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FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR CONSTANTLY CHECKING OUR PROGRESS AND LEAVING US COMMENTS!! We aren’t always aware of who or how many people check our website until we get comments or hear something through the grapevine. It’s a great surprise to see how many people are following our trip!!! I get so excited when more and more people leave us a few words. Thanks again, it means more than you know.
We rode 63 miles along the coast from MacKerricher to Gualala (also called Guadalajala, Guadalupe, Geronimo, Sacagawea for short) on the 13th. We started our morning in Fort Brag with a tasty breakfast at the extremely organic Cafe 1 with our new favorite Mormons Mark and David. We hit up the library, bike shop, and of course the bulk/ sample aisle at Safeway before we said our goodbyes and took off pedaling far far ahead of Mark and David.
Linsey saw a Brach’s truck ridin down the 1 and wanted to chase it down through a switchback and ask if they could sponsor us. We just can’t get enough of those tasty little candy samples.
For lunch, we had bean and cheese burritos with hot sauce (hummus, musstard, and tortillas with hot sauce), a nap, and a nice little visit from Pous Pous Max. He just came cruisin’ up, stuck his finger in our guidebook, and wouldn’t take it out until he told us about everything he “knew” from here to Santa Barbara. He asked and answered all of his own travel questions and took some pictures of us on the side of the road.
When we got to the dark campsite in Gualalalala we were greeted with a witch in the hiker biker area! Every minute or so she would grunt loudly and tell her husband what to do. We were so cracked out we couldn’t stop laughing every time she made the noise. We would be chatting with one another and hear the noise and just start laughing mid sentence. We decided to move to an area a bit further from the witch and her summoning of the astrological demons.
Yesterday we camped at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, which was about 25 miles north of the big city of SAN FRANCISCO! The ranger hooked up a sweet little site for us right next to a babbling brook that put Stef to sleep. It was a nice night in the tent without Linsey’s whale/ garbage disposal noises. Raccoons opened up a small zippered bag I have on my handlebars just to get a Clif Builder Bar! We told you those things are tasty.
We all woke up singing about San Fran and decided to have breakfast in bed AGAIN! I know it, we’re spoiled little campers with daily breakfast in bed, but that’s what happens when you sleep with your food. We love it.
We stopped a couple miles into the ride at a market/deli/coffee shop in Lagunitas for a little espresso. When we rode up, Linsey and I both said, “Oh look! It’s a cat!” to this little Pomeranian dog… you know the fluffy small type. Linsey dared me to ask the owners what their cat’s name was or to walk by and say, “That’s a cute lil cat you got there!” I just laughed when I wrote that.
We biked through some swanky, precious little towns and shops with tons of bikers! The first few we saw we waved and smiled and said howdy… you know. As we got closer to the city, we got less of a response. Some pretended they didn’t hear us… which is really lame because we were sooooo excited to get to the Golden Gate! There were so many of them, that to say hey to every single one would mean to never close our mouths. The biker outfits became ridiculous by the time we got within 10 miles of the bridge. We crossed the bridge in heavy fog after seeing a couple amatuers fall, and didn’t get any good pictures
Once across the bridge, we just knew the general direction of the Embarcadero, so we hoped for the best. Soon enough two older guys come rolling up beside us and ask us some questions about our trip and tell us about the tours they’ve done. The guy Linsey and I were talking to was telling us all about Jerry, the other guy, and how great he is. Jerry has 40 people touring with him these days. Jerry is the man of this town. Jerry has taught me everything. On and on about Jerry!
They led us through a bunch of trails and streets to the Fisherman’s Wharf with TONS OF TOURISTS! “Hungry?” “Sure we are.” “Jerry will take care of you,” this guy says to us. We were a bit skeptical, but as soon as we got off our bikes, fried shrimp, fries and 3 cold beers are being handed to us. “Les will take care of you,” he said and points to a bald guy behind the counter. “We have to get Jerry to his 50th birthday party! We’re already late. Take care, enjoy, have fun, nice meeting you.” And off they go. And there we were. The three of us with cold beer and food in SAN FRAN with tons of people… livin’ it up!
After a short ride around the city, we met up with Linsey’s brother Jared and his GF Suzie, Stef’s friend Betty and Jill and Josh from Berkley at an Irish pub for a few brewskies. Thanks big bro! We had a messy dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. We all got Thai iced teas with tapioca balls in our drinks. We agreed it was like one of those games you get as a dentist office prize where you have to get all three rings in the bucket to win. Personally, I love those little balls, even though they make my stomach hurt.
Today is our day off and we are at my aunt’s humble abode in the mountains. I have been looking forward to this moment for the past week, and when I tried to explain to the girls just how great it would be, they didn’t understand. When we were greeted at 11pm with ratatouille, chicken, lentils, lemon cake and a hot tub with stars as our only light, I think they began to understand. I had the best shower of my life last night. You don’t know the best shower until you have it. I’m so thankful this is the place we are staying… there couldn’t be a better place to relax.
This morning we had eggs, toast, cherries and tea. No Clif Bar breakfast in bed, but you can’t have it every morning. I’m looking forward to Whole Foods, a movie, laundry, Thai food, and SHAVING MY ARMPPITS today. Monday is a rough day… wish us the best.
Linsey stretching her legs.
Mark and David with matching ACDC jerseys!
Pretty hike at Sunset Beach
Ooh! Look how purty Oregon is!…oh yea, and Stef too
Yeya boi
Linsey Checkin it out…hungry for berries.
When we get to a PC and can shrink this picture, you’ll be able to see that we’re lookin’ at Llamas! Hoping they’ll spit us so we can clean the grease off our shorts.
We like/miss Oregon
maaah!
Not even scared.
If you squint you can see Hawaii in the bacckground.
California/Oregon border. Picture quality not superb cuz Stef had to stand in the middle of the road to take this, and keep from getting hit by a car.
We put on our cleanest clothes for this big day! ALMOST HOME!!!!….not
Marking our territory at the California border, and a little ‘hello’ from Mark and David, who made it across before us…somehow. We’re the “Clif Bar Angels” because we introduced them to the products and give them a few treats whenever we run into them
OH my goodness! get that girl outta that Redwood tree! That girl is carazy!!
Stef waitin for the slowpokes
Avenue of the Giants. One of the favorite days. Big-A*& trees.
Hangin out in a tree, ya know, the usual.
We stopped here because we thought that the bottom of this tree looked like a butthole. It’s cool, huh!?
Ridin’ through a tree. Those of you who really follow our career may recognize this image from when we were on KTLA Los Angeles, 7:00am news.
Peanut Butter fiasco. I didn’t eat peanut butter for a whole day after this. Except to lick it off my face a few hours later.
Being resourceful with the PB all over the sleeping bag.
California Coast
Big Pous Pous (not Max, he wears short shorts and uses binoculars.)
Birds…they have nothing to do with us or bikes, but we saw them and they’re precious!
Sometimes we ride our bikes, too!
Moo.
Our best picture we could scavenge of the Golden Gate. This is right before we drove through a cloud. Betcha didn’t know we could do that!
Aaaaah! refreshment! Arriving at Fisherman’s Wharf after being whilred around and left by our lovely guardian angels, Jerry and his sidekick, with shrimp, beer, and curly fries
