Tomales

Dec.11. We are staying at the Continental Inn in Tomales tonight. We ended up staying in Bodega Bay for 4 nights, two at the Bodega Harbor Inn, and two at the beautiful campgrounds at Doran Park. Doran Park is the spit of sand that forms the southern enclosure for Bodega Harbor. It's about a mile long and maybe a hundred yards wide, average. The weather was absolutely balmy for the two days we camped. This camping experience was different for us in that this time we had people all around us, but still it was not crowded. We could sit and watch the boats leave the Harbor to go out for crabs on one side of our campsite, and on the other side watch the ocean surf roll in. Way out beyond the jetty was a rocky island that was a haul out for hundreds of sea lions. At night we could hear them making their sea lion sounds. Walking on the beach we thought we came across a dead sea lion, not so. Park rangers had established a perimeter and had experts check it out. The sea lion was born in Santa Clara and was 'hauled up', or had beached itself to bulk up on blubber for the winter. The rangers named it Toutle Lou after visiting with us. Toutle Lou was gone the next morning. ch

Tomales is a real town. I haven't seen a single art gallery, massage studio, natural foods store, or boutique of any kind. Just the hotel where we are staying, a deli, a bakery, a general store that has been there for 128 years, and a bar slash restaurant. We have satellite tv and wireless in our room. I am a happy guy.

The countryside between Valley Ford and Tomales on Hiway 1 is beautiful rolling pastureland with cows and sheep, and Eucalyptus trees lining the road. Shoulders were hit and miss, but traffic was very light all the way between Bodega Bay and Tomales. We had lunch in a retro style diner in Valley Ford, where I had a beer with my burger and fries. A half hour later, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I pulled off the road and tried to snooze a bit, but could not. Then as we were climbing some short steep hills, it seemed like my leg muscles had just completely drained of energy. It was all I could do to keep pedaling, even with frequent rest stops. I didn't figure it out till a little later in Tomales, that the alchohol in that one beer had had caused my energy crash. I won't make that mistake again.

Ron.
We saw 4 wild turkeys and a heard of deer. ch