A quick tide-yaz-over, until I can get photos loaded from my computer, as I'm typing on my friend's machine.
Safe & Sound in the northern San Francisco suburbs, staying with pals Jena and Victor. SOOOPer DOOPer nice people; gentle, evolved, aware.. pragmatic, (in relation to many S.F. dwellers, I would say).
Just an awesome ride down the coast from Eureka, a beautiful pacific coast town with a whole lot of scary-looking transient bag-people asking me if I can provide any Spare Change, free rides, or stale Vicodins.
California Route 101 is the main drag heading north and south on the western edge of the state; after about an hour you flip right at Leggett across 28 miles of the twistiest road in the world, towards wild and wonderful California 1 that runs along the cliffs all the way to Los Angeles. The colors are other-worldly; the absolute richness of the blue hues in the sea are contrasted wildly with the sharp browns and tans of trhe cliff faces, as well as the bold, craggy rocks jutting freakily up from the water.
Arrived in San Rafael late dinner time... Jen and Vic awesome hospitable.. they have a really lovely ranch house on the side of a VERY steep hill overlooking the Bay.. tidy, well-kept house full of all sorts of artsy knick-knacks and fun collectibles (BEATLES FUN PACK! BIG!).. musical instruments, etc. A really great port on this long sea cruise.
Yesterday went into SF city on the bike to arrange changing tires, chain, sprockets, front brake pads (got get back to STOCK! Will never buy anything but stock pads for this bike again). There's now only three Suzuki dealerships in bay area.. and the downtown one was as close as any... I was afraid of the prices here, and rightly so; the parts I need (including tires) came to most of $500... and then it will cost another 200 to install all. Ouch. But needs to be done.
Went over to Haight Ashbury afterwards and walked up and down for a while. Many nice shops... including head shops... mixed in with "normal" local stores like hardware, cafes, etc. I parked the bike right at the intersection of H/A streets, (there were motorcycle parking slots, fortunately)... went to a neat bar one block up Haight St. that had a big plate-glass window and had drinks for an hour or more. Cute Eurasian bartender gal... had a chat wiht a (seemingly) normal guy next to me who came from Maine a long time back.. lives out by "the beach". The air was cool, the sun clear and crisp... and I looked out at the unique, flat-topped Victorian architetcure and tried to imagine the place during 1966. Once in a while got a brief flash... Otherwise I got to watch the Giants playing the Pats there, ...and how often do you get a chance to load-up a jukebox in Haight Ahsbury?
More on this all later... including photos.
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