End Of The Line

After Mendocino, I rode only 30 miles and camped in Manchester. I had intended to camp in the state park, but it was closed for the season. I stopped at the market in town to get some snacks for dinner, and as I was leaving I ran into the French couple who I had met in Lake Louise, Alberta, who were also looking for a place to camp, the night I slepted in the baseball field dugout. They told me they were staying at the KOA campground nearby, and that it had $10 sites for people in bicycles. (I've never bothered going into a KOA campground before because I assumed they were expensive.) I ended up staying there too. They had a hot tub and WiFi. Glamping indeed. (I poached the hottub after hours and had it to myself. It was awesome.)

The campground and the state park beach were nice, so I decided to stay another night. I ate a bunch of food and walked around the beach and watched the sunset and made use of the campground WiFi.

The next day I pedaled to Bodega Bay and stayed in the state park campground there. They had sites for people riding bicycles for $5! I also ran into the French couple again. They were amazed that I had taken a rest day and caught up to them. It was only 75 miles away, but it was 4,500' of ascending, which might be the most of any single day on my trip. Also, Highway 1 was so curvy and narrow that I was too scared to go fast on the descents, so it was even more strenuous than usual.

I got in touch with Claire and Alex (friends from Northeastern), who are living in Berkely now, and made plans to stay with them the following night. It was about 90 miles away and I was a little bit tired from all the hills, but I figured I could make it there in a day.

The next day I departed Highway 1 and headed inland towards the Bay. There were bike lanes and even some separated bicycle paths as far out as 40 miles. It was a quicker ride than I expected. I tried to get on a bus over the Richmond Bridge on the 580, but the bus driver nor an attendant at the bus station would allow my to carry my bicycle inside the bus, even though the Golden Gate Transit website says that bicycle are allowed inside busses, if they stand in the wheelchair area, and no wheelchairs are present! So I paid $40 for a taxi to take me over the bridge. (It was 5pm and took forever in the traffic.) The taxi driver was cool though. He was Swedish and we talked about bicycle tours and bicycle infrastructure in Europe. I met up with Claire at her apartment around 6:30. We had some great burritos and beers.

The next morning I took my 2 rear panniers & tent to a FedEx store and shipped them home. Then I took my bicycle to a bike shop to have them disassemble/pack/ship it home for me. (Cost about 2x as much as doing it myself, but I didn't have a workshop or packing materials handy.) So that's the end of my bicycle riding for now! I stayed in a cheap AirBnB in Oakland, and now I'm in SF waiting for a bus to LA, which comes at 10pm and gets to LA at 7am. I figured if I got a bus overnight I'd save the cost of a night of lodging. I have a flight home from San Diego on 9/27, so I'm going to hang out in LA for a bit, and then San Diego for a bit, and then fly home!