Highway 1

Day 20 Photo Album

September 22, 2009

Insidious fog. I like cool weather and fog. Winding roads and changing landscape. But I learned one important thing about fog today: enough already. It creeps into your bones and hovers in your mind.

Today’s drive was fascinating in that the scenery was extremely beautiful and constantly changing from sheer cliffs to wide tops of cliffs (not sure if that means it’s a butte, but I don’t think so) to interlocking mountains (or steep hills). All in fog and low 60’s temperature.

The morning began spectacularly around 5:30 am. The sky was pitch black with more stars than I’ve seen in a long time. I could vaguely see the Milky Way across the sky. Crystal clear sky. Stars from horizon to horizon. By a little after 6 am the curtain of fog began to infiltrate out of nowhere as the sun lightened the sky. In the right light I could see a spray of moisture glistening in the sunlight. The sun was shining and the upper sky blue, but fog crawls across the land without fail everywhere. All day.

It is a drive that really requires two people to change off the driving so one person can enjoy the views. Otherwise, you need to stop quite a lot and some of the best views are in places that you cannot stop. Those fleeting seconds of dramatic compositions. I would guess that the bicyclists have the best time of it, though they must get very tired. I saw many people with loaded bicycles all day.

I followed Highway 1 all the way down to Bodega Bay from Westport. I would say my favorite town was Fort Bragg. It seemed like a great place. I stopped in Medocino for a bit but was less interested in it. There was a feeling of Rockport about it. In Point Arena I stopped for some cheese and when I asked the local woman in the shop if it was always this cold, she said “this is Point Arena.” Okay. As I passed through all the towns it was very clear they were vacation spots. State parks and beaches are everywhere and people were taking advantage of them.

Turning east towards Santa Rosa on Route 12 I watched the temperature climb from 60 to 85 in about 10 minutes. The sun shone sans fog and I was happy for that. Passing through Sebastopol I felt it was the kind of town I’d like to explore, but my destination was Santa Rosa and the sun was sinking, so I passed.

Taking a few wrong turns, sort of on a whim, I skirted the western edges of Santa Rosa and found that it is very spread out and has many agricultural areas as well as ranches and the like. Very flat. Eventually, I found my way to the cheapest motel in town sandwiched between Hwy 101 and the busiest street through the city. A bit of a jolt after such a quiet day. But I wanted a transition stop before heading into San Francisco and beyond.