Lift off!

After months of anticipation it all finally begins tomorrow.  I've been hanging out at my brother's house in California for a little over a week now getting everything finalized for the trip.  Zac's bike, which was the one he had used three years ago for his cross-county trip, was in need of some major repairs.  We also had to do a minor repair to the truck that I drove out here to get it through the California smog testing.  Other than that, we split a whole lot of firewood with a 24 ton gas powered wood splitter, and played quite a few rounds of cornhole (or simply "bags" as they call if out here) with friends.  Tomorrow morning Zac's fiance will drive us out to a point on the coast about 30 miles north of San Fran, where we will meet up with a buddy named David who's going to ride the first two or three days with us.  We'll be riding on the windy and shoulderless California 1 with the Pacific Ocean on our right side for most of the way to San Diego.  Apparently all of California's state parks are closed down due to budget cuts, but we should still be able to camp in them unmonitered.  Anyway, one last day of preparation and rest today...and tomorrow it begins.