Day 4: Danville -- St. Helena

50 miles + ride from Chris. Chris drives us 25 miles down the road to Martinez. She can fit 2 dogs, 2 bikes, and Jay and me in her minivan. Carly has an ultrasound at the vet afterwards.

I find out Martinez is where Aunt Denise lived during her nursing tour in labor and delivery -- another woman of adventure! The town looks like an old mining/railroad town that now has oil refineries. In the distance are hills covered with dry grass that we are going to bike over, though Chris's car is tempting.

I had insisted to Jay that today would be an easy day, no climbs and easy directions. But we begin on a hilly road that turns out is closed and washed out in a few spots. In fact, they are going to destroy the road next week. We meet a couple with a video camera who had been bringing their dogs there for 30 years. Part of the road is covered in graffiti 

And it's a little scary when the road ends going off a cliff 

But it is beautiful. That's Mt Diablo in the background.

We then bike alongside hwy 80 and get a view of Mt Tam, where we'll finish our loop 10 days later

But for the next 20 miles we bike in the shoulder of a hwy with cars zooming by and dodging road debris to avoid flat tires. Surprisingly, we make it to Napa and then Jay gets a flat.

It's hot and there's a lot of traffic, and I reconsider Jay's accommodation mechanism vs. true love for biking. Either way it's win-win: he either actually enjoys the sport so much that he can look past the down sides of touring, or he must love me a lot...

Then we hit Mumm Winery, a step-up from GA's Chateau Elon. We toast to our 2 year anniversary. 

I need adrenaline, hard work, and adventure in a relationship, and I also need a good celebration. In addition to the sickness and health part, I need a partner who can commit to "keeping it spicy."

Jay orders a plate of hot peppers at dinner.

In the end we had a great ride. We finished in St Helena and were welcomed by our gracious hosts Nancy and Gary. Nancy and mom went to nursing school together, and rumor has it a guy biked all the way from Atlanta to CA to propose to Nancy and she said NO!

We jumped in their pool, bought a bottle of Joel Gott Zinfandel from the area, and had the most amazing dinner at Farmstead, a chic modern take on the family farm with farm to table organic food and corkage fee benefitting local organizations. Jay tells me he had a GREAT day.