Little more Petaluma then Bodega Bay, CA

I'm tired and I got a lot of sleep last night :\.

So on the 11th we stayed in Petaluma for awhile because one of my best friends, Matt, decided he wanted to meet us there. He lives in Vallejo so it wasn't a bad drive for him. The Veterans' Day parade was going so there was lots of foot traffic and children playing in the street. We met up with Matt and his wife, Kristy, and their two kids Zach and Ethan (my God Son). We had some Mexican and talked; it was good times.

Anna and I and the Boyds

For my Wesleyan brethren

Off to Bodega Bay not a long drive and we weren't sweating the time at all. Anna and I rolled in to Bodega at probably 3pm and found a campsite after visiting the Visitors Center. All I can say is that if you want to go crab fishing then go to Bodega Bay. It seemed like everyone who was there was there to fish for crab. Tons of pots all over the place tons of boats filled till they were almost capsizing with pots. The campsite we stayed at, we go and park and wait for the ranger to come and give us our registration and all that jazz. We seriously didn't complete the transaction till about 5pm. She was taking her dang sweet time.

Crab pots galore

We headed out on a walk after that while it was twilight. I was hoping that we could get to the Pacific Ocean on our walk. I brought my headlamp some supplies and we meandered on foot down the road towards Bodega Head. We made it to the edge of the bay where it wasn't technically the Pacific and then turned around. After the walk we climbed in the bus and did some reading and fell asleep quite early.

From our night hike in Bodega

We got up and Anna made some oatmeal while I did a little jamming on the guitar. We then headed out on bike to Bodega Head. We wanted to go to Fishermans' Memorial. The hills were pretty big and we had to get off and walk the bikes up in some places just cuz we are pretty weak. We walked all around the cliffs and took pictures and met some people from Australia.

Trucking up that hill

This guy was just hanging out looking for whales

during our hike

She didn't fall off

We got back at about noon and decided it was time to head up to Mendocino. I was definitely nervous because it would be highway 1 all the way and it has tons of twists and turns and inclines and declines. We said a quick prayer and at a gas station I check all the vitals on the bus. Everything looked good and we were on our way.

The drive was not easy at all. I was constantly downshifting and upshifting and using the gearbox to slow us down etc etc. I was avoiding using too much of the brakes because I didn't want to get them too hot or wear them out. People were coming up behind us and I was constantly using turn outs to let people by. The good news was that we weren't in a rush to get anywhere. We planned on a pit stop at Point Arena Lighthouse just to let the bus rest and to regroup ourselves.





The lighthouse was really cool we forked over the money to get the guided tour and saw some sweet scenery. The lens was insane and was made in like 1906. They were making those lenses back in like the mid 1800s too and it was hard to believe we possessed the technology to make them back then.

Point Arena Lighthouse tallest one in Cali, getting painted

Up on top

Here is the lens they used in the lighthouse

Grey Whale skull pretty massive

After that we continued North and finally landed in Mendocino. I was so proud of the bus making it to Mendocino. It behaved like a champ and if it survived this leg of HWY 1 I am confident it can make it through anything else we are going to put it through. Anna has officially lost 30 lb. since she started dieting and exercising so her reward for her/us was to stay at a Bed and Breakfast for a night. So thats where we are at now just hanging out.

Note to readers:

Sorry I am so wordy I am really trying to be brief and use more pictures.
Anna and I are using the same pictures for our blogs is that annoying? Should we make a conscious effort not to duplicate the pictures in our separate blogs?
I hate always writing, "the bus" I want to name it have any ideas?
Constructive criticism always appreciated.

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