So now that we have made it across the United States it is time to go up! Eli, Marty, Monica, and Victor started up the coast right after church, around 12 or so, while Ashley and I left Santa Cruz around 1 or 2 PM. Matt & Jules staying back with their poison oak infested bodies, pumping themselves with steroids and caking on the anti itch cream. Our original plan was to make it to Pigeon Point Lighthouse for the night, a small hostile on the ocean front about 28 windy, semi hilly, miles North. On our way up to the Lighthouse, Ashley and I stopped at a cute farm house called Pie Ranch (http://www.pieranch.org). We got some of the tastiest cookies and brownies, we both agreed, that we have ever eaten! Chocolate fudge cookies with sea salt! YUM! They also sold different leafy greens, coffee, tea, and grains. Every couple of miles up that section of the coast you will either see, on your right, farms, fields, and/or people selling fresh leafy greens, strawberries, jams, and other fruits/veggies, or on your left, a handful of beaches full of wind surfers, parked RVS, and roaring waves. The gal working in the farm house, (super friendly and informative!), was telling us that Pigeon Point was a great place to stay with very friendly folks. She suggested we try to score a spot in the hot tub for the sun set, as it is common to see some whales on the horizon. I was so pumped to hear that!
About 3 miles down the road we reach Pigeon Point. Turns our Eli, Monica, and Victor kept going on ahead. They weren't able to get a room donated, and it didn't seem like we could set up our tents anywhere along the beach. Marty had a friend he met up with and stayed with that night. So Ashley and I took a look around and then head up the coast before the sun sets to meet the other 3. Another 10, or so miles up, we meet them in the small town of Pescadero. The small grocery/deli donated some delicious sandwiches and drinks to us. We road around the town to try and find a church to sleep in. Ashley and Monica wonder down the main road where they meet a local women. Her husband is president of the history club of the high school. He was also in charge of the historical down town hall that was closed, only open for the occasional poker game, until they were able to reopen it after some remodeling. Before it was a town hall, it was a church. You could definitely tell by the gorgeous design of the building. I didn't get the best nights rest, as the sound of mice running around isn't as soothing as waves crashing on the beach...but I am not complaining, as it was dry and warm!
The next morning we said thank you and goodbye to the friendly couple that opened the hall to us. On our way back to the 1 and up the coast we hit some steep cliffs and hills that ran for quite a while. I was riding alone for most of the morning, until we got to Half Moon Bay for lunch, about 18 miles later. Monica and I asked a mexican restaurant in town for a donation. We got a couple of huge burritos and chips/salsa. That was definitely on the top 5 places I have been for mexican food (and that is saying something coming from Texas) ;). We kept on to San Francisco for 30 beautiful coastal miles. We hit a huge hill on our way into San Francisco (what a shocker, right?). We wanted to find a place to sleep that was relatively close to our service project at the Meals on Wheels where we were going to make birthday cards for their clients the next day. The 5 of us found a really sketchy park on the bay. All the windsurfers suggested we not sleep there. We go grab some groceries and, again, get some delicious sandwiches donated for dinner. Marty meets us and we all road back to our only option for a place to sleep, as of that moment. Eli and I go down the road to an RV park a few hundred yards from the park to see if they would be able to help us out for the night with a patch of sement to sleep on. Unsuccessful, we start to lose hope, and daylight. Eli camped with a couple back in the pre climb of big sur (Jonelle, Ben, and their son Sunny, who I mentioned in my last post). Jonelle had mentioned she had a brother that lived in San Francisco, but wasn't sure if he would be home to host us for the night. We figured we would try him anyways, to see if he could possibly move us into at least a better situation than what we were in. So we get a hold of Cody (Jonelle's brother) after a while. Turns out he is in town, and invited us to stay for the night! We get so lucky sometimes. The sun had gone down as we started riding to his home in the city and we were all pretty tired from the climbing all day. I was anticipating some decent climbs on the way to his house, as well. The bike route did take us away from those climbs luckily and it was a beautiful ride through the city. A total win win if you ask me. We were so grateful that all 4 of Cody's roommates were okay with us hanging out for a while. After chatting with Cody and some of his mates, we showered, recharged phones, and slept. The next morning he let us leave our gear in the garage so we could go to the service project and then around town to explore.
I am impressed by Meals on Wheels. Victoria gave us a tour of the building and explained how they work with and for their clients. The whole place had a vibrant energy and organized system. We were making birthday cards for a few hours. When it is a clients birthday, they send a birthday card with the meal. Most of the people they serve are elderly and usually alone.
( http://www.mowsf.org/volunteers-on-wheels/ )
After making some cards, we went back to Cody's, he was going to ride with us around the city a bit, possibly the the Golden Gate, and Twin Peaks (to get a 360 of the whole city!). I went to some coffee shops instead to try and get some blogging done, but had no luck with anyones wifi. Defeated, I went back to the house. Marty and Monica were on there way out to explore, Eli, and Victor were crashed on the couches upstairs, and Ashley was writing some emails in the garage. So, I joined Ashley in the garage cleaning out my panniers, ultimately try to loose some of the weight I was pedaling around with. Earlier that morning on the way to the service project, I decided not to unload my bike (it gets old packing and unpacking that thing). The whole way to the project, however, things were falling off and getting tied up anyway. At one point my tent fell and a clip got tied around my wheel, bending a piece of my disc break (ARG!). So I played around with the break bending it just enough so it wouldn't scrape the disc. When everyone got back to Cody's around 5:30 we took the BART to Oakland. We contacted Nico (who everyone with the exception of Eli camped with back in the pre cliffs of Big Sur), who lived in Oakland. We camped in his back yard for two nights. Nico and his girlfriend, Candice, lived in a cute little community/suburb in West Oakland. They shared a 101 year old home with 4 other people. The Brick Pig's House, a few doors down, donated The BEST ribs, mac-a-roni salad, and baked beans I have ever had, and Nico shared with us some of his home brewed beer while we all hung out for a bit before bed.
The next day, Monica had a community service project set up for us with the Uhuru Furniture Company, In Support of the African People's Education and Defense Fund Program (apedf.org). On the way to grab some coffee with her before the project, the breaks I was messing the previous day totally collapsed. Instead of going to the project, I carried my bike to the bike shop about a mile away to install my new break pads. It only took about an hour to fix everything, so by that time it was 12. I used the rest of the day to type up the previous blog. We slept at Nico's for the second night, and left for Eureka the following morning.
We took the BART back to San Francisco, and made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. As we were riding toward the bridge, a gang (The Old and Tame) of older fellows from Sacramento invited us to ride with them through the Palace of Fine Arts, Fort Point, and over the bridge. After riding the bridge, it was pretty hilarious watching us carrying our bikes down and back up some stairs to the bike trail. Sausalito was probably one of my favorite towns to ride through for California. It seems quiet yet entertaining and kind. I am sure it costs a small fortune to live there, however. So we continued on the 101 hoping to reach Petaluma.
Things quickly were set to a holt. The bike trail got way more complicated then what anyone wanted to deal with, and Victors back tire popped in 2 places as we were approaching Marin. We called Eli, and Marty who were ahead to go check out a bike shop down the road for a new tire. Monica, Victor, Ashley, and I waited for them to come back. I was starting to get frustrated with what I expected the next couple of days to look like. When Eli, and Marty returned with the tire Monica, Ashley, and I road down to the restaurant down the hill to charge our phones and wait for the guys. Ashley wasn't sure what to do, as her poison oak was spreading and getting a lot worse. The tire they got for Victor didn't fit, so Marty wound up returning it to the bike shop and heading to an REI down the road for better luck. We were at the restaurant for about 90 minutes when Ashley was approached by Rex. Rex got Paul, the owner of Marin Joe's to donate the 6 of us some lunch. I definitely recommend stopping in if you are ever in that area, they have the BEST burgers of your life. When Victor was squared away we took off to get as close to Petaluma as we could for the evening. At this time it was roughly 4:30 and we still had to deal with some tedious turns. We stopped at the Safeway around the corner from REI and grabbed some loaves of break and a directions list. For some reason the bike trail directions likes to give you some unnecessary turns, so we were able to cut out quite a few turns along the way ourselves. Marin was very good to us, and Novato was a beautiful community with a cool scene downtown. Once we got out of town the climbs were challenging. Around 6 or 7, when the sun started setting, we got further away from any town. We were ridding past barns filled with horses surrounded by some dense redwood forest. When the trees cleared the land turned into rolling hills and country land.
Now we were 5...we asked a dairy farmer down the road if we could camp in his yard. It was unsuccessful as it was an organic farm, and he said the rules for organic were super strict about what is allowed in the cows space, basically, but he said we could camp across the road in an empty lot. So we set up camp there and had some canned tuna with bbq sause and PB&Js. The next morning we road about 10 miles into Petaluma. It was still early so the town was quietly preparing to wake up and open shop. I got to the subway where the rest of the four were and charged my phone. When they were ready to go, I decided to stay and head up the 101 while they moved out towards the coast on the 1. Here was where my adventure began :)
About an hour later I started up the road, somewhat nervous, but once I started pedaling the excitement kicked in. It was a long day, but the road was pretty flat the whole way. Although the 101 was annoying, when I was away from it, you could see vineyards for miles around.
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