1300 miles later

I woke up really early this time, around 6:30AM. I woke Brendan up and got things ready to head into Bodega Bay. For the first time in the trip I wanted to have a proper breakfast to start the day. Brendan and I stopped at this nice restaurant where we filled up on coffee, fish, eggs, and potatoes. All full, we headed out on the last day of our trip.

It was going to be a long day, around 70 miles. I was already feeling pretty tired after 15 but I had a mission. We stopped for lunch in front of an oyster farm. Then Gabe and another cyclist from the camp rolled in too, I forgot his name :( We had a small lunch and talked a bit before heading out to Point Reyes Station.

At Point Reyes we made another stop to eat. Brendan, Gabe, and I were biking together when we got into town, but the other cyclist came in too and we had a proper lunch in front of a bakery. There I saw John and Laura again.

We took our time in that town and left with high spirits. We rode to Samual P Taylor State Park when we realized we had lost Gabe. He was camping there for the night so we assumed he had taken the camping turn a few miles back. We started moving again until my wheel caught a nice nail that took up so much time I felt bad for having Brendan wait. But if he wasn't there I wouldn't been able to get to SF because I ran out of patches and tubes.

We rode down into the town of Lagunitis. Had a small meal and went towards the city. There was a big hill that took me forever to climb. When I got over it Brendan was gone, I had no idea where he went. I just took the route and kept going, thinking he may have just went on ahead, I didn't see him again :(

In the town of Fairfax, I bought some tubes. I was on the side of the road where I was munching on some cookies when a couple on their bikes asked if I was lost. I was so they led me around town to get to the bridge. Their profession dealt with Chinese medicine and they talked to me a lot about the state of medicine. Their names were Michael and Luise.

I got through the rest of the trip fine until I made the final climb to the bridge. It was tough, not a few feet before I was at sea level and I had to make a tremendous climb to get up. I called my brother to come pick me up from the end of the bridge because I was done biking and especially with city biking.

On the way up I ran into John and Laura again. They had already finished the bridge and was heading back to their car.

When I was finally at the bridge entrance I had to stop and swallow some tears, yeah I admit it. The trip is the biggest accomplishment in my life. The distance, the will, everything that went into this trip was wonderful. The that made it really special was the fact that I never traveled or camped before this trip. I just jumped headfirst into it and it was wonderful. Then I made myself go over the bridge.

I must've stopped so many times to take pictures. It took awhile to get across because of the wind but I was taking my time. Just a bit more on the bike didn't matter so much.

I got to the end and my brother, the person that really made this trip possible for me, was waiting. He took me to his place and we had dinner and he had me catching up on the real world.

Who has the time?

Camping alone was a bit lonely until Brendan came in. It was nice to have someone to talk with because everyone around me was with their families and did not want to associate with a dirty biker. I found out that he was heading to San Francisco in two days so I decided to travel, well somewhat travel, with him.

The ride started with a small detour to a lighthouse located on the most western part of the continent to Hawaii. The day had a few climbs but nothing too major.

It was great riding alone, no offense to George and Heidi. I was able to stop anywhere I wanted, have lunch anywhere, do anything I wanted basically. For instance I stopped in the town of Gualala and made a detour to get to the beach from Gualala State Park. I sat there and enjoyed the view and just took a small afternoon nap. I got up and went on my way.

Riding down around a turn I'd be smiling when looking at the ocean. This re-emergance of bicycle touring in me was great and for that moment I was so glad I was still on the road.

I ran into two other tourers that were heading to SF. John and Laura were very nice and for the next few days I'd run into them randomly on the road.

The last big climb for my trip showed me the wonder of Highway 1. The winding narrow road were etched into the mountain and right off to the side was the drop to the beach. It was terrifying going downhill into a turn because there wasn't the assurance of hitting a tree if I wasn't able to make the turn. It would just be a great dive into the ocean rocks.

At a construction zone, Brendan caught up with me and we travelled towards our last campsite. The campsite was wonderful because of all the characters we met. It was a very interesting group of people because of them were scholars. I was not able to keep up with the conversation because I wasn't too environmentally knowledgeable like they were.

All of them, well most of them were heading to SF the next day. A whole group, like six were about to take over the road to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The split

The day started very well, we got up early, ate, and headed out. I had to stop in Fort Bragg to get some cash at the bank and when I came back our trip had changed.

Heidi wanted to go to Yukiah to visit a monastery she had seen years before. That would entail taking a train there because it was about 50 miles east. She decided and got on the train in like 15 minutes, George and I were dumbfounded and had no idea what to do. I tried to figure out a list of things we should give her in case of something but all I could think of was tools. George gave her his multitool.

I didn't stop her because I knew she could take care of herself. She was more able then both George and I combined. She had to go there for a reason that I do not want to talk about so I understood her decision to go. I just wished she gave us a better heads up than 15 minutes. I barely was able to get a hand wave before she left.

George and I rode on, it felt weird with only the two of us. We got to Mendocino State Park to see the best coast I've seen on this trip. I saw that something was eating up George.

We headed up further and he stopped me. He wanted to go back. About 5 miles back there was a highway heading to Yukiah. He was going to go back and try and find Heidi. He was worried about her, I think he thinks it is his fault she left. Well we traded gear really quick on the side of the highway and he was off. We shook hands, looked eachother in the eye. He went back.

So why didn't I go. One of the biggest regret I have with this trip is not doing it solo. But that wasn't the case at this moment. For me heading to Yukiah meant another day away from home. I can't explain it, I really want to get home. It is not the comfort, or the lack of responsibility, I really can't explain it. I need to get back and finish my med school application. I need to get back because I miss my girlfriend dearly.

This trip has brought a lot of light into me. And I feel like I'm finally ready to go back to the real world.

So folks, I'll be home in about 2-3 days. I'll be pushing myself fairly hard to get the miles in to get back home. Only 135 more miles baby and I'll be at home watching the Tour de France.

The climb

Leggett Hill is supposedly the highest hill on the pacific coast route, a wee bit under 2000 ft. The thing is, we had done Mt. Constitution which was 2500 ft. We weren't intimidated at all. Not in the least bit.

It was a good 50 minute climb but the disappointing thing was that there was not viewpoint at the top. George and I hiked up a bit further and still, nothing. We got down that mountain fast and ran right into another hill. Same story, no view point. Boy we had worked hard for nothing.

The rest off the day was on Highway 1. Yeah, that highway. It was so curvy and hilly that it beat us down worse than the big hills. We got to Mackerriker beach really early because it was the shortest day in the book, 40 miles.

We met lots of people that day, Bob, Jeremy, Gordon. They were all cool cats that rode around and we all sat up talking amongst the fire.

It was a good day, well for me.

California

We finally made it to California. We had to go through an easy peezy fruit inspection at the border. All they asked was if we got any and I said no and on we went.

The route took us towards the countryside, trying to get away from 101. We hit Crescent city and prepared ourselves for a huge climb, 1300 ft, that was coming up in a few miles. We did it just fine, only took about 45 minutes, and then we had to prepare for another one after. Oh it was a long day, lots of climbing but we are done with it and thats that.

On the way down we stopped to check up on a cyclist that had a flat tire. His name is Brendan and he had just started. He is from Vancouver, BC and he doing the same exact route as us. I'm sure we''ll run into him lots.

On the way to the campsite, we had to go through this highway filled with redwood trees. It was probably the most amazing thing I've seen this trip. It was getting towards dusk and the fog was rolling in. It complemented the mysterious and old trees perfectly. We rode through that forest so slow that Brendan had caught up and passed us. I took so many pictures but none of them did the trees any justice.

The campsite was alright, lots of mosquitoes. We were a bit too tired to do anything with all those climbs so we just went to sleep after hiking around in a big circle.