San Francisco, CA to Arcata, CA

Day 21: Mon 11 Aug: So much beauty.

I left SF much later than I had intended to, even though I got up much earlier than I had wanted. Last night the only parking spot I could find had street cleaning from 8am to 10am on Monday. So I got up early and moved the car. And then, once everyone had gone to work, moved it again to right near the apartment. I did laundry, packed the car, and had a very hearty lunch at Toast. I followed the GPS's instructions for getting to the Golden Gate Bridge, and it took me on an unusual, but very pretty, route practically over Twin Peaks.

The Golden Gate Bridge was fogged in on the SF side. It made it look like the roadway just disappeared into whiteness.

Highway 1. The parts where I was stuck behind a slow car who wouldn't pull over were tedious, but other than that, it's an amazing road. I didn't stop much simply because I didn't want to have to pass the slowpokes more than once. The road itself is an engineering marvel. I wonder how much California has to spend every year to keep it glued onto the constantly eroding, and occasionally burning, hillsides? It certainly doesn't seem cost-effective, although I'm very glad they do it.

I love the Rabbit. I made a lot of use of the Sport gear (for power going up, and some slowness going down), and the Tiptronic (engine braking) today.

The towns along Highway 1 remind me of Vermont villages. They are small; there's not much around; and they each have their own character.

I drove through fog and sun and fog and redwoods and pines and redwoods. I drove up and down and up and around and down (every river, stream, arroyo, gulch, or gully seemed to require a descent to sea level to get over). I finally arrived in Arcata at 8:30pm.

And so here I sit, in the Fairwinds Motel, signing off before bed.