Golden Gate and my Bavarian Bambi-nator

Golden gate and San Fran in the background

Lombard Street

Burt and Jane Yin with me outside their house in Castro Valley

Day 153, Friday, November 4

I’d originally planned to spend yesterday catching up with Burt and Jane Yin, who I met at the Salt Lake City KOA and who live in Castro Valley, just West of San Fran. We’d planned to spend the day going for a ride (They’ve got a BMW R100RT) and then having a dinner in the evening. Unfortunately, the mother of one of their friends died [peacefully in her sleep] Sunday and the services were yesterday. Instead of meeting them for a ride yesterday, I went up to join them for lunch today. It was nice to have reconfirmed what incredibly good people Burt and Jane are. They’re both retired and spend much of their time volunteering with the Red Cross, working with their church, and singing in Barbershop choirs. Earlier this year, they drove the local Red Cross support vehicle down to New Orleans to join with the crews working to bring comfort to the displaced. I think they spent two or three weeks down there before coming back North.
After spending several hours with Burt and Jane, I rode back over to San Francisco from Castro Valley to get some better pictures of the Golden Gate bridge and Lombard Street then returned to San Jose for dinner with Peter, Elise, and their son, Rafael.

Day 152, Thursday, November 5

Went to a music presentation at San Jose State Univ at lunch today with Peter and Elise. The classical piano music was to accompany an author, Daniel Mason, reading excerpts from his book, The Piano Tuner, and was played on the same type of piano written about in the book. All of the excerpts from the book truly didn’t amount to a hill of beans to me since I’ve not read the book and really don’t intend to. However, the music was outstanding!
This evening, Peter, Elise, and I went out for dinner to a Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance of their house. Food and company were top notch.

Day 150, 151, Tuesday, November 3 and Wednesday, November 4

Days spent relaxing and trying to figure out how I’m going to have to rearrange the rest of my trip. I’ve come to grips with the fact that the 27 day delay in my trip, from hitting the deer back on Oct 3, will definitely cause me to miss some of the sights I’d originally planned to visit. The delay pushes me so far into the year that inclement weather is definitely going to catch up to me. I don’t mind riding in cold weather, but when the temps head South of freezing, I’ve gotta draw the line. Snowy roads and two wheeled transportation are NOT a good combination.

Horrible picture of Kirsten and me at a dive bar just down the street from the sushi restaurant where we had dinner

Alcatraz is visible just behind the bridge

Golden gate bridge in the fading sunlight

The mouth of the Russian River. I posted a picture earlier of the sea lions at the mouth of the river when Jeanette and I rode by the first time.

The last time I drove down HWY 1, there ocean was virtually glass calm. Now the waves were putting on a real show on the rocks.

Inlet off of HWY 1

more of HWY 1

Quintessential HWY 1

Just North of the Russian River

Light house on my ride South

Looking North from the door of my tent at the Manchester State Park

Day 140, Monday, November 2

Woke up to beautiful weather this morning. The view from my campsite is of coastal plains with the oceans and mountains beyond. Had to go down to the public pier in Point Arena for a shower. The surfers were out in force here riding waves into the rocky coast. From here rode South down hwy 1 through Bodega Bay (where I hit the deer) for the fifth time on the trip (two with Jeanette, once when I hit the deer, once when I went back to get the disabled bike with the tow company and today.). I didn’t even realize I’d passed the point of the collision until I was fully into the town of Bodega Bay. It’s amazing how different the place looked in the daytime compared to dusk when I hit the hapless deer. Continued up HWY 1 to Golden Gate Nat. Rec. Area where the road gets fantastically windy. Unfortunately I got stuck behind a line of women driving old P.O.S. beat down pickup trucks up the road at 20mph, blocking the view around every single corner and refusing to pull over onto any of the numerous pullouts…pullouts which bear signs in profusion telling just such idiot drivers to pull over and let other people by. Can’t win ‘em all.
When I pulled up to the lookout just South of the bridge to take pictures, I was thwarted by Mother Nature. As I was riding up and up to the point that I turned off the ignition, the bridge was lit up and glowing from the approaching sunset. However, by the time I got off and got out my camera, the sun had started to get obscured by clouds and only made a very brief appearance from behind the clouds before setting. After taking a few pictures of the Bridge and San Francisco, I proceeded on to Peter DiDonato’s house. I didn’t stay long at Peter’s though. While at the Golden Gate Bridge, I gave Kirsten a call to see if we could get together for dinner some time this weekend. As it turned out, tonight was the only night she had free in the next week and she offered to take me out for sushi dinner. How could I refuse? So, I ditched the trailer in Peter’s side yard and headed back down town to have dinner with her. I also wanted to get a picture for my blog. I’ve got to apologize to her for the picture posted here because it’s terrible of both of us. Still, I wanted to post it because she’s part of my trip.

Looking South from the top of HWY 1

beach where HWY 1 reaches the coast

coastal fog, patches of sunlight, and my rig

View of a misty ocean where HWY 1 first gets over to the coast

it's either a really small motorcycle or a really big tree.

Day 139, Sunday, November 1

Today dawned cool and rainy. Made pancakes for Jasen and myself. Packed up the trailer in the cold rain and every got soaked. Glad nobody was listening to me as I packed…I might have used, oh, one or two unkind words about the weather…or maybe three. Headed out down Hwy 101 and rode for the first hour or two in the rain, but at least it wasn’t super cold rain. I’d intended to go back to fern canyon this morning to take more pictures but decided it’d be pointless in the rain and fog. As I headed South from the park, I realized I was nearly out of gas. When I finally came across a gas station I was basically empty. I put 6.2 gallons into my 6.5 gallon tank. Further down the road, I had to stop in the town of Leggett to take pictures of the drive through tree. Really gives a sense of scale to see the motorcycle parked underneath the giant. Highway 1 diverts from HWY 101 in Leggett and is 15 miles of one of the most curvy roads I’ve ever ridden. Great fun and at the end of it, the rider is rewarded with a stunning view of shore emerging from the mountain.Drove as far as Manchester State Park and pitched a tent for the night. It was cold and misty so I didn’t bother cooking a dinner. Just had a ham wrapper and turned in.

fern canyon opens up onto coastal marsh land and the ocean just beyond

This tree had fallen from the edge of the canyon and somehow managed to spear itself perfectly vertically into the creekbed with its roots sticking up in the air. what are the chances?

Fern canyon

More of the foggy trail Seemed perfect for a halloween hike.

this caught my eye

cool effect wtih sunlight and a foggy trail

I thought this tree was really cool. The top of the tree had broken off long ago and the tree reacted by sending out an umbrella of branches at the height of the break

Looking up through the center of a hollowed out redwood. The cavern is about 8 feet across and you can see the results of a fire that raged inside the tree long ago. The tree is quite healthy despite the fire damage.

Standing in a hollow redwood and looking out at the forest

The size of the trees is stunning. Makes you realize how bugs must feel regarding the rest of the world.

Redwood trees from the Ladybird Johnson Grove

Day 138, Monday, October 31

What a great first day of “the rest of my trip.” This morning, laying in bed, I was waked by a super loud sound coming from inches away from my head just outside my tent. It sounded like someone was grinding rocks together. Turns out it was two bull elk grazing just inches from my head. How cool! Today started very cold and foggy but the fog quickly burned off, the temps warmed up and the sky turned out to be perfectly clear. Beautiful. I rode over to Ladybird Johnson grove and did the 1-mile hike through that grove. The trees blew my mind with their size. Hiking around living organisms which are thousands of times larger then you is really humbling. I think I remember reading somewhere that the Redwoods are actually the largest single living entities on the face of the planet. After that walk, I rode back to visitor center at Prairie Creek and did the 11 mile roundtrip hike out the ocean through the forest, Fern Canyon, and then coastal grasslands. Once again, the trees were incromprehensibly big and left me feeling remarkably hunble. Fern canyon was incredibly cool. It looked like a scene perfectly set for a movie about prehistoric creatures. It was eerie. The floor of the creek was flat bottomed and covered with river rocks but the winding walls of the canyon were absolutely vertical and covered with ferns. It was a great hike!
Weather sucked tonight…started drizzling just after I got back to my tent. Cold and rainy. Perfect night to turn in early and read for a while.