Adventures By Guy

1st day in Petaluma I just needed a day to relax. Loraine finally got me out on a walk.
2nd day in Petaluma we drove up to Armstrong Woods State Park. I like it as much or more than Muir Woods. Not as crowded and you can sit at a picnic table and eat or go for a hike along the paths. I am finding out that Loraine likes to hike. So we park and I have a park map. I get oriented and I see the Pool Ridge Trail. The lady said they were all fairly flat trails. So we walk down to the start of it… and we go up a steep trail. Some younger 20 somethings are behind us and even they are stopping a lot. I just start putting one foot in front of the other but I look back and Loraine has stopped. So about every 50 to 100 feet we stop and look around. There is a breath of wind to help cool us. Loraine asks… how much does this go up? Well, probably to the top of the ridge. Why did you pick this one? Because she said they were all mostly flat. The ones marked in yellow are mostly flat! Oh, this one definitely wasn’t marked in yellow! At least we’ll get some good exercise Honey!!! So up we trudged for quite some time. Finally get to the top and a small breath of a breeze is floating by. We stood there a bit to cool off. Thankfully the other side was a lot more gradual in its descent but no wind again and it was around 86. No big redwoods up on the ridge either but as we descended it got a bit cooler and we were able to walk through some bigger redwoods. About this time I told Loraine that I didn’t like hiking but if she liked it I would hike with her. She tells me that even when I was young and in shape that I didn’t like hiking and I would have to agree. Never saw the use for it. Doesn’t do a thing for me. No speed, no motion, sure you get to some neat places but I don’t need to see them if I gotta hike to them. So we walk back on the yellow paths and we get to the car. We leave the park (it’s in Guerneville, California) and head west on 116 to the coast. 116 comes out at Jenner and we went to both headlands. Seals, pelicans and some other sea birds are plentiful. We stood and watched them for a while then went over to the southern headland and walked on the beach. Old Mr Ocean got me too. I was walking on the packed sand paying close attention to the waves so I wouldn’t get my shoes wet… and then some lady asked me a question and I turned to answer… and a wave reached out and got me! A fraction of a second of a distraction and bam. It was the only wave before and after to get that high! Luckily I didn’t melt. We stopped in Bodega Bay and got some food then headed back to her sisters house. We watched a movie each night and they were different than what I normally would watch but they were good.
They were Yesterday and The Kings Speech.
3rd day. I got out early and took apart the front brake calipers and cleaned them, replaced oil soaked brake pads with new. Then cleaned the rotors and the fork tubes. Used my tool to see if anymore gunk was in the seals. Didn’t seem to get any. Put everything back together and then Loraine and I went to the Richmond waterfront museum. Rosie the Riveter. Was interesting and afterwards we walked along the waterfront to the Marina. Ate some food and then we used the pass the museum gave us and we got in the Columbia Employee discount store. Left there and drove Loraine to the airport and I was reminded of another reason I left California. The traffic was bad. Then I dropped her off and she flew to see her other sister while I drove North through San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge… which was shrouded in fog. People were still sight seeing on it though. I was coming up to the bridge in the middle lane when a vehicle with Florida plates on it zipped from the right lane to the middle right in front of me and then almost stopped. Luckily I was able to jump in the left lane then got around them and back to the middle lane… I saw the lady was holding up a cell phone on a foggy afternoon and they had to be centered… yeah, I guess that shot is worth being in an accident.
Eventually I got back to her sisters and started packing so I could be on the road before the heat really kicked in tomorrow.