Day 4 (June 5th, 2024)

        B y : L a y l a

Eating breakfast with Gary

Passing wild radish flower farms

Braking for lunch away from the sun

With the Cirullo family

    In the morning, we ate a delicious breakfast with our host, Gary. Gary cooked us our first hot meal in what felt like a while, which consisted of pancakes with sausage and bacon.  While talking with him, we learned that Gary is a man in his 60s with a voice that isn't loud but carries through the air clearly. He is undoubtedly a man of the woods and truly believes in being a hard worker, supporting others to the best of his ability, and never walking away from an open door that leads to adventures.   He told stories of funny things he had experienced during his cycling hobby.  When Gary talked about his children, a proud glint showed in his eyes.  He is proud of his kids and what they are doing.   As much as he could, he tried to take time to spend with his children.   Gary is a wonderful, incredibly generous, and kindhearted host. 

    With eighty-six miles to go, we hustled on our way.  With a tailwind, we could ride eighteen to twenty mph on average.   We passed rows of vineyards and hazelnut trees.  While passing a few wild radish flower farms,  my dad got a text from my mom asking him if he could pick up his phone the next time an unknown number was calling.  So, my dad did.  A wonderful, kind lady with a California number was at the other end of the line.   The lady spoke about what she had wanted to call for,  and all the while, my dad's face began to change into annoyance, frustration, and embarrassment.  It turned out my dad had left his wallet in a grocery store early on the trip.  So now we knew why my dad couldn't find his wallet.  We stopped for groceries and gear, ate lunch, and decided to travel the scenic way to our host for the night's house.  

    Our host, the Cirullo family, we had originally met through mutual friends.  They offered to host us once they heard that we'd be traveling across the country and going through his hometown.  We told them we would be there at 6, but since we were fueled by attempting to make the deadline, we had extra energy and made it to his house by 5:30. Warm welcomes and showers awaited us when we arrived.  After settling things, the Cirullo family shared a meal with us; boy, were we hungry.  We heaped food onto our plates, ate that, and then went to the food line once or twice.  During the meal, we caught up on each other's lives.  That night, we got to sleep inside a house for the first time since Friday.