Riding down the coast of California always presented one formidable challenge, getting through San Francisco. I try to avoid big cities, but avoiding SF would require riding far inland and missing many miles of coast. Since I have never been in SF, I decided it would be better to take the opportunity and see the big city. But I needed a plan. After leaving Fort Bragg, I left the coast to get warmer and ride through the wine country of the Sonoma and Napa valleys. This was nice until I got within about 30 miles of the Bay area, when traffic became snarled. I spent Thursday night camped at China Camp SP, but since it was booked for the weekend I found a cheap hotel in Pinole. This was convenient to the BART rail and provided a secure place to leave my things while in went into SF on Saturday. I rode the BART to 24th and Mission, a seedy part of town reeking of urine, and walked to the tourist district on the north end of town. On Sunday I rode the motorcycle across both the Richmond – San Rafael Bridge and the Golden Gate bridge to get south of SF. Along the coast again, the vegetation has changed markedly, resembling more Mexico than the great Northwest, but the temps remain cool.
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