28th August 2010

Motel 6 did us proud as usual; $61 for a two queen bed room, which was clean and comfortable with (finally) a problem free wifi connection. I woke up feeling refreshed. I had a rather weird but vivid dream about winning £20,000 with Henry in a dog obedience competition and cross country race. On waking I was sad to realise that it was just a dream as now I will have to search for a job much earlier when we return to the UK. It is still rather dark at 06:00 in central California. Bill went to get us some free Motel 6 coffee.


Petro Retro Diner Breakfast

 We set out from Gustine after breakfast at the Petro Retro diner and getting some fuel. We had to put our jumpers on as it was bloody chilly. We drove through Los Banos on highway 152 and stopped for a Starbucks coffee just outside Merced. I took great pleasure in letting one of my old IBM colleagues know that we were passing through Merced, as he still deals with a third party company, which goes by the same name. As we pulled up, we got accosted by a beggar with the smoothest line of patter I have ever heard (worked 26 years in the building industry, blah, fallen on hard times, blah, apologise if this offends you, blah). Eventually we had to wish him good luck and told him we were unable to help. He accepted this gracefully and wheeled his bicycle off in to the sunset.




The 49 Out Of Mariposa

After refreshments we continued through to Mariposa on the 140. A kindly motorist flashed us to let us know the highway patrol was waiting round the corner. It was a good job we backed off the speed a bit. Having said that, the patrol was already 'dealing' with someone else. Mariposa looked interesting but we didn't stop. We headed out on the 49. As we were in the hills, the road was more interesting, with good views and sweeping bends. I managed to scratch the footboards a few times. We saw some more reservoirs and a boat being pulled over by the river police (boat complete with flashing blue light). We decided not to get fuel at Chinese Camp and stopped at Copperopolis instead. We headed West on highway 4 and eventually picked up the 99 to get to Lodi quickly as it was approaching 16:00. We parked up for the night at the Motel 6 on South Cherokee Drive in Lodi. We stood outside and used their wifi to book a room for $48, which was £30 at the time of writing. Julia, the receptionist, took the piss out of my accent (what accent?).

Lodi Cycle Bowl

We got a taxi to the Lodi Cycle bowl. Driver was called Keith. Nice chap. He owns the only taxi company in Lodi. We offered to start a taxi company of our own to introduce some healthy competition but the trouble is we wouldn't know where we were going or how to get there. There again, neither does Keith; he missed the road to the Lodi Cycle bowl.



A Quiet Drink At The Lodi Cycle Bowl



We had a great time at the racing. The people were friendly and the beer was good. We opted for the more cost effective option of 32oz (2 pint) cups and had 4 of these (which is probably why the next morning Bill thought that someone had been poking crap in his mouth while he slept). We became celebrities after donating $20 to the free entry, winner takes all, dash for the cash prize fund. The announcer ensured that everyone knew that "The Brits from across the pond have donated $20. And he's even wearing a Triumph shirt". I was really impressed at the standard of riding. 

And They're Off...

Those guys and girls are very brave as there's not a lot of room on the track, especially when they reach a corner. It was also great to see little ones out there. They must have been 5 or 6 years of age. A UK health and safety official would probably have a fit if visiting the track (sadly). We got back to the Motel at around 23:00 and hit the sack straight away. I was asleep instantly.

The odometer read 44794, which means we rode 196 miles this day.