San Francisco

April 4

Today was a great day filled with many mixed emotions

But before I start on today, yesterday afternoon (April 3) we arrived at SFO airport and took the BART (train) into the city. We were carrying all of our massive luggage around but the first train wasn't really that crowded so it was no hastle. The second train/cable car however was a different story. We were sitting in the station, waiting for the correct one to arrive but when it did it was completely packed, absolutely no room. So we let the train pass and mentally prepared ourselves for the next one. This one seemed like it was even more full but we squeezed aboard anyway. We got lots of looks from everyone else on the car but they were all really friendly. The cable car went above ground and rode through the streets of San Francisco. We got off at our stop and walked a couple blocks to the house of my (Josh's) second cousin once removed (my dad's cousin).
We arrived to a warm welcome, met Denise, Stuart and Oliver and had a wonderful dinner. After that we starting working on re-assembling the bike. It took a couple hours but we got everything put back together and into working order. After that we headed off to bed.

The next day (the 4th) we arose to a beautiful view of the city and glimpse of the pacific ocean! We ate some Breakfast, organised and packed all of our panniers, left behind some excess gear, and were on our way at about 12:30. We said goodbye and were on our way!



We both had butterflies in our stomachs as we started up but as we rode due west to the pacific ocean, those feelings started to ease. We dipped our tire in the ocean and rode along the coast eventually up to the Golden Gate Bridge.









What a hilly city! It was an absolutely gorgeous day (couldn't have asked for a nicer start) and biking across the bridge was quite amazing.
We biked along the San Pablo bay through some very quaint little towns along wonderful bike paths and bike lanes. We stopped at an REI store to buy a couple fuel canisters and also some lunch at a supermarket. We kept traveling further north alongside some busier roads that were not as well marked. We got a little lost and slightly intimidated by our situation and realised that we probably wouldn't make it to our campsite by a reasonable hour. So we decided to stay at a little motel instead (not something we want to get in the habit of but there weren't to many choices about where to camp this close to the city). We did some route planning and re-organising and are now heading off to bed. Tomorrow we hope to make it up to Napa and camp just a little ways out of the city. We probably won't have Internet so it might be a little while until our next post.

Location:San Francisco (and a little north)