Made it to San Francisco!! Scott was the herder of cats this morning and we all tried to stay close to one another.

We failed to find a restaurant once out of the park but did locate a little store where we were able to buy good coffee and some breakfast treats. Once in Sausalito, Dick stopped in to get his bike fixed and we went to a café for coffee, snacks, lunch, whatever was desired by this motley crew. The ride across the bridge was done in very foggy and quite cool conditions coupled with strong winds. Made it scary and for a white knuckled ride. It did not help that it was packed with tourists not paying attention to where they were walking.

Once on the other side, we all gathered for the obligatory photos and glancing towards the bridge I saw this one worker walking around in some netting underneath it. Got my binoculars out and it did not look like he had any protective ropes or straps or anything to hold him in case the netting broke. No amount of money would get me out there on a regular basis.

Had an easy cruise into Sausalito, a bear of a climb to the bridge, and climbs from hell to get to Scott’s. One street even had a descent approaching 25%. Because it was only a block or so long, the intersecting street was level so there was no way to ride down safely. Had we attempted it, upon hitting the intersection, the frame of the bike would literally crumple. Plus the right of way was with the intersecting street so there was no way I was going to let my 80 pound cruiser pick up speed with the expectation that I could stop it in time.

It was on our way to Scott’s that we said goodbye to Dick and John. They were headed to San Jose. Almost lost them though as we were riding through the city. They did not want to take the route Scott was taking thinking (rightfully so) that there was a way to get where they needed to go without needing to climb this nasty hilly city block. They went one way, we went another and two blocks later ran into one another again so were able to say proper good-byes.

As for me, I am still sore from my fall two days ago.

One thing I noticed in San Fran is an absence of malls (not missed) and large chain-type grocery stores. I guess the real estate values prohibit it plus the town is so built up there are few empty lots available for new building.

With expectation of a hurricane on the east coast, Kurt’s imminent departure is causing him to be stressed about the weather and he spent a great deal of time checking the internet, making phone calls, re-checking the Internet, etc. Not much could be done, but still…….I know it is a great waste of mental energy possibly resulting in ulcers and other bodily ailments because I experienced it myself. Then I had to learn to not fret over these things but only learned this lesson when I was in my late 30s. Since then, I know the telltale bodily signs and cleanse my mind of those unnecessary worries and within 2 days all is well again. I guess we all have to learn on our own

Dennis and I took the opportunity to do laundry, check email and send a few while Scott took Kurt to the airport.. About 12 he returns and heads back out on a lunch non-date. Dennis and I head downtown and ended up at the Pier area for lunch at a tourist trap. 

The day was cloudy and cold but we tried to enjoy it as much as we could given the circumstances. Got to go on all the ships and the dock adjacent to it and even got to see part of the Hollywood set for Nash bridges. Saw the chairs for Don Johnson and Cheech Marin but did not see the actors themselves.

Got the right bus routes and made it to Haight Ashbury. I thoroughly enjoyed the people watching. Even got to see a building I’d taken close-up pictures of years ago. It had a new coat of paint on it and looked quite intense. Noticed while riding on the buses that we’d go through certain areas of town (Castro, Noe) and see many rainbow colored flags displayed on buildings, in windows, on cars. Turns out it symbolizes gay pride and in some areas every building and car had it displayed.

The excitement of the day was watching Scott’s neighbor across the street traipse across her living room buck naked---twice!! Got a nice jolt of excitement from that one.

Also took advantage of the lazy day by sitting in an easy chair perched near the living room window overlooking the city. This is the place you get a nice scotch or brandy and sit just watching the fog roiling in the near distance, working like hell to get closer and closer to you, looking for all the world like a tumbler in a washing machine, rolling round and round, getting closer and closer swallowing rows of buildings as it sweeps over the city. Now that’s what I call a view.

It was time to move on but I really enjoyed San Fran. I took in as much scenery as I could along today’s ride and then the fog resumed control of the environment.

Scott led us out of town and did a great job avoiding hills. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so great at avoiding freeways so we became stuck on the 280 Freeway at a major merge point. Going back was not much of an option as it was quite a distance so we were faced with three lanes of traffic zooming by on the left and three lanes of traffic zooming by on the right trying to merge with the left hand side traffic. Of course, as luck would have it, the highway went from 3 lanes to 6 lanes so none of the traffic was slowing down.

We were quite the sight, stuck on this little island of tranquillity, trying to get our behemoths across 3 lanes of 65 MPH cars. So today I got to experience first hand what the expression, "Go out and play in the traffic" really means.

Made it over the Devil’s Slide area but did not get to see much due to the fog.

Got to Half Moon Bay Park after a very short 27 mile ride. Did more grocery shopping and headed into camp. Made the mistake of checking the stock market and found it closed down 350 points. This is not pretty and I am not happy. May have to hurl myself off a cliff top. So far it is down 1200 points from the high in July. I am certain our fundamentals are strong but global fears of recession grip the traders.

When we arrived we were warned by the rangers that they’d been having problems with bikes being stolen at the hiker biker sites. They made it a point to pass out leaflets and also tell us to bring the bikes into the tent with us.

As we were arriving this guy wanted to make reservations for a site tomorrow night but the ranger said he could not do so in advance but if he wanted to get the site tonight and pay for it he could keep it for the weekend. So he looks at us and asks if we’d like a regular site. Having just been warned about the H/B sites we jumped on his offer like stink on shit. He said he’d paid for it already so we just gave him what we would have given the ranger for our H/B sites. Good deal, I say!

Built a roaring fire to get warm and spent about 4 hours chatting about relationships, God, the universe, and the amazing ability of women who could tie a cherry stem into a knot with their tongues. Stimulating, adult, intellectual conversations, all of them.

Thinking we’d be smart and outwit potential bike thieves, we each removed our front wheels and locked our bikes not only to each other but to the picnic table. Then we got really wily---I suggested we run a piece of twine from our bikes to a light sleeper’s tent. That way if a thief tried to take the bikes they rattle the hell out of the tent. We went so far as to dig a little trench and bury the twine plus disguise the area with pieces of grass. Very clever work on our part.

Lest I forget, last night’s camp site was where Scott took another one of his "mystery" pictures. We were taking great pleasure in observing these 4 young ladies just a couple of sites down from us. All we saw was a car and a small tent. Could not figure where they spent the night. So Scott takes a picture of their tent and declares he has one hell of a story in that photo and it revolved around 4 lesbians in a tent. Scott! Scott! Scott! Mr. One Track Mind.

Typical morning though, cold and foggy. Got going and asked some folks where a restaurant was so we could get coffee and breakfast. Were told by a local to head south a couple of miles and we’d find one that looked like a Denny’s. Our guide books and maps indicated nothing headed that way so we relied on the local. Bad, bad thing to do. We should have taken a left into town versus right and south.

The situation was salvaged by a sign I saw indicated the local golf course had a restaurant so we deviated towards it. A very swank country club and we show up looking like the rejects from a spandex factory. Busses were off loading rich Japanese tourists and their golf gear, too. Must be nice to be decadently rich and fly around the world to take in its various golf courses.

Had coffee and at the end I got the southern Californicator waiter statement at all these damned places around here, "Do you want change?" Of course I want change, shithead! If I did not want change I’d have told you. Don’t assume I will say no in a sense of embarrassment that I may be cheap. If I want to leave a tip and it turns out to be the change, that’s my decision! Dammit, that pisses me off! Arrogant little morons!

It was today that I decided my long distance touring days are over. Of course, every subsequent day since confirmed it but today was the first time it made my journal.

As the day went on I noticed it got a bit warmer than it usually does on the coast so I guess we are getting into southern California. Nice and cool at night, though, even if it does get hot which is nice. Makes it that much more tolerable and also quite pleasant to sleep.

All in all a very nice cycling day today. Sunny, warm, beautiful!

Even though we went 37 miles without services, the highlight of today was twofold: riding along the crest of the coastal headlands I came upon a sofa (oops!   bad choice of words!) I happened upon a sofa just sitting all by its lonesome facing the ocean. Of course I could not pass it by! Waved down Dennis and Scott and we photographed ourselves on it, looking very pensive and reflective and all that rot. It was a riot! A great idea by whoever put it there.   Also observed some sculpture created by folks using the rocks laying around by the side of the road.

The second thing was running into Marta. Having just finished doing some heavy trading in the stock market and then settling down to a really lousy burrito in Davenport, it was time to hit the road. While waiting for traffic I happened to notice this young lady looking in our direction. She asked a question but since I could not hear her for the traffic noise, I went across the street soon to be followed by Dennis and Scott. We chatted for a while and then she asked if we’d mind if she rode with us. Right! Like we would mind! She was on a mountain bike and had a rather unorthodox riding style but nevertheless left me in the dirt when we got to the hills. I hate hills! We rode all the way to Santa Cruz. Then it was coffee time so she selected this coffee shop and we sat around shooting the bull. We shot a lot of bulls on this trip, that’s for sure!

She was quite the character. Why can’t we find women like this to cycle with? Anyway, she’s ridden from San Francisco to Los Angeles and when she did it, the end of day conversations she had with her friend centered around food and the consistency of one’s fecal matter! I did a double take when she said that! Maybe because I didn’t expect the conversation to take such a quick downturn into the toilet, or I really did not expect that sort of topic from a woman? I don’t know.

In any case, she’s a med student and wants to be a rural general practitioner. Hooray for her. Too bad so few find that calling. I wished her luck.

We parted ways and went grocery shopping where we ran into Bluey and Tricia, an Aussie couple doing the coast. They are pros at this having done it a couple of times already. They are retired from the Australian Armed Services and have spent a lot of time bicycle touring in the US, the Baltics, and Europe (not to mention Australia and New Zealand.)

The ride was relatively boring but I did get a few shots off of migrant workers doing their thing. It’s quite impressive how the whole thing is set up. Many workers come in busses towing Porta-Potties either owned or leased to the farm. The workers were literally swarming all over the fields and many would wave as I went by. Which is more than I can say about the population at large or the snooty nose in the air local roadies.

The day lasted so long yet the mileage was so small that I thought the day would never end. But I broke 1000 miles today!

Finally got to see the sun on approach to Monterey but just before getting into town proper, it got foggy, cool, and windy. Monterey itself was clear and warm. I wonder how much trial and error the early settlers went through to figure out where the fog tended to stay in order to eventually sort out where the town should be?

Did some grocery shopping and then headed up this nasty climb to the camp ground. Of course, it was shrouded with fog!! From the town center I could look up the hill where the campground was supposed to be and see nothing but fog. Word of caution: Unless you really enjoy mile long climbs, do all your shopping prior to heading for the campground. Your legs will thank you.

Getting a bit annoyed at this fog crap. As I’ve learned over and over, timing is everything. And the timing for this trip was probably off by a couple of weeks. Should have started later on in August and I am sure much of this fog would nor have been around.

One thing for certain, I’d rather have this cool weather than the oven found just a few miles east of this mountain range running north and south. Temperatures of 110 degrees are common! Yet the coast is 65 max!

One of the nice things about touring is that you tend to keep running into people and sometimes the same ones over and over. This was the case today with Bluey and Tricia who we met yesterday. Ran into them several times culminating at the Safeway in Monterey. Also met a couple on a tandem (Eddie and Kathy) who hail from the Virgin Islands who we’d met over a week ago for the first time. They live a good life---on a 48 foot trimaran!! They are doing this ride so as to avoid hurricane season.

My back and hand still hurt from my fall of a few days ago. My back gets really strained while climbing and does nothing to improve my disposition. I sleep miserably and simple things are now difficult.

Scott had himself quite the adventure last night and we started breakfast with a shortened version of 20 questions wherein he asked the questions. First he tells me that I’d never guess in a hundred years what happened then proceeded to ask me to guess what it was. I told him that I thought Dennis had been picked up by two gay guys. (I figured, the more outrageous it was, the quicker I’d hear the real story!!)

So he proceeded to tell me, Bluey, Tricia, Eddie, and Kathy that he was chatting up this woman at a bar and found her to be very well spoken, artistic, and interesting so he continued to pursue his chase. (Better a literate roll in the hay than an illiterate roll in the hay, right?)

Turns out she was also quite the lush and proceeded to get tanked. All the while, Scott’s hanging around, biding his time., wondering if he’d get lucky, I guess. Between his drinking and her drinking, he was nearly wiped out of money in the process. All this time Dennis and Scott had been together. Exchanging unspoken "manly" signals, Dennis departed, leaving Scott to his conquest.

That’s when the fun began. After a little more chat, our little lady decides to leave for some fresh air. Scott, sensing she’d been gone a while, begins to look for her. He even went so far as to have a barmaid check the ladies’ room. Contemplating his next move, he happened to glance out the window and there was his sweetheart kicking and screaming and about to be hog tied by 5 of Monterey’s finest!

Apparently she’d gone outside for a smoke and when the bar would not let her back in due to her inebriated state, she began to get rude and offensive. Since no patron was allowed out while the local gendarmes were hog tieing this sweet thing, our Scott did the valiant and chivalrous thing by slightly opening the front door and kicking her purse out! He felt so good about himself doing this little act of kindness.

Too funny. Scott, the wolf, finds his prey abducted by the 5 little pigs.

Rode into town with Dennis while Scott recuperated from his evening’s adventures.

Had coffee, hung out at a bookstore, went to the wharf and checked out sea lions lazing on the dock. Also stopped in at a Turkish festival and enjoyed the sunshine. Monterey itself has excellent placement protecting it from the fog that envelops its north, south, and east sides. We hoped it might be cleared up by late morning because we wanted to do the 17 mile tourist loop but since it didn’t, we didn’t. I had no great desire to ride any distance in fog. Did ride around the town a bit and saw sea lions, sea otters, pelicans and a variety of other wildlife. Toured Cannery Row, the setting for John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name. Pretty cool as there were lots of murals depicting scenes from his book.

Found an internet café (can you believe the local Monterey Library did not have internet? In this rich as hell town the library was not hooked up!! I was amazed.) Anyway ,it’s called Bytes Internet Café located on 403 Calle Principal. Checked email and then had a sandwich. They offer a good deal where you can get internet in 15 minute increments. Check them out if you get a chance!

Ran into Eddie and Kathy. They were headed out of town when their tandem’s rear tire went flat and the wheel potato chipped. Looks like they will be here a few more days awaiting repairs. At least it happened in a town with repair facilities. Since they have a couple more months before returning to the Virgin Islands, this will not affect their ride.