Day 13 – Bodega Bay to Sam
P Taylor State Park – BLASTED!
Today
was the end of an experiment gone wrong.
Starting on yesterday’s ride I thought I might try running my fuel out
and going on limited rations. Nothing
really extreme, just reduce the meal portion and frequency. I was prepared to end the test at Bodega Bay
but as luck would have it the grocery store positioning did not work in my
favor and I went into camp with peanut butter, multi-grain flatbread, a bit of
dry salami, and a banana. That would be
yesterday’s dinner and today’s breakfast but it was challenging after the dry
salami was gone to choke down a banana and peanut butter as lack of hunger and
the desire for food other than what I had kicked in at the same time. Breakfast
plans did not work out either as that someone with a mean sense of humor used
the “annoying alarm clock sound”,
“breek…breek……………breek…breek……………breek…breek……” for the fog beacon on the point
adjacent to the campground so I left at 6:30am without breakfast.
Speaking
of the campgrounds: I left Bonnie,
Adria, and Todd at the first campground, Bodega Dunes, and went into town
looking for a cheap hotel expecting to find few deals on a Saturday, in
season. What I found was worse; Highway
robbery (or capitalism at work) as that there was a triathlon going on in the
tiny burg of Bodega Bay. Knowing better
but taking my chances (very much like eating three day old KFC chicken left out
on the counter), I asked the local Tourist Info Lady a few questions. Asking the person behind the desk at a
Tourist Info kiosk rates up there with asking some dude on the street for
directions in his own hometown: Whatever
they tell you is going to be WRONG.
Prepared with this assumption/knowledge, I limited my questions to
three: 1.) Can I find a hotel in town? When
she pulled out the sheet and quoted pricing for the only couple rooms left in
town, I felt like the tourist caught in the speed trap. Skip even going to the hotels now. I’ve been outed: A sucker in town. 2.) Where
can I get some wifi? After the previous discussion, I knew I was back to
camping and wanted to update the blog. She did better this time and gave me
some good info., and 3.) Does the campground on the south side of town take Hiker/Bikers
too? Hiker/Biker campsites are cheap, $5 - $7, and they seldom fill up and the
rule of thumb is that everyone just squeezes in. This one I would say she fouled-off (baseball
term for my buddy Mark Benton). When I
got to camp, they said there was ONE site and that if the guy who was in it
last night was still there I would have to pedal back 4 miles in to the strong
North Wind. As luck would have it, he
was gone and I took his place.
Regarding
the strong North Wind and luck. Let’s
deal with luck first. You might recall I
passed up Clam Beach because I HATE sand.
Yup, you figured it out: An entire campground filled with SAND. Actually, if you are into kite boarding or
windsurfing this is the place for you.
Set in the middle of the bay and buffeted by persistent winds yearlong,
this place is ideal…for windsurfers of which I am not one. Without anything to stop it, the NNW was
blowing at 15mph straight into camp. No
worries I thought, around 5pm this will die off. I was off by 12 hours. Not only did the wind not die off, it picked
up and did not stop until 5am, just in time for the alarm clock/fog horn to
take over. I have to say that I got a
reasonable night’s sleep as that I limit my ire to people rather than to
nature. Let it blow. It is better than listening to kids crying, mother’s
scolding, lovers loving, and shut-ins chattering, all the sounds of a
campground when the morning song birds stop chirping and humanity greets the
new dawn.
Oh,
today’s ride. Yes, as I stated, it started on an empty stomach. After a few
couple hundred foothills, I was able to find breakfast about eight or miles out
in Valley Forge. After breakfast, I
found myself recovering but not fully recovered. The ride along the Tomales Bay and opposite
of Point Reyes, oyster country was awesome.
The early morning portion of the ride, even though it was inland, was
tolerable because I got an early start.
The ride along the bay was pleasant because it was cool. As I approached the campground at Sam P
Taylor State Park, the route turned inland again. This time the sun and heat were waiting for
me but luckily within a few miles a bike path started and it was lined with
trees. Nice campground and I’m happy to
be here after two days of not so great camping.
And
one more thing: After I set up camp and
while I was looking for a shower, Bonnie, Adria, and Todd rolled through the
park on their way to wrapping up their ride from Astoria, OR to San Rafael,
CA. Full of smiles and adrenalin that
accompany those at the end of the long ride.
A
link to today’s ride:
Photos
Doran Regional Park Campground - Nothing but SAND!!!
There! I went to the beach. Check.
Look at the right of the tent. Pushed in by the wind. That did not let off until 5am.
A new day day on Route 1
Climbing into the hills outside of Bodega Bay
Finally, some Italians on the West Coast. I sign I'm near San Fran.
Cowboy hangout in Valley Forge. Guess what is on the ground??? Hmmm??
Bank in Valley Forge
More cows
Church
Heading towards Tomales Bay through a canyon
Longhorns
More of the canyon to Tomales Bay
Caught these vultures napping
On the bay now
Oysters!
This here is Tom and Bill. They are digging Washington Clams, gapers. They like to use them in clam chowder and linguini. More proof there are Italians around.
The Town of Tomales (I think)
Oyster farm
Ol' Mr. Handlebar Mustache was so mesmerized by the building in the photo below, he refused to get out of the shot. His wife, more prudently, turns and pretends to look down the street.
The object of Mr. Handlebar Mustache's obsession
Getting later in the day and the green of the bay is giving way to the gold hills further inland
A bike path to the campground. The part I rode on was perhaps four miles.
Bike path
True CA picnicking
And, finally Todd, Adria, and Bonnie. They were great riders but I did not see smiles that big during the preceding two days ;-)
Dead Cowboys, Their
Lovers, and Their Bastard Children or May Charlotte B. Whipple Rest in Peace
Leaving Mendocino, I passed the town cemetery. It wasn’t until I realized that it would be
filled with dead cowboys, their lovers, and their bastard children, that I
decided to turn around and take a moment to explore. I parked my bike, unlocked, at the entrance,
entered, and meandered amongst the rows of stone, wood, and cast iron that
honor and call out the dead.
It wasn’t too long before I came upon Capt. David F. Lansing
and his wife, Charlotte B. Whipple, both formerly of Albany. Albany, New
York? It did not say. Close to the bottom of Capt. Lansing’s
stained and remarkably well-preserved headstone one learns that he found his
way to his final resting place shortly after 68 years.
What of him? Was he a
gallant commander of a Union, perhaps a Confederate, brigade or a poor leader
of men and family who headed West to seek his fortune? Something else? Whatever his character or ambition, his wife
went before him, not an entire quite a full decade. Did Capt. Lansing miss his
wife, not even notice she was gone, or seek unquenchable solace at the bottom
of a bottomless bottle of whiskey?
And of poor Charlotte?
In her short life was she a good mother, a faithful wife? Was salvation
hers and the dust and bones she left behind of no consequence as she frolics
with amongst the clouds and converses with the Saints? Was she rewarded for her
deeds but not always her thoughts?
Or, is she still here among us, veiled, rotted and dry. Was she sorely disappointed to find that as
the lid dropped shut, the nails driven into her wooden coffin, and she was
lowered into the dry California dirt that the closest thing to Eternal Bliss
existed side by side her blessed, or perhaps retched, earthly existence?
And, what more could she have wanted than the warm sun, cool
rain, the laughter of her children, and her husband’s assuring embrace? If she is still here, was it Damnation she
received for her greed? Greedy dreams of
life everlasting. The avarice of a kind
heart and a good soul?
Or rather, was it then as they lowered her down into the
warm embrace of that from which she came, away from the weeping, greedy
dreamers, that she received her blessing in its fullest and confirmation that
Heaven exists on Earth?
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