PDF to SFO or Bust

  It’s hard to believe that our journey has come to an end. Just like most travels it has gone by very quickly, yet when I think back on our first days on the road, with the road crew, it feels like years ago. We’ve seen so much, and traveled so far in that time that my brain just doesn’t know how to categorize the memories. I’m sad that our days of 50 miles rides along ocean beaches and amongst giant trees is over, for now , but also happy to have some time to rest my bum from all those hours in the saddle. It won’t be proper rest, as Christi has big plans to walk all over San Francisco, but at least my butt will get a break. 😂 Ready to hit the road before sunrise In order to have enough time at the Golden Gate Bridge before sundown we set an alarm for 5am, and actually stuck to it. After eating the last of our oatmeal, and packing our campsite for the final time, we were ready to finish our journey. With stars in the sky and a light breeze, we hit the empty roads towards San Fra...

  Another day, another incredible stretch of Pacific coastline. This would be our last day along the coast as we head back inland and then south to San Francisco in the morning. Today the drop offs were pretty noticeable, as were the lack of guardrails. They did have what appeared to be ramps on the side of the road, so if you had enough speed you might be able to clear the rocks below, but landing in the ocean from 400ft up would probably not end well. We did have several stretches of road where we were specifically allowed to take the lane, which was nice, although we took the lane plenty anyways, especially on the downhills. Love this sign 😍 It was a short ride today, so we started pretty late, in hopes that we could find a restaurant open around lunchtime. On this stretch of Hwy 1 finding open establishments to eat meals has been tricky. We were in luck today eating at a little coffee shop in Jenner that also served food. I got the avocado toast, because I’m technically  ...

We were in no hurry to leave the comfort of the Wildflower Motel, but we did have 36 miles to ride today, so we finally rolled out just before 11, after eating a glorious yogurt parfait provided by our hosts. The day was misty and wet in the morning, but it soon cleared up and it was blue skies as far as our eyes could see. One of the many great looking beaches we rode past today We soon rolled into Gualala, the town we would have been camping in last night, had we continued on and passed up the hotel. We were both hungry, and it was a little after noon, so we stopped at the first (only?) restaurant we saw and grabbed some food and a beer. BBQ bacon burger 😋 After lunch we had one more break along a cliff side to watch the huge waves crash in. While there, Christi managed to see her first whales! They were quite a ways offshore, but we could spot their spouts of water clearly. It was a great little spot and I was excited for Christi. Great little break spot We didn’t have much further...

  We knew we had a lot of miles and a lot of elevation today, so we talked about getting on the road at first light. We missed that mark by about 45 minutes, mostly because I relied on my internal clock instead of an alarm. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Before we even left the camp we paused to take a picture, that would be the story of our first 30 miles today. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was another gorgeous beach just begging to be photographed. As much as we wanted to take it slow and dip our toes in the water of some of these incredible beaches, we remained business like, and kept plodding along.  We were feeling pretty good about the ride at this point in the day, with the highway winding along the cliffs of the Pacific, it seemed like every hill was rewarded with an incredible vista. We stopped frequently to snap pictures. We made a stop at McDonalds for some breakfast in Fort Bragg. The town looked really neat, and had a brewpub, so I was a little sad that we didn’t h...

  This was our last day riding through the redwoods, and it was a mix of sadness for leaving the beautiful trees, and anticipation of being beachside once again. We headed out from our unplanned hotel stay at about 7:30 with full knowledge that we had a lot of elevation gains in our future. While hanging out “riverside” yesterday we cultivated a pretty sweet hill climbing soundtrack on Christi’s phone, so we were ready! Christi may post the fill list at some point on future blogs. One of the 30ish Eel river crossings After crossing the Eel river a few more times, and climbing some small hills, we stopped in for some fuel before we split off onto hwy 1, and the real challenge began. The place we found was called the Peg House. It was a really cool biker stop, with some decent snack options, and a grill that hadn’t opened for the day yet. 😢 Two large cookies and a “super” gatorade, “elite” athlete fuel Our next planned break would be at the top of the largest single hill we would su...

  After booking a cool little cabin at Redcrest Resort, and a quiet night of blogging, we were excited to have a relatively easy 40 mile stretch of riding through the redwoods. We got a bit of a late start, but it was okay because there were few food options on the way, and 40 miles would go quickly with so many giant trees to keep us company. After eating a couple slices of leftover pizza for breakfast (yes, the same pizza from Eureka 😂) we were on the road around 9am. We decided to stop for coffee and pastries at one of the few operating businesses along this stretch of the Avenue of the Giants. It was called Rise and Grind, and it was operated by a young artist, but we didn’t get her name. The coffee was good, even though I’m not generally a coffee guy, if you add enough sugar it all tastes great!  “Look up at the coffee sign Christi!” While we were enjoying our brew, I received a phone call from an unknown number... I’m on vacation, so I let it go to voicemail... It was t...

  September 20th, 2020      Eureka turned out to be bland, so we were more than happy to hit the road again. My keen eye spotted In-n-Out Burger as we were rolling out of town and Brandon was insistent on grabbing a burger for breakfast. Compared to the one in Kaiser, OR this establishment was a ghost town. With our stomachs full of burger, it was time to get peddling again.      The roughly 20 miles to our lunch stop was over before we knew it. We initially took the wrong exit, but this turned out in our favor. I spotted a local fruit stand that had fresh apple cider; the cider was refreshing on what was turning out to be a warm, muggy day. Few miles down the road we found Eel River Brewing Company. The food looked appetizing, but we weren’t incredibly hungry so we decided to skip food and just sample the beer.       20 miles to go to our stop for the day! We were heading back into the redwoods! Again we were traveling through back...

  We were a little slow to get loaded up this morning, but we had a relatively easy 40 mile day, so I wasn’t too worried. Our late start proved fortuitous, as we happened to roll past an In-N-Out burger just as it was opening for the day. My eyes lit up when I saw the sign, and I had to stop in for a double-double.😋 This was 3 miles into the ride, so I had not earned a burger, but I didn’t care, it had been several years since my last double-double.  No lines! After our breakfast burgers it was back on the road towards our lunch stop at Eel River Brewing company. It was a flat 20 miles on the highway, and we were locked in and riding fast, before we knew it we were there, before our burgers had time to settle. We decided to skip lunch and just grab a beer. After Eel River brewing it was back on the highway steaming towards Avenue of the Giants, and our home for the night at Redcrest resort. We had originally booked a campsite in the state park, but the fires had temporarily c...