7/9. Fellow travelers

Our fellow travelers Nick & Teresa, and Roger & Christine, came through on their way south. We met up with them at 99 beers.

Day 31. 7/8. Santa Cruz!

Left hotel by 8:30.

Pedaled over the hill to Dennys for breakfast.

Decided to stay on the highway up through the Devils slide area, instead of searching for the old San Pedro mountain road aka Planet of the Apes.

They're working on a tunnel project at the Devils slide. They brought a portable concrete factory up the side of the mountain.

Up and down up and down, coastal sprawl.

Some big estates on the high points. We saw a forest fire from one of the hilltops.

Lunch at San Gregorio beach park.

The weather was great all day. It was pretty flat after Pigeon point and the tailwind kicked up. Bicycle is a great way to travel when the land, sun, and wind are all in your favor. We made our best distance by far on this the last day. We had thought about camping around Pigeon point but we got there before 2 pm and decided to go for Santa Cruz.

We also set a downhill/downwind speed record of 48.5 mph.

We got to Santa Cruz with enough time to stop for dinner before the final 12 miles up hill to Chris' place.

76 miles.

Trip total 1021 miles.

Day 30. 7/7. Sea Breeze Inn at Rockaway Beach

We made breakfast in the kitchen at the hostel, and did laundry.

The weather had turned cold and cloudy again.

Stopped by the Marin Headlands visitor center. Liked it.

Pedaled up and down through the tunnel on Bunker road.

It was very crowded on the sidewalk crossing the Golden Gate bridge, even though it was a weekday, windy and overcast.

On the south end we stopped for a snack, then got lost in the Presidio for a while. At this point we're off the edge of our adventure cycling map and navigating on our own.

We decided to take 15th ave south to the Golden Gate Park, then go west through the park back out to the coast. Stopped for lunch at the Bagel shop.

There was a very long uphill into Daly City, followed by a big downhill, which I took too fast. Daly was funny-looking. Evidently a bedroom community of SF, but very high density low-rise housing up this headland. It looked like a mountain of dice.

We had originally thought to get to Half Moon Bay but getting over the bridge and through the city was stressful and took a long time, and it was cold, cloudy, and windy, so we bailed and stayed at the Sea Breeze hotel in Pacifica/Rockaway Beach. But not before backtracking over the hill from Linda Mar. We had dinner at Nick's, the pricey restaurant next to the motel, with sixties lounge decor that was kind of cool. Chris passed out at like 8:30 while I stayed up to sort photos.

31 miles.