a feast;
Heaven and earth become my quilt and pillow.

From the 17th century, drawn on hemp

There is also an extensive collection of bonsai. How could 2 foresters resist?

Megan and niece Zoe sharing a personal joke at Friday Pizza Night.

Giving downtown Visalia a little tourist treatment as well.

If you ever want to be overwhelmed by sequins, visit Claudia's Closet.

The big day has arrived and this is the venue where Donna's nephew Sean and his bride Katie will be exchanging their vows. It was formerly a race horse ranch. We parked on the race track.

There are now ponds inside the track.

The three generations.

The groom's family joyfully awaiting the start of the wedding....and waiting....and waiting. It is a lovely evening to be sitting on a bridge over the pond so we really didn't mind at all! The bride was escorted to the bridge by her father on his very shiny motorcycle. We weren't in a good spot to get a picture but it was priceless.

It was a beautiful and touching ceremony.

Their first dance as husband and wife. Pretty snazzy for a horse barn, don't you think!

Day 25 - Hey Mom, We're Here!

Day 25 - October 13 - Columbus Day Holiday.
East of Visalia to west of Visalia.
The Lone Oak Pioneer Cemetery is adjacent to Ted and Leslie's house. The plaque says it is likely the oldest one in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

We had a leisurely breakfast before we hit the road for our last day traveling south by bike.

It is always a little bittersweet to face the last day of a tour.

We had never taken this road by car but it seemed like it would be a good route by bike. It was very scenic but the asphalt was BUMPY.

Some of you may have noticed that there is no rack pack. Donna's mom came to dinner last night and offered to take our camping stuff.....before we even thought of it ourselves.

You can almost see the mountains this morning.

Now we are officially in Visalia and we are 320 feet higher than we were a week ago!

The hometown built a rail/trail since the last time we were here!

Baseball is really big around here.

Grapes in various stages of becoming raisins in front of a farm stand.

Remember the picture of the bullheads a few days ago? They have struck again and we are ONLY 2.8 miles from Mom's house! AND the new spare inner tube we bought yesterday is in one of the bags she took home with her.

This is the first cotton field we've seen this trip and it is ready for harvest too.

Mom's pistachio-lined driveway.

We're here! Now she's really going to spoil us.
p.s. Doug's front tire went flat again while it was parked on the deck. We are sure glad we don't have bullheads in Sweet Home!