Day 109, Sunday, October 2 -- Part 1

I’m dividing today’s journal into two parts for a good reason. Today very much had a Jeckyll / Hyde personality. It started out extremely well and then went from exceptionally good to exceptionally bad in an instant.

Part 1: Dr. Jeckyll

One of the benefits of being down here working with TJ and Suzy this week is that I'll be able to head down to Petaluma for a long weekend to visit with my friend Amy Davison (see Weds, Sep 7). She and I traded voice mails several times this week and decided that I'd head down to Petaluma on Sunday and that I'd return to the mountains on Monday morning. After talking with Amy, I decided that I didn’t need to be in Petaluma (where Trek Travel has its SantaRosa/Sonoma guide house) until the evening which gave me the entire day to enjoy the coast line between Fort Bragg and Bodega Bay. With that in mind, I left TJ and Suzy’s place in the mountains and headed over to the coast. I’ve already ridden this coast with Jeanette and when she and I rode it back in July, it was socked in by fog. In fact, the fog was so thick both when we were riding North and on our return leg headed South that we couldn’t see more than the first 15 feet of the stanchions of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I took HYW 20 over to Ft Bragg. This is a road that every motorcyclist ought to get the chance to ride. (seems like there are an awful lot of those in this section of CA) It’s twisty, clean, long, and scenic! Whoo Hoo! Once I got over to the coast I found that the atmosphere was incredibly clear! There wasn’t even a hint of the blanket of fog and mist that was draped over the coast when I came through last time. I got some beautiful pictures during the day and saw a nice sunset. I even saw, for the first time ever in my life, a bobcat just off the side of the road. It lit a torch under its feet when I turned around to get a better look at it. I’ve not sure I’ve ever seen an animal run that fast and yet look absolutely effortless in getting’ gone.

Thus ends the good part of my day.