May 17-18, 2008

Planned Trip W2 (see planned trips here)

Weekend trip to the bay area.  844 miles.  2 Days.  A total of 9 stamps collected.  14 down, 10 to go!

Saturday, May 17.

I left the house at 5:00.  Michael left his place at about the same time.  Both of us are about 40 minutes from Gorman, our meeting point.  At Gorman, I swapped the clear shield for a tinted one and removed one layer of clothing, and topped off the tank.  We left a little before 6:00 for the blast up I-5 to Coalinga.  The ride on the freeway was pretty uneventful, and 130 miles after Gorman, we were in a gas station in Coalinga.  Michael was looking for a sandwich to eat for breakfast at Pinnacles, but such a simple item was not to be found in the market at the gas station, and in the market up the street.  A quick stop at a Burger King at least got us a bathroom stop.

Next came the fun part - 70 miles of twists and turns separated by some straight sections!  We took CA-198 East out of town, and then turned onto CA-25 North, then finally turning onto CA-146 for the 2 1/2 mile drive into the park.  We arrived just past our target time of 9:00.  Pinnacles moved the visitor center to part of the camp store at the campground, so you don't have to pay and go deeper into the park just to get a stamp.  The Pinnacles are scenic, but you really need to hike to enjoy the park, and that was not in the plan for the day.

At Pinnacles, we did take our time, relaxed a bit, had some food, and removed all extra layers of clothing.  We were on our way again, back to CA-25, then continuing north to Hollister and US-101.  We planned on getting gas near San Jose, but the first exit we tried was a no-go.  So we continued onward on US-101.  I recognized Alum Rock Road as a place where I thought I got gas before, so we exited there.  I was wrong.  We did find gas, about 1 mile from the freeway, at the edge of downtown San Jose.  We continued on past San Jose State University, and got a bit hung up trying to get on CA-87 to take us back to US-101.  My GPS for the bike has a 3-4 year old map set, and construction changed location of the freeway ramps.  We eventually made it onto CA-87, and then US-101 North toward San Francisco.  Traffic on US-101 was heavy and occasionally very slow.  Thank goodness for lane sharing.

In the city, I decided to take the scenic route, merging onto I-280, then exiting onto King Street and the Embarcadero.  Probably not a good idea, I should have just zigzagged through the city to get to the Fisherman's Wharf area.  Heavy traffic on the Embarcadero, meant that we have to do some serious lane sharing.  We eventually did make it to Hyde and Jefferson, the site of the SF Maritime NHP's Visitor Center.  A quick circle around the block got us to a parking spot on Jefferson, at the Cannery, one block east of Hyde.

It was 12:30.  We had ridden 382 miles so far.  We wandered over to the visitor's center to get our stamps.  The ranger there suggested that we take the pictures in front of the Maritime Store across the street.  We agreed that it would be a good location.  In the visitor's center, they have a 1st order fresnel lighthouse lens, which is bigger than the Point Loma lens.  We walked up the street for some clam chowder and shrimp.  The wind was starting to blow harder and we could see signs of fog rolling in.  We walked back to the bikes and went over to the store for the photos.  Luck was on over side, the motorcycle only parking spaces by the store were now open and we were able to get some good photos.

Next it was a trip up Hyde, then down Lombard, giving the seldom used back brakes a workout.  We made our way into the presidio and to the Golden Gate NRA Presidio Visitor Center.  The GGNRA covers a lot of land on both sides of the Golden Gate, and many GGNRA stamps are available at different locations, but I was hoping that the Presidio VC would have a good photo opportunity.  When we arrived at the VC, I realized that we were a little over an hour behind schedule, but thankfully, I had padded Fort Point and Muir Woods with plenty of time.  A ranger saw us taking our photos in front of the VC, which was the former officer's club.  He offered to take a photo of both of us.  The sign behind Michael identifies the park, and the pictures of just each of us has the sign prominently featured.  All of the time at the VC, we heard the ominous sound of the foghorn.

Sure enough, as we then took off, crossing the 101 and then descending the cliff to Fort Point, the fog was rolling in rapidly.  We took our pictures first, and then parked at the fort, and went inside to the store where the stamps are.  We had gained a few minute and now were only 1 hour behind the planned schedule.  We had to make it to Point Reyes before 5:00, but our planned schedule had us arriving just before 4:00, giving us about an hour for schedule slippage.  I was sweating it a bit, the last time I went through Muir Woods, the traffic in Sausalito and in Muir Woods was unbelievable.  By the time we left Fort Point, you could hardly see the Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fort.  The flag is barely visible in the photo.

Crossing the bridge, you couldn't see squat.  The towers were lost in the fog.  The fog did disappear when we hit Sausalito.  The first 3/4 mile off of the freeway on CA-1 was stop, creep, and then stop. We took advantage of traveling by motorcycle and crept around the traffic.  Then it was on to Muir Woods.  Nearing the VC, we got caught behind a lumbering tour bus.  What a pain it is to be stuck behind a big moving white wall through a curvy, narrow, tight road.  Oh well.  We did make it to the park sign after a mile.  The trees were giving the GPS a fit with the poor coverage.  A quick stop in the VC (and parking in a motorcycle only parking space - thanks NPS) gave us our stamps and a quick chance to eat an orange or two.

The addition of several parking lots made the ride down the road to reconnect with CA-1 more enjoyable.  5 years ago, people were parking on the shoulders and walking in the street making this a tough ride.  The traffic on CA-1 was as expected, bunches of slow cages creeping down the road.  A few good passing opportunities got us to clear roads, especially after Stinson Beach.  We made it to the Point Reyes NS Bear Valley VC at 4:15, only 25 minutes behind schedule.  Mission accomplished.  Stamps, then a peaceful break (once a screaming kid was finally silenced), then photos, then on to the Travelodge in San Rafael, 21 miles further.

 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, going through Samuel P. Taylor State Park, is a mess.  Rough road signs all over the place.  We found gas in San Rafael, and then decided to look for a grocery store.  We ended up circling back around town and going to a market we saw when we first entered San Rafael.  The going was a bit tough, since the main downtown street was closed for some festival or something.

I bought some tiny wine bottles, Michael bought some whiskey, Diet Coke, chips, and salsa.  We finally got to the motel around 6:00, after traveling 442 miles for the day.  We relaxed a bit, and then decided to order pizza from a local pizza joint.  So we then locked the bikes down for the night.  The pizza was good, from a small chain called Extreme Pizza.  We split a 12" Yard Sale minus the fungus.  Lights out was around 10:00.

Sunday, May 18.

We had a casual morning, since the stamp for the next park would not be available until 10.  We left the motel at 9:00 for the quick ride over the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge on I-580 to the photo location of the next park, Rosie the Riveter / World War II Home Front NHP.  The fog was off in the distance, but the air was chilly as we crossed the water and exited at Marina Bay Parkway and followed the signs to the Rosie the Riveter Memorial.  The memorial is in a small park where Kaiser Shipyard #2 was located during the war.  For a good description of the sites for the NHP, download the auto tour brochure here.  The memorial was designed to give the feeling of a ship under construction.  I don't know if I got that feeling, but you can draw your own conclusions.  The first photo is the photo for the California Parks Award Passport, and the other is looking toward the marina (also the site of shipyard #2) at the whole memorial, which is in multiple pieces, connected by a timeline walkway.

We then went over to where the passport stamp is Monday-Friday at the park's visitor center in Richmond City Hall.  Then around the corner to the Ford Assembly building, where 49,000 jeeps were assembled.  The park plans to move the VC to here in a few years.  From the Ford Assembly Building, you can see across the channel to the SS Red Oak Victory, which is in shipyard #3.  The SS Red Oak Victory is to the far left, it's stern is behind the sailboat.  The building in the center is the former shipyard warehouse.

The GPS wanted us to cross the channel to get to the SS Red Oak Victory.  Well that wasn't going to happen, so we went north along the channel, making our way to Cutting Blvd.  From there we went east for a distance.  While the Rosie Memorial and the VC had plenty of signs guiding you there, we found none so far for the ship.  We did try to ask some bicyclists for directions, but they did not know either.  After glancing at the GPS, which still wanted us to retrace our steps and go across the water, I decided we needed to head south on Canal Bvld.  After a block, signs for the ship appeared.  The route to the ship is a crazy one, circling around a yard full of cars just off the boat.  I think they were Hyundais, and then zig-zagging through the former shipyard drydocks.  We arrived at the SS Red Oak Victory at 10:15, just as the volunteers were arriving.  We went onto the ship, and paid our donation of $5 each.  It was a self guided tour, but occasionally we would run into one of the 2 docents (the other one was running the gift shop where the stamp was), and he would answer questions. 

The former dry-docks are in the second photo.  They were concrete.  The was no sign of the gates that would have blocked off the water.  A large wooden boat, the Wapama, that was being preserved for future restoration and inclusion in the SF Maritime NHP, was on a barge in one of the former dry-docks.  We hung around the boat for quite some time.  Eventually we knew we needed to get going for the 23 mile ride to John Muir NHS, so at 11:45 we were back on the bikes.  Michael wanted to photograph the Wapama, and I wanted to putt along, looking at the buildings.  I got going first, moving slowly to let Michael catch up.  I did stop along the Wapama on the far side, but not in a good place for Michael to see me.  He shot on by.  I started to do jumping jacks to get his attention as he started to circle around the car lot.  I though he saw me because he stopped.  I mounted the Connie and went over to the car lot, but when I got there, he was gone.  I continued through the yard, slowly, since I was looking for Michael.  I did have to stop one more time because I realized that my camera bag, and passport books, were still on my shoulder and not in the saddle bag.  Eventually, I made it back to Cutting Blvd and tried to call Michael.  He did call back and I learned he was further down Cutting Blvd, almost to I-80.  I hightailed it down the road, catching up to him.

We arrived at John Muir NHS in Martinez just before 12:30.  It was hot inland.  We quickly got our stamps, walked up to the house, and then took our pictures.  We wanted to get down to Danville in time to grab a bite to eat.

We left John Muir NHS at 1:00 for the 18 mile / 18 minute ride to Danville and the parking lot for the shuttle to Eugene O'Neill NHS.  The park has limited parking on site, and you have to go through a gated community, so one must take a shuttle to get to the house.  Our shuttle time was for 2:10, so we had time to walk to a nearby Subway and eat.  As I mentioned before, this was a special Sunday.  The normal free shuttles at 10:00 and 12:30 were not available this Sunday because the Eugene O'Neill Foundation was hosted a play at the old barn.  Tickets were $25 each.  The shuttle took us up to the house.  We had some time to get our pictures, stamps, and explore the house before the play started at 3:00.

The play was "Welded."  The play was written by O’Neill in 1922-23, and performed the following year at the Thirty-Ninth Street Theatre in New York.   Although it did not enjoy a successful run, it is an example of O’Neill’s early attempts to explore the nature of married love.  He sought to convey the inner conflicts of the individual spouses and reveal the spiritual dimension of the marriage bond.  It was pretty dark and the wife was a nut job.  The play’s protagonists, a successful playwright and his actress wife, bear striking resemblances to O’Neill and his second wife, Agnes Boulton, a writer whose career, in the early years of their marriage, rivaled his.  In the play, O’Neill challenges the couple to remove the masks which they have been wearing in the marriage.  Unable to do so, each of them seeks comfort in another relationship—she with a family friend, he with a prostitute.  It is in their reunion, in the final act of the play, that O’Neill introduces the notion of a spiritual love, a sacrament, which demands a surrender of their egocentric selves, one, which transcends yet bonds them forever.

The play was enjoyable.  We did chat it up with a docent from the John Muir house who was on hand for extra staffing for the event, as we waited for the shuttle to pick us up after delivering the first load of guests back to the parking lot.  We were back at the bikes around 5:00.  Disaster struck in the form of a bad luggage lock.  I had locked my helmet to Michael's bike, and we had put our gear on my bike, under the Geza cover.  The lock did not want to release.  We had to resort to breaking the lock apart.  My pre-ride rhythm broken, I forgot my earplugs as we started out, so I had to stop at a gas station to put them in.  So it was 5:40 when we were finally on the freeway for the 340 mile ride home.  We left I-680 for East I-580, stopping at the east side of Livermore for gas.  The next gas stop was along I-5 at CA-198 east of Coalinga at Harris Ranch.  Since it was 8:00 and the sun just set, we switched to our clear shields.  77 miles later, we stopped at the Denny's at the Buttonwillow (CA-58) exit for dinner.  A little before 10:00 we were back on I-5, for the 57 miles to Gorman and our parting gas stop.  At 10:50, I was back on I-5, waving goodbye to Michael, and heading for home.  I pulled into the garage at 11:27, an end to another grand adventure.

GPS Track Logs:

New stamps in the NPS Stamp Book.  The Tule Elk is from Point Reyes. 

 (note: photos were taken either by myself or Michael Bowman)