"And miles to go (420, to be exact) before I sleep."

We had 900 miles to cover in 6 days to ensure we arrived in Sonoma in time to begin our wine-making internship. With our usual pace that kind of mileage would necessitate traveling a little faster than we usually like to go, but it'd be OK. However there were three parks we wanted to visit along the way and my chain's "tick" had become a full-blown "tha-wack." My Scottoiler nozzles had been damaged by my slapping chain somewhere back in British Columbia, and no amount of coaxing could get them to begin working again, and happily lubricate my poor chain. So, every time we stopped for fuel, we propped up the TA on the modified walking cane we use in conjunction with the kickstand, in lieu of a center stand, and sprayed nasty gunky chain lube while thinking nice thoughts towards my chain to encourage it to get us all to Sonoma in one running piece.






By early afternoon, though, we were heading back inland in order to swing by Crater Lake. Between the early start we’d gotten that morning and the oppressive heat, I felt like I was about to fall asleep while riding, so we pulled off for about an hour and wound up both falling asleep in a lovely town park alongside a river.

Refreshed, we set off again in the direction of Crater Lake, and after soaking up the coolness and peace the wooded route there offered, we arrived just as the sun was setting.






The lake turned shades of purple that neither of our camera lenses could capture.



We eventually turned our attention to the sun setting in the distance through the hazy remnants of a blistering hot day… these moments made the 12 hours of riding sweetly worthwhile.


420+ miles in a day is really not my cup of tea. Sleeping while standing up, with my eyes open... a first!

But THIS made it all worthwhile.