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2011-04-16 tl;dr: In a rental car again. I decided to use the weekend to explore farther north in California. My little bicycle isn't getting much use again. Next week I am visiting yet another customer, and the logistics of arriving via bicycle are too cumbersome to overcome. So I am renting yet another car.I did bike to the airport to pick up the car. Then I drove back to the hotel and quickly loaded it. I was quick because I didn't have $3 in change that the parking meter required for a single hour. Once loaded I got myself out of San Francisco as fast as I could. Which wasn't that fast. My route just happened to take me over the Golden Gate Bridge. Box checked. I had decided that I wanted to see some of the more remote sections of the California coast as well as the Redwoods. So I zig-zagged my way north. I'm sure there is a proper speed to drive rain-slicked mountain roads plagued by switchbacks and extreme slopes. Based on the number of times I had to pull over and let people pass me I wasn't achieving that speed. Also, I almost made myself carsick multiple times. I passed the same hitchhiker 3 times. I decided a while back that if I ever found actual back-packers trying to hitch a ride into town I'd always stop. I felt guilty about not stopping for this guy, but between his gear and his dog it would have been a tight fit anyway. If I were headed someplace specific, or if I knew he was, I might also have stopped. Even so, somehow he managed to keep getting ahead of me. I still can't figure out how he did that. I thought I might find a place to camp at the end of Miller Creek Road -- a long gravel road that my rental car was in no shape to navigate. But there were houses dotted all along. It was thoroughly urban. I found a likely spot, but I decided to sit in the car reading until sunset to make sure there wouldn't be too much traffic. There was. Three ladies converged on me from separate directions. They were out for their evening walks. They were friendly enough and gave me directions to an actual campsite that they presumed would be deserted. It was. |
 Golden Gate Bridge  Spring greens  Navarro River Redwoods State Park  Van Damme Beach  MacKerricher State Park  from Westport-Union Landing State Beach  along Highway 1  lies on Miller Creek Road |