Inverness & Caspar

People are awesome. After leaving SF, I made the decision to stop in the Muir Woods for a hike (more of a nature walk; score another point for my US Parks Pass! I kept passing the sweet sappy smell that I want to bottle and wear everywhere I go. The hike took a couple hours and because I was late getting there in the first place, the sun was already starting to wane by the time I got back to my bike to further hit the road. I stopped in Point Reyes with the plan of finding dinner. I found friends!

These two guys were up from SF doing some photography for the weekend. We ate diner together and they offered me a bed at the Motel Inverness - he'd accidentally booked a suite with 2 rooms, but had already booked another hotel anyway, so one room was going to remain empty. Dibs!

I was up and on the road early the next day. I stopped in Bodega Bay at a cute little coffee shop called Roadhouse Cafe where I ate breakfast and coffee. Back on the road, I wasn't feeling like ridding for a long day. I stopped in Point Arena, an adorable coastal town riding, for my usual coffee and baked goods. The old building shown on the right was across the street from the Arena Market where I bought amazing wool socks!  While getting ready to set off again, I was accused by another biker of ruining his trip: his wife had begged to bring along flip flops, but he claimed there was no room. My Birkenstocks were clearly displayed clipped to my saddlebags.  His wife used this as justification for sneaking hers into their luggage!

I continued north and pulled into the Caspar Beach and RV park - fully booked. Did I mention it was memorial day long weekend? Definitely didn't think this on through. I got the wifi passcode from the woman at the desk in hopes of searching for a place with vacancy. As I was doing this a woman walked by offering a camping spot on her lawn in exchange for a surf lesson! Done!

I didn't need the lesson; however, I rented a surfboard and a wetsuit for a few afternoon hours. The water was COLD! Much colder than I anticipated. Once sick of surfing, I followed Cassandra back to her place where I crashed on her floor. She lives in a mobile home in the woods on an older couple's property where she takes care of some animals and some other chores. We had the most amazing applewood smoked burgers and FRESH CRAB. Her surf-boss came up to share food and beers with us. The property had all sorts of old farming equipment and a barn of old working tools. It was an engineer's dream!

What isn't an engineers dream is discovering your motorbike has no oil. None. I couldn't see any on the dipstick even after adding the quart I had with me. Shit.