Four Corners Tour – Ride Day 14 – Tour Day 11 – July 28, 2015 – Tuesday

Start Time: 7:02 AM PDT
Stop Time: 8:09 PM PDT
Start Location: Half moon Bay, CA
Stop Location: Crescent City Harbor, CA
Lodging: Bayside RV Park
Breakfast: Campsite (ceareal with almond milk)
Lunch: Lucas Wharf Restaurant & Bar (burger and cole slaw)
Dinner: Campsite (PB&J on flour tortilla, Apple)
Miles Traveled Today: 433
Weather: 53-95, Clear and Sunny all day

Route: US-1, US-101

Words are not adequate to describe today’s ride, but I’ll try my best. The weather was perfect, mild temperatures for all but about one hour. I tried to get an early start this morning so I could beat the rush hour traffic in San Francisco, but I did not get away as early as I had intended. No big deal though, traffic was not a problem at all, and all the red lights just gave me time to check out all the cool Architechtural elements of the buildings along CA-1.

On the way up, I rode through the longest tunnel I have ever driven through, and unfortunately, I was not prepared with either my iPhone or the GoPro (something I took care of immediately after getting through the tunnel). I did get these photos of the opposite side of the tunnel.

 I caught a couple glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge long before I got to it. Each time I would get to a high point on my route, I would see the tops of the support columns. Although I have seen literally hundreds of pictures of the bridge, seeing it in person is just plain old exciting.

When I reached the other side, I made sure to follow the instructions given by several of my friends and exited at the Vista Point, and took lots of photos.

  
  
  
  
 My next objective was to take US-101 a couple miles up and catch CA-1 again. Almost as soon as I got on CA-1, the road got sexy (curvy), and the sexy went on for the vast majority of the day. Shortly after getting on CA-1, I started riding through multiple Red Wood Forests, some were dense and short for Red Wood trees, others were massive and tall. This was the first one, so I stopped and got a shot as I exited the grove.

I stopped for gas at the first fair priced place I had run into for several days (I paid 5.99 a gallon for regular in the Mojave Desert).

 Stopped at Lucas Wharf Restaurant & Bar for lunch, and the view was georgeous. Unfortunately I was not in the mood for fish, or better stated, I was not in the mood for a $30,00 lunch, so I just had their burger and cold slaw, which was excellent.

  
  
As I was eating my lunch, one of the fishing boats came in, and I watched as they cleaned up the boat, took out their catch, took pictures of each other with the fish, cleaned the fish and packed the meat in a cooler. Somebody will have extra fresh fish tonight.

 When you ride along the coast, as sexy as the roads are, you still find yourself seduced by the scenery. The vast majority of the day looked something like this.

  
  
  
 This guy, this crazy guy is my hero. This guy was navigating these roads in this big fat motor home like he was a Indy driver. Never, and I mean never did the guy miss a beat. He was carving up CA-1 like it was a Christmas Turkey. I tip my hat to MotorHomeMan.

 Another Red Wood forest, just bigger trees.

  
Oh, remember when I mentioned losing a glove to the wind caverns of I-10, well I thought you might be interested in the fashion statement I make when I ride. MJ, eat your heart out.

Turned out to be a 13 hour ride day, and if I had it to do over, I would break this Pacific Coast Highway ride into 3 days instead of 2. I did arrive at Bayside RV Park just in time to check-in, and sprint to the harbor to catch the sunset, then sprint over to the other side of the harbor to catch a glimpse of the sea lions and seals.

  
So tonight will be filled with the sound of the harbor horn every 8 seconds, sea lions and seals barking all night long, all to the melody of the surf breaking on the beach and rocks of the harbor. I could get used to this song.

Well, the Lord kept me on top of Sweet Baby JIL today, and for that I am thankful. The last two days will be days I will cherish for the rest of my life. In my little bitty brain, I fantasized a good part of the day about taking each of my grand-children on this ride of the Pacific Coast Highway someday (one at a time of course).

Tomorrow I’m off to Crater Lake in Oregon.