Monday, 17 October 2016 - Coulterville, California - San Francisco, California
Rained all night and eased off about 6:00am. Delayed starting until 9:00am by which time the rain had stopped. We headed back into Coulterville to get some photos as it was too wet yesterday. The town looked even more quaint now that we were warm and dry. Then it was on the road to Modesto on our way to San Francisco. The arrangements we now have in place mean that we have just one more week of travelling before we get back to Fort Langley. Not sure we will know what to do with ourselves when we don't have to get up, pack and get on the road every morning.
The run from Coulterville was uneventful but a nice ride as we bypassed the major interstate and followed a less used highway as far as possible. This route took us through some lovely country including an area near Waterford which is a big nut producer. I couldn't identify which trees were which but there were almonds, walnuts and hazel nuts being advertised.
The bike is going great as Goldwings do but the last two days of rain have seen it get pretty dirty with the run up through Big Sur dodging rock falls then around Yosemite through the Fall leaves all over the road so the first fuel stop was made to coincide with a place with a car wash. A quick few minutes with a hose and while it isn't clean, it looks a lot better and doesn't have grime attached that would result in scratched paint. I'll have to give it a good wash before returning it.
Rather than going direct into San Francisco, I had planned to loop around the bottom of San Francisco Bay through San Jose, not realising what USA Highways are actually like. We still went that way but couldn't see much from the highway so it was on to San Francisco and into our motel for the next three nights.
This afternoon involved checking out the waterfront, having a look through the maritime museum and surrounds, collecting some public transport 3 day travel passes to see us around the buses, cable cars, and streetcars.
Tomorrow we play tourists and start with a visit to Alcatraz
324 klms today, total to date 16168 klms.
Images of Coulterville: The old Saloon
Images of Coulterville: The Cafe and General Store
Images of Coulterville: The old General Store
Nut Trees: Walnut, Hazel or Almonds near Waterford
Nut Trees: Walnut, Hazel or Almonds near Waterford
First view of San Francisco Bay
First view of San Francisco
City Hall
California Public Utilities Commission
Orthodox Church
First look at the Golden Gate Bridge; would you believe the fog struck again
