We had two more days in Folsom/El Dorado. It was lovely to return there which also involved saying a very fond farewall to the Watson household - Mike, Stacey, Max, Vince and of course Winnie and Bentley. We were offered fab, warm hospitality. We are really appreciative of the warm open welcome and would do our best to return the complement - although we cannot stretch to a hot tub and a swimming pool we could offer you a hose down on the decking in Ashby!
Often on returning to the house Max would ask us if we had done a big bike ride and up until now we had had to say no! On our final visit to Folsom we cycled the American river trail into Sacramento - this is a fabulous bike track; traffic free and relatively flat (in the paper the next day the trail was reviewed and described as possibly the best trail in North America) We did 30 miles or so on it and visited the state capitol building where up until recently we might have spotted Governor Arnie going about his business. The security guards must be sick of people telling them "I'll be back" when they leave. We also had a glimpse of the other side of American life - we passed a Salvation Army centre which was surrounded by people who looked like they had fallen on hard times. Sad and a little bit scary, but no one bothered us as we cycled by the queue and the huddles. We got the light rail back to Folsom and had our only iffy experience so far with an American - a drunk and verbally aggressive guy got into our carriage with his bike and filled the air with a bad smell and foul language, but thankfully that was as far as it went.
So after sorting out our laundry, checking in on American Idol, watching several more episodes of Brother's and Sisters, swapping some more tales of yore, and scoffing some marvellous Thai take away we bid our friends a very fond adieu and hit the road for San Diego via a none night stop at Paso Robles. We headed south because we wanted the best chance of getting some warm weather before we head back to Blighty.
We had to drive through LA on the 405 and the 5 during rush hour and in the pouring rain on a Friday evening. Quite scary. The drive from Folsom to San Diego was the best part of 500 miles.
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