Day 1--5 hours of wonderful and 5 hours of hell, and raw nipples. 54 miles

The start!

We woke up at about 6 AM.  Got everything together, had a cup of coffee, and rode out of the hotel.  We literally rode down the hall and out the front door...got some looks.
The ride to the start was super enjoyable and not at all as bad as I thought the fully loaded bike would be.  It was mostly downhill and the weather was great.  We got our cheesy back tire in the ocean pictures and got on the way.  It was just good riding until about 1230...that is when IT arrived.  A hell of a rainstorm that lasted the rest of the day.
Pretty much after 30 miles of nice easy riding it was 25ish of uphill through the rain.  Soaked all day.  All of our gear got soaked even though we had all the rain protection going on.
Our plan was to camp out tonight, but we scratched that idea because we were soaked. Got a hotel in Pine Valley CA.  Our room looks awesome with stuff hanging to dry everywhere.  The smell is pretty amazing too.  I took a video.....not sure if it will upload on here or not but I will give it a shot.
I had a lot of time to think today and I decided that a lot of the things I NEED to get across the nation on my bike...well, I don't really need them.  First thing in the morning I am mailing about ten pounds of gear back home.  Pulling my bike up all these hills has really changed my priorities on NEEDED gear!  Tomorrow we are going to shoot for Brawly Ca which is about 75 miles from here.   Lastly, about the nipples.  Mine are raw from my jersey rubbing on them all day.....Looks like band-aids on the nips for manana.
Also, thanks to Loren from TX...she donated $100 today to the cause!
One last thing for tonight....The pics and video is still downloading....I will add tomorrow.  The internet in this "city" is not all that fast....actually, it is slow as molasses in Alaska.  Be good and I can see you are reading this in your underwear......Got at least person with that one.  Night.