Aug 4:  22.5 miles to Tom and Pat Arnone's home

Last night, we enjoyed our first shower in three days at an RV park and had pizza with Dick and Jan, who stayed in the area.  This was the last chance we or the dogs had to bail out.  Now we are committed.

The dogs seemed very tired last night.  In fact, Lander crawled into the tent as soon as we set it up and only came out to eat or do his business.  In fact, he even stayed in it while we collapsed it around him this morning.  We think they are sore plus their pads are just slightly worn.  So we decided to make it an easy day.  It was 20 miles to the home of Tom and Pat Arnone, who offer their yard for cyclist to camp in.  It was fairly flat, much of it city riding today, so we pulled the dogs in the trailers the whole day. 

Tom and Pat have a lovely home at the base of the mountains.  Since we pulled in early, we had a semi-rest day enjoying their yard and just relaxing.  Then she offered us fresh veggies from her garden-beans, snow peas, cucumbers and carrots.  A nice change from dehydrated vegetables we've been eating all week. 

Tom and Pat are big into racing.  Their son used to race in Europe and now works in a bike related industry.  They also do quite a bit of serious racing themselves.  So we have a lot to talk about.

It is so wonderful to stay at homes and get to meet the people of the area.  We still remember the people we met from our last trip in 98.

PS:  Jon just calculated the total weight we are carrying.  He has 65 pounds of gear and 24 pounds of water he carries.  I have 35 pounds of gear and 12 pounds of water.  Plus each of us has a 30 pound dog half of the time.