San Francisco at last!

Apologies for the long delay in posting to the blog. There was very limited internet access all across the Nevada desert, and by the time we got into California, we were just too focused on getting to San Francisco! But we have made it at last: we arrived in San Francisco yesterday after 49 days and over 3,900 miles on the road!

Day 40: Cedar Breaks, UT - Milford, UT (78 miles)
Day 41: Milford - Baker, NV (84 miles)
Day 42: Baker - Ely, NV (63 miles)
Day 43: Ely - Eureka, NV (79 miles)
Day 44: Eureka - Austin, NV (70 miles)
Day 45: Austin - Fallon, NV (112 miles)
Day 46: Fallon - Genoa, NV (93 miles)
Day 47: Genoa - Fair Play, CA (86 miles)
Day 48: Fair Play - Davis, CA (75 miles)
Day 49: Davis - San Francisco, CA (68 miles)

The long stretches between towns in western Utah and all the way across Nevada made this stretch incredibly tough. With no services for often over 70 or 80 miles, we had to carry lots of extra water and food. We also hit a lot of headwind and crosswind, which made the cycling very slow at times. The toughest day was into Austin where the winds were incredibly high, and it rained as we crossed the last mountain pass which meant we were all very cold and wet, so we decided to get a motel instead of camping!
Still, we had an enjoyable trip through Nevada - we even got to celebrate Sam's birthday in Ely at a great Mexican restaurant.
We enjoyed a run of luck in the last few days; when we arrived in Genoa, there were no campsites but the English owner of the B&B took pity on us and let us sleep on the floor of her living room and use the hot tub!
Then our next day into Fair Play we stopped at the Barkley Homestead Winery where the owners let us sleep in their lakehouse and sample their fantastic wines and beers!
And on our penultimate day we met Amy, a friend of Sam's from school, who is studying at the University of California in Davis, and let us stay in her apartment.
Yesterday we enjoyed our last day of cycling, taking a nice gentle pace all the way to Vallejo, only to miss the last ferry of the day by 15 minutes! Luckily we were able to catch a bus across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco!
It's been a long and tiring trip, but it has been worth every second of it, we've all had such a fantastic time. We would like to thank all the kind people who have helped us along the way.
We will post some more photos soon!