Today was a very log and hard ride though an area with little to no civilization. At one point, we only saw 3 cars over a 25 mile stretch.

This is the little courtyard where we are staying. Pretty nice place, and it even has hummingbirds!

The ride started pretty easy and we passed though some more of the ranches which have some pretty cool views and weathered looking trees.

But soon the road got smaller and more desolate ... and eventually had a small gravel section .. all the while heading up.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day, you can see Tom and Tiffany climbing against the dramatic backdrop

And this one captures the desolation

As we got higher and higher on the mountain, it got warmer and warmer and dryer and dryer, including our water supplies. Finally we entered the Los Padres National Forest which was helpful on the descent because we stopped at the ranger station and were able to refill our water bottles.

Eventually we made it to the top and some refuge in the shade.

The trip was not without struggle though and while we don't have Bill riding with us any more, Tiffany has taken up his mantle of saying "WTF Doug" does this ride ever end? And just for the record, I believe that is the sanitized version of what she wanted to say!

The descent was really great on the top and really horrible at the bottom as just like Napa, it seem like the state of CA doesn't pay for road maintenance. Tom observed that the roads were good in the National Forest, but after we left, the state reads were the bad ones. Here is a quick Go Pro vid I made of some descending. It's a 2X speed, but gets the point across.

Here is what the ride looked like, pretty amazing day all in all.

When we got back to the house, Tiffany and Molly went for a walk and ended up at a wine bar while Tom and I stayed home and slaved over making dinner .. lol