Well I am feeling much better than yesterday! I'm just a little weak :( hopefully I will be fully  recovered!

Laurie  here:
Our first solo day and Cathy woke up with a stomach problem. Flu or food poisoning. We begged a ride from some kind fellow campers in to town and are here with beds and bathroom. Hopefully she'll be ready to ride tomorrow.

Our first breakfast on our own. Not as cushy as we were used to :-)

Last night by a nice big fire! For the next few days our fires will be minimal

Goodbye truck!!!! Mom and I are on our own for a couple of days! Gulp, only biking and no truck to come rescue us when we get tired. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Here we are at mission number seven!!!

Today we headed down the Pacific Coastal trail from Santa Cruz to
Carmel.  We had a late start (truck problems) and only made it 35 of the 50 miles. Had the best fresh-picked strawberries our and first beach park.
 lunch stop.

After crossing the coastal mountains today we have decided to head down to the mission in Carmel rather than cross the mountains again so soon!  So tomorrow we are going to ride along the coast for 51 miles.  Then head back over the mountains the day after for San Juan Batista and continue north to south for the inland missions. Amazing how much more real elevation gains are from the perspective of a bike!

Here we are at mission number six. Today was a hard uphill bike ride! I am excited for a shower!

This was our beautiful view from the bike path! I want to live near the ocean

Mom got new tires for her bike! Let's hope this will minimize the amount of flats!

From Laurie

We are taking our rest day - one day early.  Too many flat tires. We visited Sprocket Bike shop (Thanks guys you were awesome!) on Mission Blvd in Santa Cruz.  I now have new tires, tubes, helmet, mirror and no toe clips....we are ready to hit the road again.  Tomorrow, rather than going back to Mission Santa Clara we will ride from the campground to the Mission Santa Cruz.  Two important reasons: no one has to sit in the back seat of the truck for the windy trip over the coastal mountains and no uphills to bike tomorrow. 

We are here at mission number 5! Just in time for evening mass. Amen!

Sigh, and another flat! But on the bright side we are really good at changing tires!

Yet another flat

This is the right way to ride a bike

We are at the fourth mission! It was beautiful

Mom found a bell

Mom pretending she is a monkey on the subway

Mission number three! It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

I got to see Sam, my best friend, in San Francisco!

This is our view as we come into San Francisco from our bike ride.....oh did I mention we are on a boat!?

Here we are at mission number two :)

Mom learned something very important yesterday. You always want to make sure that the water fountain is working before you pour your water out, no matter how awful your water is it is better than nothing. We went the last three hours of the trip without water.

Yesterday we got our first flat! We had to pull off by the side of the road and it took us about an hour to change it! Even with the delay we managed to go 30 some miles yesterday!

Here we are at our first mission

First battle wound!

We like to have our picture taken :p here we are standing under an original El Camino Real bell!

Mom and I were lucky enough to meet with the current owner of California Bell Company. Thank you John Kolstad for your hospitality! We will definitely want a bell!

We don't do to well in the morning, but here we are at 6:30, asking ourselves if we really want to do this!!!!!

As you can see I am training hard for this bike ride....SOS I am so going to die!

Hey Cathy here, I finally got my new bike! Bring it on 800+ miles.

A little bit about our selected route.  The missions were originally connected by a footpath  along which the Padres walked or rode horseback.  This path was dubbed El Camino Real. (The royal road).  The missions were approximately a day's ride apart approximately 15-35 miles.  El Camino Real (ECR) still exists, as highway 101.  In 1906, the route was commemorated  a series of bells placed along the trail.  These were designed and cast by Mrs. A.S.C. Forbes, known as the first woman American bell maker.  Although many of the original bells are gone, CalTrans has been replacing them - using bells made by the same firm.  (http://www.californiabell.com/).

 Cathy and I fly into SFO  June 20th, rent a car - and will visit California Bell Company, before heading up to Sonoma to start the biking portion of the trip.  We hope to meet the with the  owner of California Bell and learn more about the current status of the putting the ring back on the ECR!  Go to their website to read more about the history and see some wonderful historic photos.

Ok.  Cathy took her first training ride.  Less than a mile into it the world went dark...she couldn't breathe or see.  I'm not sure what kind of omen this is.....but I'm still betting that after 2 days all I will see of her is her back-side once in the morning as she speeds off!

From Laurie:
I must admit that it is with a certain sense of doom, that I am down-loading the maps of our proposed route.  43.9 miles the first day! 887.1 miles total! Coastal mountains! Urban riding! (Did I mention Coastal mountains?)  We have done virtually no preparation - in fact Cathy doesn't even have a bike yet.  Am I crazy?  The fact that I did a long distance ride 30 years ago is not comforting.  It all feels like the time, at age 45, as my body was in free fall, head first in an attempt to show Cathy how to do a cartwheel  I realized it had been 35 years since I'd done this and.....crack.....I collapsed (head first remember?) on the ground.  Only difference now I am 55 and will be wearing a helmet.  Okay let's go!