IF YOU GO...TO SAN FRANCISCO.....
After another ride through the wine country of the Sonoma valley, I was nearing San Francisco. There had been no chance to visit wineries because they open only at 11 am, and I was riding fast to pass SF and go South to Monterey before I would hit afternoon the rush hour of this big city.
I stopped for a moment at Sausalito, which offers the first view of the city across the bay and where my wife and I visited on out honeymoon.
I could not stop on the North side of the bridge to take pictures so I took one riding across.
On the other side, there is Golden Gate Park, not easy to find and I got a photo of the bridge.
Some Chinese youngsters from Hong Kong wanted me on their picture (it reminded me of Japan, where we were always photographed by Japanese tourist coming to Toko from their villages.)
After lunch o Fisherman's Wharf I braved the city traffic. The GPS led me across the Oakland Bay Bridge which is enormously large and puts you on the highway South to San Jose.
I cannot describe the traffic. Of course, the rush hour started much earlier than I thought.
It was 100 miles of 4 lane traffic going one way and another 4 lanes going up, equally congested. And the pace was fast and aggresive.
I cannot imagine people having to do this every day to go to work, amazing!
But I liked the helmet this girl biker was wearing!
After 2 hours I got out of the traffic on to the 12 towards Monterey and Carmel.
Here traffic was much lighter and the temperature dropped again into the low 60s. I was riding in shirtsleeves but what the heck, it was only 50 miles more.
Finally I reached Monterey, found a very good Best Western and had a beer on the local dock and a nice dinner at the Sardine Factory.
Monterey is well organized. Police are very active and pull suspected drunk or speeding drivers off the road immediately. Maybe it is the influence of Clint Eastwood, who is the mayor of Carmel, just South of there.
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