Day 9: Carson City to the Sonoma Coast

I made it from Carson City, Nevada to the Somoma Coast on Wednesday, August 2.

The day started with the group setting out from Carson City. We zipped through Tahoe because Rolf seemed to be on a mission to get home. Even my brief stop to snap the Welcome to California sign was too long. So Rolf and Peter said goodbye as I dropped my helmet and the face shield mount broke on one side. Rich gave me some tape, and Rich and I descended to Sacramento together. There Rich headed south, and I continued west.

As I descended near Folsom a few minutes later, I heard a buzzing noise. Oh, no, the scooter exhaust is coming apart again, I thought. Then I saw a Yamaha sign right before the Folsom exit. I pulled off to have the dealer look at it. Well, the dealer had closed recently, but I found a Mexican restaurant with delicious chicken taquitos next door. I realized the buzzing was just the tape vibrating in the wind!

A few minutes later just past Davis, I got lost looking for Route 128 , and wouldn't you know it, this was the one day that the battery had run down on my GPS, so it was no help. I used my best pathetic Spanish to ask a farm worker to get to Route 128 toward Napa, and it actually worked.

Wow, this was the best riding yet! I thought route 128 between Davis and Napa was the perfect twisty, hilly scooter road. Until, that is, I rode the even more amazing last 35 miles to the coast on an unnumbered road between Geyserville and the coast. Two motorcyclists in full gear snapped my picture as I went by. I turned around and told them of the journey; they were stunned, and took more pictures. I made it to the coast at Stewart's Bay just before dusk. It got chilly fast as I crested the last hill and descended to the coast. A few miles earlier, I'd passed a camp run by the YMCA, another of my favorite organizations. It was 57 degrees on the coast. I was not well dressed for that weather, and it was getting dark and the Sonoma Coast was sparsely populated. Then I saw a roadside deer, which is every cyclist's second-worst nightmare (a dumb deer is still better than a careless driver turning left in front of you), so I got a motel room at the next town. I had a not-so-memorable seafood casserole dinner at a nearby restaurant.I then went on the internet for a few minutes, but I was exhausted and went to sleep right at the keyboard.

I had used the gym at the Carson City casino hotel, bit I was still feeling sluggish from too many days without exercise. Earlier, near the restaurant, I found a gym that opens at 6 am, and I planned to get up early and use it.



Miles Today: 343
Miles Total: 3767
Song for Today: by Get Together, by Jesse Colin Young - because it's so California