Day 11: Manchester Beach - Stillwater Cove

I've been reading my book for the past couple of hours and realized it was getting dark, which is pretty early all of a sudden. We have been in camp since 3:30. What a pleasant ride along CA 1. We travelled roughly 43 miles south into Sonoma County. It was a blue bird day. The sun was hot while standing still, but just enough breeze to cool you while riding. 

We left Manchester Beach and road for 6 miles to a roadside motor lodge with a breakfast cafe near the Point Arena Lighthouse. We loaded up on some thick French toast and wound our way south. The ups and downs don't seem all that bad anymore. Still in our short ride we gained and lost 2500' of elevation. 

17 miles into the day, Gualala sported a couple of grocery stores to choose from, so instead of crossing the highway we patroned the locally owned Surf Market. Sort of a non chain store version of Trader Joes. We knew that that there were not going to be many places between here and camp. We packed away some fruit, beef jerky, a tasty and spicy quinoa salad for supper and some breakfast bars for tomorrow morning. 

11 miles down the road we came across Stewarts Point. Similar to Elk, they have an old but pristine mercantile (I love that word), complete with squeaky oak floors. If we would have known we could have stocked up here. These two mercantiles are the coolest places we've visited since returning to the coast on hwy 1.  

It was either going to an easy recovery day or another long grunt, as camps are fewer between. Some of the state parks have been closed due to budget cuts and others have reduced services. We settled for recovery. So tonight we are in the very nice Sonoma County Stillwater Cove park, complete with hot showers. And we are the only bikers in the hiker/biker camp. Although peaceful, I'm still missing Tug and Jim.  

Centuries ago Tug first met Jim at university when Jim was the naive freshman and Tug the sophisticated sophomore. So much more sophisticated, Tug oversaw Jim's initiation forcing him to push a penny across campus with his nose. They have been best friends ever since. Tug became a professor of economics and Jim an attorney. Still, I like these guys and wonder where they are. Their plane leaves San Francisco a few days after we depart, so they have some extra time in their adventure. 

Our journey is nearing its end. We have less than 100 miles to go and are now focusing more time in planning the destination. It is our goal to stroll over the Golden Gate Bridge midday on Thursday, giving us plenty of time to weave through city life and find the ferry to cross the bay to San Rafael and our hotel. That means we need to get about 65 miles tomorrow and find camp near Lagunitas ( I hear they make a fine IPA, so I'm told). From Lagunitas it should be a short ride to the big city.  

We are visiting our friends, "D Square", Dave and Denise West. They will be our tour guides in San Francisco. I look forward to some Rice A Roni, the San Francisco Treat.