4/30 NAPA/SONOMA - Bogeda Bay to Healdsburg

We woke to bright sunshine. But this was short lived; clouds blew in during breakfast.


The ride went north on Highway 1 along the coast for 10 miles, clinging to bluff tops along the way. We took a "scenic detour" to Jenner to see the mouth of the Russian River (photo top left). Turning east on Highway 116, the ride basically follows the Russian River upstream most of the day. Highway 116 is a beautiful road with a very smooth surface and very few cars - a cyclist's delight. Duncan Mills was only 18 miles from breakfast but cappuccino and pastries called to us.

Guerneville, first settled in 1860, is the largest town on today's route. It was established for the lumber industry by a 25-year old Swiss immigrant, George E Guerne. Colonel James Boydston Armstrong operated a sawmill north of Guerneville. His holdings included 440 acres of old growth redwoods that he wished to be operated as an arboretum. This acreage was purchased by the state in 1934. Brenda and I ate our sandwiches by the Anderson Redwood.

Our destination, Healdsbburg, is in Sonoma County. A failed gold miner, Hamon Held, founded the town starting with a general store. In 1856 he purchased a large tract of land at public auction for $2 per acre and subdivided this in 1857. Today's sophisticated restaurants and shops are clustered around a restored Plaza, originally laid out by Held as part of his original town plan.

Today's ride was 52 miles and about 2,000 feet of climbing.

4/29 NAPA/SONOMA - Petaluma to Bogeda Bay

Today's ride is a circuitous route, designed to avoid the busier roads and to end with the spectacular crossing of the coastal ridge and descend to the ocean just north of Bogeda Bay on Coleman Valley Road. This road is well known to cyclists; the Tour of California race did it in the other, more difficult direction, this year. Brenda and I did it in the other direction, in the fog, in 2001.

We leave Petaluma via residential and industrial areas and quickly find ourselves among gently rolling hills of rural Marin County, passing farms and dairies founded by Italian immigrants in the 19th century. Ride the length of Chilena Valley Road (into the wind - see picture of flags) - passing through the small villages of Tomales, Valley Ford, Freestone, then we climb among the redwoods to Occidental. We rode the spectacular Coleman Valley Road to the coast, climbing to an open ridge line that provides views south to Pt Reyes; then descend steeply 1,000 feet to Bogada Bay.

Bodega Bay is named for Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, captain of the Spanish ship that reached the bay in 1775. The Russians were the first European settlers, setting up port facilities here in 1811 to support their hunting of the sea otter. The sea otters neared extinction in the 1830's and the Russians withdrew from California in 1841.

Total ride today was 51 miles with 3,600 feet of climbing. It was a beautiful ride, marred only by the strong winds.

4/28 And to Petaluma

We called Michael and Judy Troy who live in Penngrove, not far from Petaluma, to see if they could join us for lunch. We ended up at their house for a great lunch and table tennis. Michael showed no mercy and beat us both.

4/27 On to Concord

From San Francisco we drove across the bay to visit long-time friends Paul and Pat Worener.

Itching for a ride, we rode East Bay hills, a ride appropriately named. See photo or right

On Monday, the wind was blowing pretty strong so Brenda and Pat decided they wouldn't ride. This gave Paul and I justification to ride Mt Diablo. See photo on left.

4/26 Visiting San Francisco

Visiting Al and Cheryl Minvielle. Super tour-guide Al shows us everything in San Francisco. By everything, I mean every road. I've seen more of San Francisco in 2 days than I've seen on Dallas in 38 years.

Today we went to Farmers Market, Chinatown, watched Cheryl play lawn bowling and went to the Museum of Natural History as well as the art museum. Made me more tired than a 100 mile bike ride. But San Francisco is a great place - diversity personified!

4/25 From San Francisco

We're visiting Al & Cheryl Minvielle in San Francisco. Went on a great bike ride today over the Golden Gate bridge then up in the hills, back down and along the coast to Sausalito and Tiburon

PHOTOS: Left - about to cross the bridge. Notice hills in the background. Right - on the other side at the top of the hills just mentioned.