Day 23 - Cruisin' Clovis

Day 23 - Madera to Sanger

It is Saturday and it is Show and Shine time! We came by a little early because cars were still arriving but......

........we still got to see a good selection.

The bounteous bouquets caught our eye. Not many flowers in most of the cemeteries we've passed.

Hurray......another stretch of brand new asphalt all to ourselves!

A nice farm stand. The variety of fruits and vegetables grown in the valley is just so impressive.

Breakfast #2 at the Dough Ray Me Coffee Shop in Madera Ranchos.

Doug's personal motto.

We aren't sure where these are going but we seem to be headed there.

They named a ranch after us!

Looking east into the San Joaquin River bottom.

San Joaquin River

Just after crossing the river we entered the Clovis bike trail system. There were several of these tunnels which took the trail under a 4 or 6 lane road.

It made getting through town really easy.

One section was also the Old Town Heritage Walk. This is a replica of the Bronco Buster, a famous Remington statue.

The Walking Doctor

Challenge of Champions, commemorating the Clovis Rodeo.

This statue, honoring the local Japanese American community, was just dedicated this past June.

Ike is the man in the statue above.

We really enjoyed exploring Clovis but it is time to head out of town into the orchards and vineyards. 

And what is this?........a vegetable growing like a grapevine. It is some kind of squash.

The flag is flying at half mast because a retardant plane pilot was killed while flying a fire that is burning just west of Yosemite this week.

Feed stores are not usually on our list of places to visit on bike tours but Doug wanted some more vet wrap to cover his leg wound so this was perfect.

5:30 Mass at St. Mary's started our evening. We realized how fast the days are getting shorter as we barely got back to our motel before dark. Fortunately dinner was just across the street.