Today started like most trips, with someone forgetting something. Namely Mark forgetting the map. Luckily, Mike was kind enough to drive me back home, to get the map.

We rolled out of Mike’s driveway just before 9, after receiving personalized temporary tattoos from Brittany and wishing Joey good luck on his motorcycle trip, we started down the pacific coast highway!

Our route tools us through Golden Gate Park to the Great Highway, a beautiful road along the coast. From the great highway we traveled along highway 35 to Daly City, then started climbing up to cross into Pacifica.

On the way up we passed a LEGO stand!! How cool is that! A boy, maybe around 12-14, was selling a bunch of his legos. We all bought LEGO pieces for the trip. I’ll upload a picture in a second blog.

With our LEGO in hand, and Mark wishing he could buy all of it, we continued along are route south. To my great surprise, we made fantastic time. We could’ve been to Halfmoon Bay by noon if we had pushed it. But instead, we took plenty of breaks.

We bikes along the Devils Slide area, where we learned that during WWII, women used to fly planes dragging targets for men to shoot at for practice!! Also, Devils Slide is an area that used to be highway 1, but kept getting washed out, so a tunnel was built, and now the area is for hikers and bikers! It was a beautiful twisting road overlooking the ocean.

After Devils slide, we bikes to a lunch spot with sandwiches so big that no one could finish them in one sitting!! They were excellent though.

Fast forward through checking out Mavericks (beautiful) and stopping into art gallery (not as beautiful), we made it to the campground at half moon bay!

There we immediately met Brad and David. They’re two friends/dads biking the same route we are! We chatted for awhile, and heard some great stories. They met at a party where Brad was dressed in a shirt covered in meat. (He also mentioned he lost his job because of that party, as he called in sick, but didn’t know it was at his bosses house!). I assume we’ll see them plenty of this trip.

After our chat we setup camp, and headed to the beach. The campground here is right next to the beach! As I’m writing this you can hear the waves pound the beach. It’s a really nice campground. We stayed on the beach for an hour, watching the waves explode on the shore. And playing some euchre.

Dinner quickly followed with an excellent Mexican take out place, and to finish the night up we went to a Shakespeare in the Park showing! The were doing As You Like It, and it was awesome!! They did a great job, and we stayed for the entire thing! Very funny and witty play.

Running back to camp, we quickly went to bed! Its already late and we have an early wake up tomorrow. Darragh leaves us tomorrow to go back to school. We will miss her dearly. But looking forward to our riding to Santa Cruz!! More pictures to come!!

Finally back in San Francisco (writing this journal entry on a real computer instead of a phone)! Today was unlike the rest of my trip. I pushed hard on the pedals, making it back in record time, and only stopped twice for food. Not too many pictures, because my phone was about to die, but biking into the bay area was beautiful! And gave me sometime to reflect on my trip.

Mike, Joey, and I stopped in Lagunitas at the general store for some breakfast burritos, making sure Mike and Joey experienced a typical morning for the trip. The breakfast burritos were meh... But the company was great. Following our breakfast, Mike rode to work on his motorcycle, and Joey took his truck to get some errands done (he had the day off of work.) Once again, thanks guys for coming out to the woods with me! That made my day.

The ride back into the Bay Area was beautiful, but a bit complicated. I rode through downtown Fairfax, Kentfield, Corte Madera, and then finally the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a nice headwind most of the way, but I pushed all day. It was my last day, I had to push it.

In total, my route between the Best Western in Astoria and my house in San Francisco was 820 miles. My legs are in great shape :). But I also feel exhausted. I will definitely sleep in tomorrow. I'll miss the tent, the freedom of being on the road, the push of peddling the bike, and meeting random people.

In terms of lessons learned, I think this trip was a good one for me. First, as I mentioned earlier, I feel like I'm more confident talking with strangers. Just sitting at a bar and starting a converstation has been something that's always been hard for me. This trip forced me to do that. I think it'll be harder in SF, without the talking point of being on a bicycle, but the thought does not scare me anymore.

Secondly, I was nice to accomplish this trip. For me the scary part of this was not necessarily the biking (although that turned out to be harder then expected) but doing it solo. I realized pretty quickly, however, that biking solo would not at all be an issue. In some ways I enjoyed it, although I think I'll always prefer to have a buddy on trips. Maybe that's just part of being a twin :).

Finally, I'd say this trip helped restore some faith in humanity. I met so many different people on this trip. I stayed in small conservative towns, and small liberal towns. I met people from both of these areas, as well as people from all over the world. Almost everyone, with one exception, was polite and nice to me. I left my bike unlocked most of the trip, and only occasionally really worried about anyone taking anything.

Finally finally, for anyone considering a similar trip, do it! If you can ride a bicycle, you can do a bike touring trip. You may opt to stay in hotels instead of campgrounds, do only 10 miles a day, or have a support van. But I think there's not better way to see the sights if you have the time. It becomes so easy to just stop and check things out that you have to do it.

The pacific coast is a beautiful place. I'm always amazed at the power of the ocean, and the beauty that lies at it's edges. I will be back to many of the places I saw along the coast, to spend more time exploring the coast, and doing hikes in the area.

Thank you all for reading the blog! Hope you enjoyed it!

Today began not too great. The road turned in land, and there were lots of hills. Although the hills were beautiful, I wasn’t feeling too great (not sure why) and the rolling hills were a pain to keep enduring. Luckily, I ran into a few other bicycle tourists and chatting with them brightened my mood. And, finally, a visit from Mike and Joey at the end of the day made the day end on a very high note.

The trip out of Bodega Bay was nothing notable. There was a coffee shop in Bodega Bay, but it had just opened and I wouldn’t really recommend it. Maybe if you like super specialized coffee?

The road out of the campground.

Almost immediately out of Bodega Bay, the road turns inland and I rode over some beautiful California hills. I’m not sure why the road turns inland, but it does.

When the road finally makes it back out to the coast you’re on Tomales Bay. And it’s beautiful!

I stopped in the town of Tomales for an excellent breakfast burrito (it was incredible), and once again Point Reyes Station for an awesome sandwich.

The treat of the day was the campsite and everything that followed. I camped in Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Some of the closest camping to SF, but had never been before. The campground is beautiful! We got site 7, and I’m pretty convinced it’s the best site in the campground.

Mike was planning on meeting me that night to camp, but was having motorcycle issues, so I biked on the bike path into Lagunitas and bought firewood, fire starter, some cookies, and a milkshake. I must of looked pretty funny biking back to camp, strawberry milkshake in hand, with a ton of wood on the back of my bike.

Eventually Mike showed up, and then (to my surprise) Joey showed it up!! It was a really nice night hanging out with them around the fire. Of note, Joey cooked a hotdog in an used beer can. It worked pretty well.

That’s it for tonight. I’ll write a longer follow up tomorrow. It’s been a great trip! And a huge thanks to Mike and Joey hanging out with me tonight!! That was awesome. M

Today’s ride was incredible. With a 20 mph tail wind, there’s a odd sense of stillness when cruising down the road matching the speed of the wind. There’s only the hum of the tires on the pavement, the creek of a chain that badly needs to be oiled, and the occasional splat of sweat hitting the frame of the bike. An amazingly beautiful day.

Packing up and getting out of Anchor Bay was a breeze. Under 25 minutes from wake up to rolling out of camp, which I think is pretty good. On the way out of camp I started talking with one of the campers. He told me that route 1 is “without a doubt” the most dangerous road in America. ... Yeah, I doubt that, but it did inspire my next idea for a podcast: Local History. A podcast that gives the local history of an area as told by people I meet at the bar. Facts? Maybe. But interesting tidbits, always.

Of course I stopped at the first coffee shop I could find to grab a hot chocolate with whipped cream (I still feel like I’m 4 ordering that) and some baked goods. They didn’t have any eggs or more substantial meals, but I figured I’d just stop at the next cafe for that! Which I did, and got an amazing breakfast burrito. At this point, I’m getting with in a day trip driving distance of SF, so I’m stopping all the little stops I find to see where I should come back too.

Highway 1 today was gorgeous. It’s my last day where I’m truly along the coast, and it was a beautiful day to do so. Even though I’ve lived in SF for over 2 years, I’ve never been north of Bodega Bay on highway 1. And that’s a real bummer, because I now think just North of Bodega Bay is the most beautiful part. Starting from Anchor Bay, the coast is rocky and beautiful, but only about 20-50 feet above the water.

It maintains that until Salt Point State Park, where the road begins to twist and turn more, and drops down to the ocean before heading back up to its previous height. Then, before Jenner, the road climbs to a few hundred feet above the water, and twists and turns along the coast there. That part is amazingly beautiful. I didn’t stop for pictures because stopping was super windy, but it was gorgeous.

After Jenner the road drops down to about 20 feet from the coast, and hugs the coast. This part has wild flowers everywhere, and was absolutely beautiful.

(With the cute dogs in the back of the truck)

I was stopping left and right just to admire this section of highway 1. If anyone in SF is looking for a weekend trip, I’d highly recommend it. The wildflowers are out, and it’s absolutely beautiful.

I finally arrived at Bodega Bay Campground. I’ve been here once before, but it was cloudy and misty. Today is incredibly windy, but sunny, so it makes the campground much more beautiful. I’ll definitely come back, it’s a nice campground.

A quick recap on meals, for those interested. Lunch was in a Cafe in Jenner. The food was alright, but it didn’t think it was amazing. I got a quick pre-lunch snack from “Two-fish” bakery in Stewart’s Point. That’s a way from SF, but I’ll try to get back there. Dinner was at a wine bar in Bodega Bay. It was nice! Would recommend.

Also, an update on “Just Mercy.” The book is heart breaking. The author represents people on death roll, and juveniles that have been sentenced to life without parole. And is filled with story after story of clients the author tries to defend. The stories are incredibly sad. A 13 year old tried as an adult in Florida, sentenced to life in prison. He is clearly mentally disabled, but didn’t have a good lawyer to start with, and never gets an appeal. (Eventually he does. But not until he’s 30.) At one point, the author describes talking with a defendant who is scheduled to be executed that day. The defendant has a speech impediment made worse by stress, but is trying his hardest to thank the author for trying to hard to reduce the sentence to life in prison. After hanging up the phone, the author is about ready to give up. Everything is broken, he figures, why even try. Then, he had an insight that I liked. He thought, he too was broken. He too had made mistakes, and maybe making mistakes is part of what binds humans, as we all make mistakes from time to time. Recognizing our mistakes helps us humanize others that have made mistakes, and connect with them. Additionally, even stronger, the ability to forgive after that realization is an even stronger bond. It was very elegantly written.

With that life lesson, I’m off to bed. Tomorrow I’m biking to Samuel P. Taylor State Park, where I’ll hang out with Mike for the night!! (Looking forward to it!) Then one more day back into the city! I’m almost sad it’s ending, it’s been an awesome trip.

Bonus last lesson for those that made it to the end! Did you know that the Russians had a fort in California until the 1850’s? I learned that today. Fort Ross. I toured the Fort, along with a bunch of kids that were on a field trip. I think they got to sleep in the fort! (They also were all dressed from the period, so I’m glad I didn’t have to do that.)

Today was filled with beauty. Beautiful beaches, bridges, light houses, normal houses, and fields. The sky cleared, the wind blew from the north, and a big smile was put on my face.

The day started with rain though :(, but Austen and I were still laughing about some of the conversations we had last night. (I forgot to mention this, but one guys name we met was Vishnu Vishnu. That’s typed twice on purpose. What a name. He grew up in Berkeley, which explains the name a bit :). We biked into Fort Bragg and got dinner at an awesome diner, the Egghead. It was themed after the wizard of oz, and had amazing food. After breakfast Austen and I said our goodbyes, and parted ways. Austen was headed along the coast, and I had some business that needed to get taken care of while I still had service!

In a moment of refection, I think one thing this trip has taught me is I tend to be better at meeting new people/making new friends then I previously thought. I think I previously thought that because I never really had the need/felt the desire to make new friends. But, put on the road by myself, found it very easy and natural to talk with new people, and make new friends. I’ll be curious how that plays out when I’m back in SF.

After I got all my internet requirements out of the way, I headed to church in Fort Bragg. Turns out, the priest was a Carmelite (great) so mass was about 1.25 hours, but it was a nice mass with a full church.

After mass I started my route down highway 1. The sun came out, the sky cleared, and it’s hard to describe how beautiful it was. I’ll try to show with pictures.

A few special notes today. I stopped at the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse and ended talking with the volunteer host for what felt like an hour. (More like he talked to me, but it was pretty interesting.) The most interesting thing to me was how the light of the lighthouse moved before electricity. It was wound like a grandfather clock, and had to be rewound every 1.75 hours throughout the night. That requires a lot of waking up, yikes.

The food today was also delicious (minus dinner which was a bit disappointing.) Eggheads, as mentioned, had an awesome breakfast, and then it seems all the towns along the way have a cute little general store that have great sandwiches. I stopped at one of those stores, and a cafe/bakery to round out my 4 meals a day.

(At the bakery I got an excellent slice of cheesecake. It was expensive, but so so good.)

Dinner was at Pier Chowder House and Tap room. The view was gorgeous! (Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures) But the food was meh. Oh well, I’ll get something good tomorrow!

Unfortunately, many of California’s state parks are not yet opened. I was planning at staying at Manchester Beach Campground tonight, but it was closed. My back up plan was some BLM land near the dinner spot, but they have marked that BLM land as no camping, and have built a big fence that would be tricky to get a bike through.

So, I ended up at a private campground, ABC (Anchor Bay Campground.) Being Anchor Bay, a nice guy named Jerry pointed out I could setup on the grass and just pay $10 instead of $42 for a full site. Camping is a rip off. Much happier after being told that, I setup my tent and quickly hopped into bed. It was a short day, but because of the late start, a long one. I’m exhausted and ready for bed.

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I’m loving the flower lined roads though!! Goodnight!