Day 13: GOLD!

Day 13: Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco about 110 km

Distance for the day: 243.3 km

Cumulative distance: 2,558.4 km

Top speed: 112 kph

Moving average: 59 kph

Temperature: 19.2 - 31.4

A relatively short day distance-wise but it was a long time on the bike because we were riding though really twisty terraine as we navigated our way down the coast. 

The view from the Bodega Harbour Inn

We got a late start, not because we were laying around in bed but rather, I was trying to solve some logistical challenges. One: I had to figure out how to pay a road toll coming later in the morning. It has been a few years since it was possible to pay a toll with cash by dropping the money into a bowl while going through a gate. Now, payment is made by subscription and regular users get a tag that is scanned as vehicles pass by a sensor or, for users who use the toll less frequently, their license plate is scanned. ONE time users, like me, can pay in advance by registering a license plate and then driving through the gate where the plate gets read. Payment is made online of course, and I can tell you, it is somewhat of a challenge to find the place for out-of-country users to register a license plate. Especially as the section for users to register a license plate has a drop down box allowing users to choose any of the 49 other states than California. Seems they overlooked a choice for non-American users, even though the website makes it clear that foreigners have an obligation, too. I phoned to try to get it resolved and I was just told that they wil send the invoice in the mail, (with a penalty), even out of country. That was one time-waster. Then, we had to figure out where we were going for the day. Found a pretty good budget flea-bag with good reviews in Salinas but they don't seem too inclined to answer their phone or emails. We ultimately decided we would take off and figure it out when we get there, wherever "there" is located. We had an 11:30 departure from Bodega Bay.

It was twisty, twisty, twisty and it was relentless. But today, not only was the road twisty, it

was up and down and when it twisted, there was often a 1,000 foot drop off the edge of the road. I have to say that it was somewhat unnerving. Riding the hard curves is no place to be glancing around but to be that high up with effectively no bottom had me gripping the handlebars extra tight. Even Nan couldn't look away; at the time she said to me that she was just holding the camera out and taking pictures with one had while the other was firmly gripping my jacket.

This went on for an hour and a half ( about a hundred kilometres) as we rode down the

coast, eventually coming to Muir Beach and then the road turning inland. I had remembered from the map that that turning point was going to take us to San Francisco and probably some freeway to get us there though I had misremembered how little travel time there would be so before I knew it, we were on the freeway just outside of Sausalito.

We then crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. This was a "moment" for me because I never thought I would be riding over such an iconic landmark. There was a fairly strong crosswind so I couldn't look around too much but Nan, as is most often the case, took lots of pictures so that I could see later what I rode earlier in the day. 

We ended up riding through San Francisco mostly on Highway 1, which skirts the busy part of the city so we didn't have to ride a freeway or through the busy part of the city. Still, we did have a few challenges. Even though this was identified in the GPS (which I ignored) Highway 1 (The Great Highway) is closed in one section of San Francisco. This

doesn't seem to be temporary, like with road repair or something as there were sand dunes accumulating on the road. Apparently, the city has long foreseen the eventual permanent closure of the road to build up the terrain to combat rising sea levels and protect the city. Sand encroaching on the road is an ongoing problem.

By the time we reached Pacifica, we had gone too long without food and were desperate to kill something. Fortunately, after turning off the freeway, the town yielded up many possibilities for lunch. We stopped at a kebab place in a strip mall and ended up having a really good meal.  It was mid afternoon so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we were the only ones in there but it seemed weird, especially given how much we enjoyed the food. We told the gal working there that we were from Canada and she told us she was from Turkey, so I was able to relate to her how much I had loved Turkey when I was there in 1982 as a kid hitch hiking around the world, particularly as the people had been so kind to me.

The coastal highway south of San Francisco is a different ball of wax than what we have been riding for the past week. Not so dramatic, distances between communities was much shorter and much of the land is farm or ranch land. Still pretty in its own right but a little anti-climatic after taking our lives in our hands riding on cliff edges. 

Our intended target for the day had been Salinas but by the time we got to Santa Cruz around 4:30, we felt like we had had enough and, after riding around bit, picked a motel. I have noticed that the further south we go, the prices go up. We weren't married to the idea of Salinas, particularly as we hadn't been able to successfully reach what I thought would be our motel. We also wanted to see the Oilers game which had a 5:30 start.

Day 12: The Coastline is Spectacular

Day 12: Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco about 110 km

Distance for the day: 130.3 km

Cumulative distance: 2,315.1 km

Top speed: 99 kph

Moving average: 54 kph

Temperature: 15.8 - 24.6

But there are other good things, too. 

We awoke B&E to the sounds of bird song. Many different kinds of birds, the varieties that we could only guess but we definitely heard Morning Doves and American Goldfinch. We saw them, too. "Flying lemons" as a friend once called them. But the air was filled with the sound of them.

I had a desire to see Point Arena Lighthouse but since it didn't open till 10:00 am we decided to go into Point Arena proper for breakfast before going to the lighthouse. Point Alert was only 10 km from the campground and past the lighthouse but we didn't really want to hang out for the sake of hanging out.

Point Arena, like many backwater US towns, is small, somewhat forgotten and lonely. However, it is a little bit touristy and I had the impression the tourists must be hippies. We had breakfast at the co-op, which is really a co-op as opposed to the name of a big chain, and we used the opportunity to upload yesterday's pictures, which was a treat for me because I didn't have to sit around for an hour to painstakingly upload one picture at a time. 

Once done there, we backtracked a few kilometres to visit the lighthouse and take in the small museum and large views. We saw signs warning driving visitors to be watchful of the lighthouse resident cat. We looked everywhere hoping to get a cuddle but none was had. But the views were amazing!

After spending an hour there, we were headed off back south along the windy, twisty Hwy 1. Like the days before this one, we were treated to some pretty spectacular views. 

Our destination was Bodega, famous for the filming of Alfread Hitchcock's The Birds in 1963. We went and had dinner at the Tidewater, an over priced restaurant that under delivered. The only bird on the menu was chicken. 

We kept it a short day because Friday we ride throuh San Francisco  and while we could have made it through today, traffic was moving too slow to really capitaize on the short distance. Tomorrow we will try to get as far south as we are north of San Francisco tonight.

Day 11: The Scenic Route

Day 11: Manchester State Park, Hwy 1, California coast

Distance for the day: 322.0 km

Cumulative distance: 2,184.8 km

Top speed: 115 kph

Moving average: 63 kph

Temperature: 16.0 - 28.2

This was an absolutely stunning day today. 

I have talked about this before but for the benefit of new readers, I'll just tell this story again. We use a Garmin GPS for navigation. The procedure is to enter a destination either by entering the address, just the city name or the name of the destination and usually the GPS can find the destination. Sometimes not and it is necessary to enter the GPS coordinates. Then there are two settings: either shortest distance or fasted route. Lastly, It is possible to identify "avoidances" like toll roads, ferries, gravel roads, U-turns, and also "highways". I like this last setting because it keeps us off the interstate highways, which are multi-laned high-speed highways for getting long distances fast. Speeds are often 130 kph or 150 kph and also frequently bumper to bumper. I understand that if you are trying to get somewhere and don't want to be delayed, that this may be the way to go. But not for us.  Now that we are getting deep into California, highways are getting to be much more of the "freeway" variety - four or even six lanes and major thoroughfares. So, it is not always pssible to know how the GPS will interpret "highway". Scenic Highway 101, which runs down the coast of Washington and Oregon offering spectacular views and encourages slow moving motorhomes and vehicles pulling city-block sized trailers, in California turns into a multi-laned racetrack and thus, not worthy of our travel, in the eyes of Garmin. The end result is that it tries to find all the little back roads that will steer us clear of the multi-laned highways, even if it is (intuitively) a far more practical route or right next door. Occasionally, it will guide us down a slip road which runs parallel or adjacent to a highway (or interstate). It would be much more helpful if it could just understand what I understand. 

I set the GPS to guide us to Manchester. In my mind, the logical solution would be to just take us from Arcata back to Highway 101, about 10 km away, which we had used the day before to get to Arcata, then follow the coast down south until it swings inland and then deliver us to HIGHWAY 1 which would take us to Manchester. For the record, HIGHWAY 1 is the tighest, twistiest, gnarliest stretch of switchbacks in the Western U.S. 

Anyway, I failed to anticipate the Garmin had had enough of Highway 101 and off we went on our way to Manchester. As we set out, not far from the motel, Nan comments to me that the road sign says this way to Eureka, which I had expected we would be passing through on the way south. But of course, not according to Garmin. We turned left, while Eureka was right. We ended up riding through a twisty little series of side roads that led us by farms and acreages - very pretty and quite fun in its own right, but at that rate would have taken us a week to get to Manchester. If you are monitoring our route, you will see a little loop at the top of today's trek. (click on the dots to see the time, speed, direction etcetera that we are traveling at that moment). That little loop is Garmin's sense of humour having its way with us. I think it was taking us down Maple Creek Road, which looks super fun from the map but would end up taking directly into the heart of hillbilly country. Or worse.

So I have to confess to Nan that this isn't going according to plan and I have to stop and turn off the "avoidances" on the GPS and insert a waypoint (intermediary destination) to get us on track. To her credit, Nan has been extremely patient with me in this regard because I frequently don't know what I am doing.

Once the parametres of travel are reset, we are back on track and have to go back to Arcata to get onto Highway 101. Hence, the loop. Fortunately, it didn't really take that long and once we were on the highway, travel was fast.

Bombing down Highway 101 is fast but it is four lanes of travel this morning and busy with truck traffic as it is the primary route to San Francisco from these parts. We see a sign pointing to a slip road where we are promised we will learn about the Avenue of Giants, which is pending just a short way south of our location. Avenue of the Giants is the former Highway 101 re-Christened State Highway 254 and runs through Humboldt Redwoods (not squids) State Park. It receives an immediate endorsement from the navigator so when we get to the intersection, we make the appropriate turn. 

Off of four lanes and onto two. Two narrow, twisty lanes that are overgrown with 300 foot high, twenty foot diametre trees, in some cases, where the pavement is right up to the base of the tree and occasionally has to go around. It is stunningly spectacular riding through the forest with these towering behemoths all around us. Sometimes, we see trees that have fallen or were cut down a hundred years ago and it is possible to see their girth from end-on. While we got to see most of the scenic road, sadly, there is road construction happening along the route and we have to return to Highway 101 before we are really ready.  This is one day that I really should have had the GoPro camera set up.

At Legget, we get off 101 and get on 1. I was on Highway 1 last September and it is as gnarly as they come and is a famed road for motorcyclists. In some places, turns are so sharp that I think Nan could reach out and touch the inside cliff walls as we navigate the curves and frequently, we are riding in the opposite direction of the traffic because the turns are literal switch-backs; we just happen to be looking up or looking down on the cars going in the opposite direction. It is quite unnerving, really.

Big Foot appears to be on The Team.

Ed. note: You will notice on the route tracker that there are large gaps between pings this day. This is because the tree cover is so dense that the traking device cannot get a signal through to the satellites.

Back on the coast again, it is pretty much clear sailing down to Manchester State Park and we enjoy incredible vistas of waves crashing expansive beaches. Until we get there. There really isn't much to the campground. It is off the highway a few kilometres and is very Spartan. There are fire pits, pit toilets, and taps every few campspots so easy walking distance. There are a lot of camp sites but only two are occupied: one by the "camp host" a person, usually a senior, who commits to living in their trailer in state parks all summer for free in exchance for looking after a certain number of chores pertaining to keeping the campsite tidy. There is one other camper, I think a guy on his own because within minutes of our having picked a campsite he is over on his bicycle checking out our set up. He tells us that "this used to be his favourite" . We weren't entirely sure if he meant "Site 24" (our spot) or if he meant "Manchester". However, we had arrived into the campground fairly late and we were focused on getting the tent set up in the howling winds.

Before we actually committed, there is a KOA campground adjacent to this campground so we actually go over and take a look. We have never stayed in a KOA but they do have a reputation. They have a little convenience store which proves to be handy and we enquire about the rate. U.S. $67 plus tax per night. And the place is packed. There are a lot of kids running around, too. The attendent tells us there is running water and showers and a pool. I mention that I showered this morning.  We opt for the bare-bones $33 state park campground. Two extremes, at opposite ends of the spectrum. They do nail us for some groceries though: canned stew, canned bean dip, corn chips, and two beers. Twenty bucks. Bon appetite!

We set up our tent with the make-shift pole hack and arrange our payment into the little box while we listen to the first two periods of the hockey game. Once we are all set and have eaten dinner, we crawl into the tent to escape the wind and manage to watch the third period and see the Oilers turn the tables on the Stars in the same fashion that they have been experiencing to this point.

I am only going to post a few pictures tonight because it is late (10:30 pm) and it usually takes about a half hour to upload the photos. We have a short day tomorrow so I'll send them up in the morning.