Day Seven

Mileage: 73.3 miles
Total: 437.7 miles

One week after driving through the bay area to the northern end of California, I have returned using my legs as power. Last night in the campground at Bodega Dunes I made a cheat sheet of directions to help me navigate the maze of streets and bike paths in Marin County as I headed south to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. The campground I stayed in last night was really nice. There was one other cyclist in the hiker biker site, which was soft and sandy.  The hiker/biker site was also home to a few kittens, who informed me around 6:30am that they wanted some breakfast.  I made the mistake of opening the door to my tent to pet on who then crawled in and purred as I pet it.  I then realized I wasn't sure I wanted something with sharp claws inside my tent so I set it back outside, and tried to sleep for a few more minutes before the sun rose.  However, when I looked back outside I realized the kitten was trying to scale the mesh outside my tent.  So much for that idea!  I then decided the only option was to get up and start getting ready.

One interesting part of my morning and evening routine is electronics charging.  I brought a solar panel charger, but for some reason it hasn't been working very well.  I think I need to replace the rechargeable batteries in it, as it works by charging the rechargeable AAs, then using them to charge the device via a USB cable.  With the solar panel not working so well, I have been instead using the outlets in campground bathrooms.  This means that every bathroom routine starts by plugging in my charger, then proceeding to do my business.  However, after getting cleaned up I typically haven't added sufficient charge.  So then, I become that creepy person who just hangs out in a bathroom waiting for a phone to charge.  I usually do this until someone else comes in to use the bathroom, and I start to feel a little creepy, and that's my queue to unplug and go.

Back to the riding!  Yesterday morning as I pedaled the mile from the campground into town I ran into Hermann, who decided to cycle towards the campground in case he saw me.  I was happy to see him, to have someone else to navigate the city bike trails and streets with.  The pedaling was pleasant and actually had some lovely fresh pavement to ride along as well as some flat sections! Which after two days of the constant ups and downs of the coast, it was nice to fly along on smooth pavement.  

Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge was a great experience, and a moment of realizing how far I have come so far on this ride.  I still have over half way to go, but I think its going to be great.  However, the biggest calf burning moment of the trip so far, was pushing my bike and trailer up some of the steep hills in San Francisco to get to Kelly's house.  Then I was greeted with some surprise guests!!! Ali and Jeramy flew in from Michigan to hang out this weekend.  Ali, had been hoping to ride from SF to Santa Barbara with me, but is unable due to work, and I haven't seen her in over 2 years since grad school graduation.  It was a great surprise, and now I will rest Saturday, hanging out with good friends in the city before pedaling south again on Sunday. Including, those that drove up from Santa Barbara (Nalini, Jayna) and flew in from San Diego (Jeanni)!

Hermann biking with Mt. Tamalpais in the background

Golden Gate Bridge!!!

Oscar Rrramon and George (the trailer) on the Golden Gate Bridge