Veggie power to the rescue!!!!!

Without any responses to my Craigslist ads or Facebook requests for alternative energy assistance, I left Molly's house on Thursday morning with Tahoe as my next goal. I took BART as far east as I could go and figured that all in all, the transit system had shuttled me over 60 miles. That's a lot of miles to go electrically and it was nice to see how much faster the train went than the thousands of cars sitting in traffic along the freeway. It also added some diversity to our adventure and went towards our goal of using as many gasoline free methods of transportation as possible.
Once we got out to the Pittsburg/Bay Point station, which is the end of the transit line, I was ready to get back to biking. There was a large police presence which I figured was a tribute to September 11 victims, but it turned out to be a funeral procession for a police officer that was slain while responding to a domestic violence call. Before being shot and killed himself, he was able to shoot the gunman and save the lives of two woman and three children. My heart goes out to his wife and children, who will at least grow up knowing their father was a hero.
Once I got back to riding, the flat roads allowed me to get my legs back after being a bit more sedentary for my few days in San Fran. I was able to cruise along at a pretty fast speed and enjoyed the views along whatever river I was following. That's the thing about this trip, I am moving from place to place, but I don't get to find out the interesting tidbits of information about the places that I see. Several elemantary school classrooms have expressed an interest in following along with my trip and I might ask that, if you are follwing along, please feel free to e-mail me with a history lesson about the places that I've been. My biggest climb of the day was to get to the top of the Antioch Bridge at 135 feet. Eventually, the ride led me into the small town of Isleton, where I was lured in by a bar that advertised crawfish, something I can't pass up being that I'm a huge fan of New Orleans and crawfish in general. My favorite boil is at Frankie and Johnny's - somehow, they have just the right spice. If you know of a better boil, please let me know and I will try it when I get down there for Jazz Fest this year.
Isleton proved a good time and I think I met most, if not all of the 923 citizens residing in the town. In fact, I think they all like to drink beer at the bar I was at. Thanks to a local resident, Art, the beer drinking turned into a late night fishing and whiskey drinking fest on a houseboat. There I was able to grab a hot shower and get a good night sleep before getting back on the road. Stanley enjoyed himself immensely and spent the night diving off the dock and swimming around the river.
Friday morning, I made a few minor repairs to my bike and set off for another day of flat riding. I made great time and could have gone more than the 50 miles that ended up riding, but the further I went, the closer the Sierras got and each town went up hundreds of feet in elevation. I set my sights on a small town called Ione, elevation 300, figuring I could stop there, find a campsite or hotel and get ready for my ascension into the mountains. Around 3pm, I ran into a PG&E worker that had a cooler of cold water and ice that he wanted to offer to me and Stanley since he was heading home for the night and had no use for it. We got to talking and he ended up hooking me up with a place to stay and a bright orange vest so I could be seen better while biking. That's the best part about being on the road, random encounters with awesome people, many of which are genuinely interested in my story, share their stories and offer to help in any way possible. Just yesterday, I met a woman named Pat that insisted on donating Stanley's next bag of dog food. I must say that the generosity and assistance of people in this country is amazing! These are all people that are charitable and helpful without even being asked.
That reminds me... about 5 miles from Ione, my Blackberry started vibrating. Once I stopped to check it, it revealed a message from a gentleman from the East Bay offering me a ride to Tahoe in his Mercedes converted to run on vegetable oil. This was uncanny timing as I was prepared to start my climb into the mountains early the next morning. Once I was able to reach Jags, he explained that he was eager to assist me in my adventure and would pick me up in Ione the next morning. As we climbed up to 3,000, 4,000 and 8,000 thousand feet, I felt so lucky as I was prepared for this leg to take up to a week and I was doing it in mere hours. As the veggie oil ran out, we switched to B100 for the rest of the drive to Tahoe City. I can't thank Jags enough for the ride and the experience and wish him luck in his move to Baltimore. By the way, he is looking for someone to ride with him and share the driving in from California to Baltimore in two weekends. If anyone is interested, get in touch with me and I will get you his contact info. Also, he is looking to sell the converted Mercedes in California so he can buy a diesel truck to convert once he arrives east. He's selling it at a very reasonable price if anyone's interested.
It's been great to be in Tahoe again and Stanley is loving the refreshing, crystal clear waters and surrounding mountains. It's gonna be tough to get him to leave tomorrow, but I think he'll be psyched to get on the road again. I have to thank Ryo and Bridget for letting me stay with them and Ryo for being one hell of a football partner even with a hangover from a wedding the night before.
By the way, I've really enjoyed receiving e-mails from people that are making small changes in their lives in order to help the environment. Remember, every little bit helps. One of the things that I thought about while riding is how so people work so hard to make money and provide for their children and grandchildren in order to make their lives easier, but continue on without any regard for the environment, thus possibly killing off the same people they are working so hard to protect. That might not make complete sense since it is so late and I'm a bit tired, but I hope it gets the point across. Tomorrow, Nevada! My second state as our gasoline (or almost gasoline) free adventure continues.