Johnny Avoidance Day
Yesterday, rather than spend the night at the same campsite as the aforementioned lunatic Canuck, we rode 43 miles instead of 22. He turned up unexpectedly in Point Arena as Tom and I were standing outside the Library, waiting for Rich to finish up on the Internet inside. As soon as Johnny had finished telling us how much he drank and smoked the previous day, he headed up the street to engulf some food, and we plotted the avoidance plan. Once advised of the danger of imminent Johnnyness, Rich agreed, and we were off.
I was pretty cranky by the end of the ride...the "$1.75 for four minutes" showers at the Ocean Cove RV park didn't help much with my Big Grump. But today, we're at Bodega Dunes State Park, where the showers are free. So it all averages out, in the same way that big hills are balanced by blazing descents, meal costs are shared, and dishes are done by whoevcer feels like doing them. A weird little pedaling tripod-style circus are we. That's Pod Thomas there, praying to the gods of fog and sea that he won't miss his line and slide under a truck during his incipient mad downhill careen.
This circus, I might add, is getting to San Francisco a day ahead of schedule, due to our steely determination to not hear another interminably enthusiastic "I spent all day at this great swimming hole, ay? Drank a quart of scotch, got drunk, rolled up some reefers! Oh yeah, it was a good time, ha!" story, or any variations thereof. We've got 35 miles tomorrow, then 17 the next day, then 19 on Sunday, at the end of which we'll ride across the Golden Gate through the soup of fog that's been following us down the coast for over a week now. Not quite what we were expecting from California...clearly, someone's forgotten to pay the weather bill.
But! San Francisco is a significant point in the journey, for all three of us, so getting there, fog or no, is all milestoneish and so forth.
I'd like to prattle on more, but the gray sky has reduced the solar panels' output, and I've got about 20 minutes' worth of battery left on the laptop.
Now: some fog for you. Looking north, from one of the higher bits on the climb to Fort Ross.
