day77

Day 77 (November 5, 2006) - San Francisco, CA

We got into the campground in Larkspur late last night and we were able to take a look around only this morning. The place is ghastly, the freeway runs right next door, and we are parked in another parking lot, with no trees and fifth-wheelers all around us that look inhabited for the long run. Full-timers who have chosen this idyllic place to settle down, spread out their carpet of artificial turf in front of the entrance and put some flower pots around to embellish the place. The RV park's owner gives us info on the bus routes into town, so we head straight to the bus stop. It's a small place smacked at the entrance to the freeway. We wait for a while but we start feeling uneasy about today. We could take the Vespa and hope to find a parking spot in the city, or - I don't dare say what I have in mind. Petr comes up with the idea of biking (!!), so we go back to change and with maps in our hands, we head out on skinny tires. There must be a way to reach San Francisco from here other than the freeway.

It turns out to be a great idea - and a great day. We go through Larkspur downtown, small but cute and cozy with open-air cafés, restaurants, galleries and little shops. We go through Corte Madera and take a road that starts climbing, and climbing, and climbing... then a sweet downhill makes me forget all the huffing and puffing. There are many cyclists on the road. Not even the Minuteman Bike Path in Boston gets so crowded on a weekend! The roads are clearly marked with codes for different bike routes, if only we'd know which one to follow. Soon enough it turns out we don't need to guess. All the cyclists are heading to one direction only: the Golden Gate bridge. So we start following them. We bike through Sausalito, a very pleasant bayside community. It's a great day, warm (75ºF) and sunny. We are in short sleeves and by the end of the day we even have tan lines! We finally get to the Golden Gate bridge and decide to bike uphill into the GG Recreation Area, to take a look at it from the top. The climb is steep and fairly long. Darn San Francisco hills! The view once on top is what takes my breath away though. San Francisco is a beautiful city, no questions. We then go down towards Sausalito beach on the back side of the hill (very, very steep, I had to use both brakes and was afraid they would burn out!), cross the tunnel and find ourselves back on the Golden Gate bridge. This time we bike on it. We stop to take some pictures and a group of Japanese tourists approaches us, asking in broken English for a picture. I thought they wanted us to take a picture of them at the bridge, instead they wanted Us in the photo with them 'cause they liked the colors of our biking clothes. So somewhere in Japan there are some people with a picture of us dressed like goofballs. They thank us profusely, we then continue on and enter the Presidio area of San Francisco, quiet, green, and peaceful. We stop for pictures here and there then we check the time and decide to head back.

We will visit the city tomorrow, on foot. On way back we take a slightly different route which unintentionally makes us avoid the darn hill in Corte Madera. We are back at the RV park with 45 miles in our legs, and my muscles are on fire. We need to do laundry tonight. After dinner, Petr falls asleep in front of the TV, while I turn on the computer to get some work done.