Day Two Hundred Fifty-eight, 091113 - Stinson Beach, CA

Day Two Hundred Fifty-eight, Date Friday, November 13, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:47
Distance for the Day: 63.71 miles From Jenner To Stinson Beach, CA
Accumulated Trip Distance: 12,585 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 92’/32’, Highest: 223’ Accumulated: 1387’
Speeds: Avg: 9.3 mph, Max: 41.6 mph
Weather: 43° clear and cool, warming to the mid-60s
Expenditures: $30

I woke and got up at 6:15am to a perfectly clear sky, with a bit of breeze out of the north. The light of day was enough that I couldn’t see the stars, but the crescent Moon stood out in the pale blue in sharp relief. Someone from the fort was walking outside the walls, coming up from the ocean headlands, and probably noticed me, but I was halfway done breaking down, and they were several hundred yards away, so I didn’t worry much about it. I rolled out at 6:55am with the light of day continuing to brighten; a beautiful, peaceful day on the Pacific. Last night, I heard a dozen or more coyotes across the highway and up in the hills go into an extended chorus, cows mooing in the field (also across the road), and a couple of hoot owls this morning. Sure is a noisy neighborhood, around here. Early on along the way, I saw a vulture soar cross the crescent Moon, forming a kind of mystic ‘x’ in the sky. When I got to the town of Jenner, I stopped from 8:50am to 9:04am for a mini mart breakfast of hot cocoa, muffin and Danish + food items ($10). I continued down the coast, stopping now and then to take pictures. Passing through Bodega Bay, I made certain the birds weren’t acting strangely (see Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds). I stopped at an internet café in Tomales for lunch at 12:40am, where I got a hot pastrami sandwich and soda ($11), and posted the ETA to the blogsite, as promised. I continued on at 2:04pm; the sky was still mostly clear, but now had a thin, high layer of cirrus clouds that filtered the Sun a bit. I had now entered the first, somewhat familiar terrain I’d seen since leaving Seattle, having been this far north along the coast once before, long ago, and stopped in Pt. Reyes from 3:45pm – 4:05pm to get ice cream ($3) at the grocery store. (Actually, I *did* visit the coast near Mendocino once, on an outing from my former boss’ Joe A’s home in Comptche – he would invite his staff there every now and then just for the fun of it. I didn’t recognize the area, though.) Back in Pt. Reyes, I also visited the used book store to trade in my old book (Mutation), and got another thin book: Six Arguments for Atheism ($6) – ought to be interesting.

It was still a good 17 miles to Stinson Beach, and with less than an hour before sunset, I knew I’d probably be riding in the dark to make it there, but I resolved to do it, no matter what, and I did pretty good – by the time I did get to just before Stinson, the sun had already set, but it was twilight, and still light enough for me to see the road and surrounding land fairly well. I found a semi-large lot off the side of the road at about 5:20pm, with a couple of piles of debris, one of which I could hide behind enough to go unnoticed by the drivers passing by (N37 55.856’ W122 41.340’). I parked behind the bigger pile, and waited for it to get darker. Once it did, I set up my tent, cloaked my trike, and was inside by 5:55pm with food, soda, and new book. I recorded the daily stats before munching, drinking, and reading, and went to sleep by 8:15pm. Tomorrow, I knew I’d be doing some mountain climbing, but I’ve done these hills before, and as I recalled, they weren’t too terribly bad. Of course, there were a lot of differences between the last time I did this route, and now: I was at least 15 years younger the last time I did them, but my legs weren’t nearly as developed as they are, now; but I wasn’t hauling an 80 lb. load back then, either; but my old bike didn’t have the low gears this trike has. Overall, I thought it should be pretty easy, and should go fairly quick. We’ll see. You know, for a Friday the thirteenth, this one wasn’t bad.