The Golden Gate Bridge - barely visible through the fog.
A serious rider after navigating downtown San Francisco and
crossing "the bridge".
The fog lingered all day along the coast.
Union School (K-6) - Petaluma, California
Grape Vines were in the fields along the highway as we approached our
overnight destination.
Day fifteen. June 26, 2015. Overnight in Ukiah, California, approximately 200 miles north of San Francisco.
When we awoke this morning in Pinole, California (Pop. 18,000) it was 62 degrees and foggy. The morning was spent in the Oakland area, and when we departed Pinole it was nearly noon. We again crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. We took a "Griswald-type Tour" by exiting I-80 in downtown. Traffic was typical downtown SF (horrible) but we did okay. We crossed Market Street, rode through the edge of China Town, and drove by the intersection of Haight-Ashbury. The Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is known for its history of, and being the origin of the hippie subculture. I wanted to stop for photos but there were no parking opportunities and the traffic was VERY heavy. So, we made our way to the south entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge. The entrance to the bridge that I remembered was under construction, but a parallel routing got us to where we needed to be.
We crossed the bridge without incident although it was very windy during our ride while on the bridge, with strong wind gusts. Once on the north side of the bridge we stopped at the "Vista" (fancy name for rest area) on the northeast side of the highway and made a few photos. At the vista the wind was still blowing hard, but it was not as bad as when we crossed the bridge, and it was not near as bad as it was when we reentered Highways 101 and 1 (which share the same footprint in this area) to continue our trip.
Last year (on June 11) when my friend Doug and I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge we followed US 101 until we found a place to spend the night (In Santa Rosa, California). It was late in the day when we crossed last year and we did not stop for photos, which I now regret.
Today when we crossed it was early afternoon, and instead of taking Hwy 101 Larry and I took Hwy 1, which tracked the coast. The fog along the coast was heavy and many times there was little visibility toward the ocean. We were able to stop a couple of times and take in the scenery, and we got some acceptable photos at our stops and along the way.
We made a fuel stop about 100 from our start for the day, at which time we made room reservations for the evening (internet). We continued to ride for another 100 miles to Ukiha, California (Pop. 16,000). Ukiha is well inland, away from the coast, and is much warmer than it is along the ocean. Ukiha is the county seat for Mendocino County, which is a major producer of grapes, and thus wine.
Mendocino County has some infamy attached to it as in the mid 60's to the mid 70's Jim Jones developed the congregation of his Peoples Temple in Redwood Valley. Many of these people accompanied him to South America where they participated in a mass suicide at his colony of Jonestown in 1978.
Our ride along the coast highway was very nice, with spectacular ocean views, in spite of the fog, and curvy roads, which were well maintained. Last year when Doug and I rode this highway we discussed the tendency for some of the curves to have banks downward toward the outer edge of the road. I am not sure why some of these were built this way, but it does make it difficult for motorcycle traffic.
Tomorrow we continue our ride north.
Another good day.
A Jim Jones reference. Have not had one of those since highschool! For a while I was nicknamed Guyana, kids lacking creativity as they do. Thankfully it did not last long! I want to do that ride along the coast, but I am going to order less fog when I do it!
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