Day 8 not Yosemite

Every day on this trip I learn new things. Maybe the most important thing I learnt today was never put on a blog that lots of people seem to be reading where you plan to be the next day cos you look like a right tosser when you don't make it.
Now I know Tom will read this and I can already see the smile on his face. It's the same smile he had at 11.30 am today when I said we just had to say goodbye to a few friends before heading off to Yosemite. That smile would have turned into a full on laugh when he would have seen us sweating away in main street San Jose(4 hrs from Yosemite ) at 3.30 pm.
It was important to us to say goodbye to some people that have been very kind to us but it led to some bad decisions and then some good decisions.
By the way I will take the wrap for booking accommodation in Oakhurst which just happens to be in the wrong place. Turns out that all the GPS in the world can't make up for being a dumbass.
So, the end result of all that is that we had a big day that had us on our bikes pretty much non-stop for 8 hours and ended in a town called Merced not particularly near Yosemite or Oakhurst.
The good news is we made every mistake today and so things can only get better. We left late. We prebooked in the wrong place. We didn't eat between 7 am and 6 pm. Neither of us slept much last night( some idiot thought he had lost his bike keys and spent till well after midnight finding them in the pocket of his riding jacket where he always keeps them, that person is not Dave).
What we did do well today was to decide to stop here in Merced to regroup. Now that we are on our way I think things will go a little smoother.
Only 2 pics today taken at the observatory on Mt Hamilton. Nice road and nice views. I was too grumpy to take nice photos but did cheer up on the beautiful (in a stark way) but hot descent.
We have a plan for tomorrow that should be awesome. Tomorrow night may have us on the California / Nevada border. I'm not sure what our Internet access will be like over the next few days as we are heading into some pretty remote country including crossing the so called "Americas loneliest road"
Today's pics then include leaving the team at Moores with a little sadness. The bike fully loaded and of course the view from Hamilton observatory.
Dare I whisper Yosemite tomorrow?