Pat and Sari's Honeymoon Bike Ride

Friday, June 06, 2008
Jenner, CA to Anchor Bay, CA
42 miles (4448 total miles)

The wind did give us a bit of a break today - it was not quite as strong as yesterday but still had these maniacally strong gusts from time to time. Still it was hillier today than yesterday so we're pretty tired again, and tomorrow will be longer and hillier still. So we're really hoping the wind will behave itself tomorrow. We had another late start today - we had stayed in a nice little inn in Jenner and breakfast was included but it didn't start until 9. We were disappointed to learn it was only eggs, fruit and a muffin - hardly very satisfying for hungry bikers. We set out at 9:45 after uploading yesterday's pictures (sorry for the delay). We started out with the hardest hills right away, which was good - we like to get the worst over with early while we're fresher. The climb was up and around some 600-foot hills, with lots of switchbacks so that none of it was terribly steep, it just went on forever. The hills were beautiful though and we had some great views of the ocean from above.

The rest of the day went along the ocean, through just a few small towns and several state parks. Most of the coast was very rocky and the ocean was very rough as it was yesterday. The colors of the ocean made quite a tapestry of colors, sometimes a light blue, sometimes dark blue, often light green near a shore, dark purple where there were kelp beds, and little white caps all over with lots of surf crashing over rocks near the shore. It was sensational to watch - we never got tired of it. Fort Ross was our first town and we had an early lunch in a deli there to make up for our skimpy breakfast. The next town was tiny Stewart's Point which was supposed to have a general store where we thought we'd get a soda, but it was closed. The bathrooms there were closed, too, unfortunately. However, there was a group of four guys who were biking from Utah, doing astounding 80-mile days (of course, they were going south, with the wind instead of against it). There was a woman with them also who was driving their sag wagon and they were taking a lunch break there. We had a nice chat with them and we went our separate ways. Our next chance for food was the town of Gualala, about 4 miles before our planned stop for the night. We weren't that hungry yet but bought some stuff for dinner from the grocery store. There was a guy there who had seen us that morning in Jenner and was very surprised we had made it that far. Then we headed off to Anchor Bay where we would camp.

The Anchor Bay Campground is a very nice place, friendly people, and great location. It's nestled in among tall pine trees and located right off the ocean. A woman camping there said she loved coming here because it was one of the few places on the Northern California coast where you could walk right onto the beach; most beaches are down a steep rocky incline. The word quickly got around the campsite that we had biked from Philadelphia and lots of the campers came over to talk to us as we were setting up. Someone said that tomorrow morning at 9:15 it would be low tide if we wanted to see what was wahed up on shore, but we hope to get an earlier start tomorrow so we can get to Fort Bragg at a decent hour. We did 42 miles today, in almost 5-1/2 hours, arriving at 5:30.