Clara Seasholtz, Executive Director of Bikes to Rwanda (BTR), and I ”Sarah Allen, BTR Board member and editor of Barista Magazine ”are hitting the road bound for Northern California!
This crazy idea came about when we were at the SCAA show and US Barista Championship in Minneapolis this past May (where, at the Monin party, we had the picture, above, of us on a road trip drawn). Clara and I were lamenting about how we never get to see all the coffee companies north of the Bay Area like Thanksgiving Coffee, Flying Goat, Taylor Maid Farms, Ecco Caffe, Temple Coffee, Barefoot Coffee Roasters, and many more. It especially irked us because so many of those companies have been mighty generous with their support of BTR over the past year. Whenever we visit the Bay Area, the trips are short and are focused around the East Bay and San Francisco. So we thought to ourselves, why not take a road trip and visit all those off-our-previously-beaten-track coffee companies and promote BTR in communities we haven’t hit yet? So it was settled.
After weeks and weeks of planning, Clara and I are packing our bags for Cali and we hit the road bright and early tomorrow, Thursday. We’ll be rockin a rental Toyota Prius (we’re just like Jen!), visiting old friends and making new ones, and spreading the good word of Bikes to Rwanda for the next eight days.
Of course, we’ll be blogging about our adventures right here, as well as on BTR’s blog, so visit often! Here is our itinerary, if you’d care to see where our winding path will take us…
Thursday, July 3
Leave Portland bound for Eureka, California!
Friday, July 4
Hightail it to Fort Bragg, California, to join the nice folks at Thanksgiving Coffee for a 4th of July party!
Saturday, July 5
¢ Bikes to Rwanda event and presentation in Mendocino
¢ Head to Healdsburg to visit with Flying Goat
Sunday, July 6
Grand Opening party and Bikes to Rwanda Fundraiser at Ritual’s new Napa location!
Monday, July 7
¢ Drive to Sebastopol to visit with Taylor Maid Farms
¢ On to Santa Rosa to hang at Ecco Caffe
Tuesday, July 8
¢ Motor up to Marshall to visit Straus Family Creamery to learn more about barista milk!
¢ Head for Berkeley
Wednesday, July 9
¢ Spend the day in San Francisco visiting 4 Barrel and Blue Bottle.
¢ Ritual Coffee Roasters Bikes to Rwanda fundraising event in the evening!
Thursday, July 10
¢ Cruise to Walnut Creek and visit Pacific Bay Coffee.
¢ Bye-bye Bay Area and head to Davis, Calif., for the burritos I miss from my UC Davis school days.
¢ On up the road to Sacramento, where Temple Coffee and Santa Clara’s Barefoot Coffee will host a bike race and fundraiser for BTR!
Friday, July 11
¢ Up early and stop at JavaJ’s in Roseville for coffee. Then it’s on to Reno, where Clara is from, and from where Sarah will fly back to Portland and Clara will relax with her fam for a few days.
It’s going to be a great week!
This trip would not be possible without the generous support of our BTR road-trip sponsors:
Chris Davidson
Leanne & Steve Allen
for you greenies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6fe6i1vaY