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Day 59: {southwest of point "G"}

AUG. 4, Sonora, California, to Los Banos, California, 99 miles via  Tuolumne County Route J59 and California Routes 108, 59, 140 and 165. Average speed today, 15.5 mph. Total trip mileage to date, 3,880. Average daily mileage since June 1, 60.6. 

After a day off to celebrate my daughter Hallie’s 19th birthday, riding our home-county roads proved both comfortable and surprising. The scenery was familiar, but grades we had only covered  in cars were different on bikes. We were more conscious of traffic, climbs, downhills and, moving at a fraction of the speed of cars, the roadside scenery.  We found time to stop below Snelling and shoot photos of the bison and longhorn cattle on that pasture east of 59.

The bottom line, however, is that we flew. Our 15.5 mph average speed was among the fastest we had logged on the entire trip. Maybe it was the J59 downhill, the flat roads of the valley, the mild tailwind we enjoyed most of the day or our eagerness to get to the coast and finish the ride. Likely it was a combination of all of the above.

My bike, beneficiary of a trip-saving emergency repair Saturday, ran like a clock. Ben’s, as it had since purchase in Iowa, did the same. Yeah, the valley weather was warm, but not extreme. But cold water at a fruit stand at Highways 140 and 165 made the trip into Los Banos easy.

Tonight we stayed in our last motel and enjoyed our last road dinner, at a Mexican restaurant on 152.

Tomorrow: Day 66, the final day of our epic journey.

Ben Bateman pedals along an irrigation canal next to Highway 165 on the way to Los Banos.
Chris Bateman unsuccessfully attempts to lure a buffalo along Highway 59 below Snelling Monday.