18 miles.

Driving 18 miles takes mere minutes.

Running 18 miles? A couple of hours .. if you're a fast runner.

Walking 18 miles? Well, if I walked 18 miles without stopping it would take me 6 hours or so and I'd be dead. In Fairfield.

I don't want to die in Fairfield though, so I just walked and exercised a mile here or twenty minutes there until I finally made it. I even did 5 miles on an exercise bike one day because the 18 mile stretch was so daunting. It took me two and a half weeks, but I made it. I probably could have made it here in less time but really this averages out to about an hour of walking/exercise a day. Looking back it hardly feels like I exercised THAT much but I guess I did. Because I'm HERE! I think I like it better when it's shorter stretches though because I did start to lose some motivation knowing I had so far to go. From now on my stopping points will be closer together.

So ..

What can I tell you about Fairfield, California ...

-Fairfield was named in 1859 by clippership captain Robert Waterman who named it for his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut.

-It is the county seat of Solano County (yay I made it to another county!!)

-Fairfield is the proud home of the Jelly Belly gourmet jelly bean factory! I did a little research on the history of the jelly bean and here's a little of what I found out ... The jelly bean appears to be a descendant of a candy made of citrus, honey and rose water jell, which dates back to biblical times. In the 1700's a candy maker in Istanbul used cornstarch to thicken it and this gave it a chewy texture. Around the late 1800's American candy makers started experimenting with candies to cash in on the Penny Candy rush. They started "panning" the soft chewy candies in order to create the soft outer shell. The confectioners would rock pans of the chewy candy back and forth so the friction created by doing this dried out the shell and also smoothed it. This allowed the soft center to be dirt free and made the candies more portable, such as in children's pockets! Original versions of jelly beans were most likely round or cylindrical in shape and it is unknown exactly when or why candy makers started shaping them like beans. But they've been sold under that name since the 1890's. As for the Jelly Belly company, in 1976 a Los Angeles candy distributor had an idea to make jelly beans from natural flavors. He contacted a longstanding candy making family and Jelly Belly was born. The first eight flavors were Very Cherry, Lemon, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Root Beer, Grape and Licorice. They now have 50 day to day flavors which include cotton candy, toasted marshmallow and buttered popcorn. I have to admit it DOES taste like popcorn but it's a little strange to me! I think Strawberry Daquiri is my favorite. I couldn't find out anything on how the factory came to be in Fairfield but here it is and they have tours daily. And now that I found out they also make CHOCOLATE at this factory, I'm taking a tour myself really soon! (I promise to walk after my tour.)

So that's it kids. Fairfield, California is the place to be. But now I'm on to Vacaville. Luckily it's only five miles so I should be there in no time. Off I go!