[10/07/2024 – 17/07/2024[

Our Last Week – Whenever You Read IT

So where were we? Sequoia National Park, Camping, Running/Hiking, Swimming, that was great especially since we had a rather short ride. Next stop was Yosemite, that was a slightly longer ride, which would have been not such a big deal, but standing in the waiting line for 90 min. brought down the mood and it was yet another very warm day. With all the gear we had to jump from shady space, to shady space. Maybe we should have taken the easterly entrance through I395, but the route we took was much more enjoyable ;-).
So you get into Yosemite, and at least in my head there were the pictures of El Capitan, the Half Dome at the far end. Pictures I got from “Alex Honnolds – Free Solo” and “Huber Buam – Speed”. So i was a bit disappointed by the 30 miles after the entrance, that it took to actually get to Yosemite valley. But man the tunnel view, so worth it. However it was late in the day, the ride was long and no tent was put up yet. So Stefan definitely did not enjoy that view as much as I did. In addition he is not necessarily a fan of blank rock as much as I am. We were camping at the Upper Pine Campground which is at the far end of the valley, right to the entry of the Misty and John Muir Trail. A little creek flowing not to far from the campground. Just thinking about that spot still sends shivers down my spine. The cool down phase in the river was really enjoyable.
The next morning we opted to walk the Misty Trail, but due to it being closed for maintenance, we ended up walking the John Muir Trail. Jup that was, well holy shit, have a look at the pictures. Going back down we did the same thing like at Macchu Picchu, sending it. Our thighs were complaining about that for 4 days afterwards, but it was a lot of fun. Sadly we only got one night in Yosemite, which is a shame, as there would have been so many more trails to hike – well maybe there is a next time.
Next stop was Turlock, at home I´d say it is a village, one with like 72.5k poeple living there, but it still does feel like a village. The ride there was characterized by an ever changing landscape, and a sharp increase in temperature. Before we got to the flat lands it was still hilly but with this dry, yellow wild grain plants. Some cattle on the hillsides, just a surreal view, but one that seems to be common in California. And then agriculture commenced, with fields of almond trees, and other agricultural plants. I am not 100% sure but I think there was as well one or two olive groves to be seen.
Initially I did not have San Francisco picked as a city to stay, just to pass through. However Stefan mentioned it, and after he found a proper accommodation, we booked it for two nights. What can i say, it would have been a shame not to visit it. Beautiful city, totally overpriced, but what can you expect, if a 27 year old software developer at Meta earns 200k.- in hard cash and then gets stock options in roughly the same amount. There was an article in one of the German news outlets a few months back which described the gap and took San Francisco as an example. And yes you can see this gap almost everywhere you turn. Yet the city is joyous, colorful and definitely LGBTQ+ positive. With the right job aka income I could definitely live there for a year or two, which thus far I cannot say for many cities i have visited over the years.

One thing we needed to get done while in San Francisco was my tire situation. We found a company called cycle gear, which seems to be the equivalent of the German brand Louis. There we can order tires online – still not the Pirelli, as they currently have a shortage of the back tire, but well the Michelin Anakee was available – however as the idiot did abandon his home in Munich, and is now “living” with his parents again, naturally i gave my new home address as the billing address. Well i forgot to tell the bank about it, and it took me three tries and a shower brainwave of Stefan´s to get it right. The disadvantage of Cycle Gear is, that they do not take your bike remove the wheels, change the tires and hand you the bike back. So you have to remove the wheels, which is not a problem if you have a home and a garage and so on. In addition, Cycle Gear says on their website, that it can take up to 48 hrs to receive the wheels back. Not an option at all. so i started calling the store in Santa Rosa, if they could just fit us in, while we take of the wheels in their parking lot. No – the process says – blablabla. Alright let´s see the next store, Redding and what do you know, very helpful, just a mention of how unusual that is, but yeah no problem, we will make that work. Well now Redding became part of our itinerary. While the tires are being shipped to Redding (which I do find rather cool, that you can send an online purchased item to a store … I know this has been around for some time, i just never had the necessity for it, until now … so yeah cool), we head of to ride the Pacific Coast Highway.

I have heard so much about it, but I was not sure what to expect, and then, riding it, again, I do not have the words to describe, but I hope you´ll find the pictures enjoyable. One night in Anchor Bay and one night in Shelter Cove, a bit of dirt road in between, the ocean, the coastline oh yes and we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, with our own vehicles which was an experience by itself.
One more thing about Shelter Cove, there is a little brewery and Stefan and me got the last two beers they served that evening. Fun fact, the girlz have been in exactly the same spot a few years ago, I remember the picture (that i got resend), but I did not know where it was taken, well now I do. Nice place this.

Wednesday: Sequoia National Park – Yosemite National Park

´nough said

Thursday: Yosemite National Park – Turlock

slight miscommunication while riding, but we got over it, and the views we could definitely agree on. While being in the yellow see of the dried grain, you see something dark afar. First my mind told me it was the Pacific, just to realize that it is all the almond groves, and agriculturally used land.
Going out in Turlock on a Thursday night, I was quite astound that people publicly show who they are rooting for politically. Something you very seldom see in Germany, especially on a night out.

Friday: Turlock

Laundry, blogging and home cooked food.

Saturday: Turlock – San Francisco

Riding interstates is kind of boring, Oakland had a nice vibe to it. The thing both of us are still struggling with is the massive amount of one time use dishes, cutlery and so on. Everything is to go, and you have to ask twice if they have reusable cups or dishes and so on. Even in the hotels/motels (if they do serve breakfast) everything is one time use. All the environmental aspects aside, I wonder if from an economical perspective, this is really that much cheaper then to have reusable stuff, and just put them through a dish washer. One more thing we found rather strange, especially since we were looking for tires. Number 1: you find a lot of tire stores selling new and used tires, why that is we have not fully understood yet. Number 2: Unlike in Germany where there are tire stores that will get you every kind of tire for any kind of vehicle, here in the U.S. it seems that for a car you go to one, for a motorcycle you go to another one, So the specialization is not on tire, but on tire and kind of vehicle.
The evening was spent with walking, having a nice dinner in china town, in a restaurant where we were the only white faces ;-). Very good food. And later we found a bar or two or three.

Sunday: San Francisco

Public transportation is ok*ish cheap. 5.-$ for a day pass (that is not valid for the cable cars), unless you do not have the right amount of cash with you. Credit/Debit cards are not accepted on the busses, and there is no change. So we payed with a 20.-$ bill and only as the driver told us that there is no change we realized that we just purchased 4 day passes. Well we gave them later to a couple of tourists, which had a similar problem like we did.
Found the Leather/LGTQ+ district, and just had a very pleasent day. Oh yes, SailGP was in town, that is quite a site seeing those sailboats foiling and speeding through the water.

Monday: San Francisco – Anchor Bay

The Pacific Coast Highway – 1 bendy, proper speed limits, a lot of roadworks. Every turn another beautiful view. 22.-$ for a place to put our tent up, electricity, showers and a beach. What more do you want.

Tuesday: Anchor Bay – Shelter Cove

Same as the day before, with the exception, that we did veer of the Highway 1 in favor of a dirt road. Both of us had hoped for wonderful views of the coast line and the ocean, but the road led more through a forest, again with Sequoias – impressive trees, still – but maybe that was better, as both of us concentrated more on the riding then on the views. No one tumbled their bike and after quite some time, it was fun to ride offroad again. Off road is not the correct word as it is an official road after all.

Well now, this concludes week #33
till next time
Happy Hacking Everyone