it's over!

We arrived in San Francisco two days ago after fast tracking it to Petaluma. The coast road was freaking me out with it's lack of shoulder and increasing traffic (not perfect at all in my opinion), so we bussed 30 miles or so to M's cousin's house. Her and her hubby have a sweet daughter that's 5 and we had a great time. Lucky timing because it was Stacy's (cousin) birthday and she had a barbeque, yum! We had two final days of biking that took us to our final campsite in the redwoods then into the Bay area. Biking across the Golden Gate bridge was windy and crowded, but the view was awesome! Winding through SF was different than the rest of our tour, the bags really slow you down when there is so much stop and go, but we arrived safely at my friend Dan's house. "Now what will they do," you may ask. Stay tuned!

last slow stretch

our trip has been slowing down quite a bit in the last little while. We are dragging our feet trying to stretch out the last 150 miles in to san francisco. We have been busking alot to fill our time, with some degree of sucess. We also got invited to a full moon drum circle on the beach last night which was quite a good time. It's still warm during the days but the nights have been getting cold. They had frost inland from us a couple of nights ago. Highway one on the coast is very narrow and curving with a lot of ups and downs, perfect for biking. Tomorrow we should be in sonoma county and then on to visiting with my cousins stacie and matt very soon.

Ride the Skunk Train

Today we're in Fort Bragg, CA. Their biggest attraction is the Skunk Train which takes tourists over the mountains for a small fee--luckily their town is a tourist hot spot and it's a beautiful California Saturday. Lately the winds have moved in which made the last 16 miles before this town very difficult. After Leggett we switched roads and are now on Hwy 1, a curvy 2 lane road with little shoulder and thankfully light on traffic. At the start of 1 was the highest point on our trip at 2000 ft. The climb was not so bad and the downhill was awesome, but the second hill at 790 ft was tough. Our campsite after these two beastly hills was right on the ocean (beautiful sunset) but the winds were howling so it was not very peaceful.

I have two big firsts to report: first hotel stay and first fall off the bike (no injury). The former was in Garberville. We rolled into town and I had a little sore throat. After checking the town out I was feeling crummier by the minute, and Matt was starting to feel it too, and we decided to take the plunge and stay in a hotel. Of the 5 in town we stayed at the economical Redwoods Inn, a more than adequate place to relax and watch TV. Amazingly it was also the night of the presidential debates, the first town-hall style debate, which was a bonus to see. We are both sniffily but feeling tons better.

The fall happened yesterday on the way into Fort Bragg. I just caught the edge of the pavement and the shoulder was quite soft, and my bike fell! It happened quickly but I was up in a heartbeat and no injuries to myself or the bike. Nice save!

Last night we stayed at a State Park campground and we camped with 12 other bike tourists! It was fun to hear everyone's tale. There was another couple that has done pretty much our exact trip down to the hot springs in Olympic National Park!

so much to report!

We have arrived in the golden state of California. This is to be the last leg of our bike journey, and we are only 280 (or so) miles from San Francisco. The biggest climb yet is behind us, a killer set of hills past Crescent City that climbed 1200 feet over several miles of winding road, with rough conditions and narrow to absent sholder, yikes! The saving grace was the awesome beauty of the ancient redwood forest. As soon as we started the hill there they were, towering massive trees! The second hill was gentler at about 900 feet, and this peaked in Redwoods National Park then wound down an incredible parkway for miles, off our main route of highway 101, with very little traffic and very massive redwoods. It has surpassed the lovely highway 38 as our favorite ride. The next day we took a lovely hike through the park.

We have met up and travelled with some folks who are riding a tandem and pulling a trailer with their dog in tow. Quite a sight! It's nice to share the experience of the road with another couple, plus they share their hot cocoa with us! Another animal traveling companion we met was a tiny month-old kitten that was riding the shoulders of a man walking from Mexico to Canada! He found a bag of abandoned kittens on the side of the road and this little fellow was the only one left alive. A sad tale, but the little kitten will luckily have an interesting life.

The legendary rains of the pacific northwest have arrived. A very wet night two nights ago has been followed by drizzling rain and heavy, grey skies. It makes the biking just a little less fun--we have decided to stay a few days in our current location of Arcata and hopefully the sun will shine again. Tonight is calling for 2 inches of rain!