17.10.08
Samuel P. Taylor SP – Skyline Park (Napa)
91,2 km, total 3426,7 km
Margareth and I left the Campground by 9 am. She was on her way south to San Francisco, I was going north-east towards Roseville/Sacramento. A few minutes after I left the Ranger who checked us in yesterday stopped and asked me if I lost my travelmate – he saw Margareth going the other way;-). It was a hot day. Cycling along the coast most of the time I‘ m not used to the dryness and heat going inland. After quite a few climbs I reached Petaluma around noon. At the Visitor Center I tried to get some information about alternate routes – but there where none.
After a big lunch at Taco Bell I was on my way to Napa. Since it was friday afternoon there was a lot of traffic – people coming home from work and others going to Napa to spend the week-end. It was no fun at all, there was hardly a shoulder and the cars passed me one after another. To brighten my day I got another broken spoke, great.
When I finally reached Napa I had to get off the Highway on an alternate road and saw these funny looking cows.
The Visitor Center was already closed, the bikepath around town were partly very baad, many holes in them. I couldn‘ t find an affordable place to stay and on my way out of town I asked a local at a gas station who explained me how to get to a campground a few miles out of Napa. When I got there it was already getting dark and the gate to the Skyline Park was closed. Though I waved and jumped the woman inside her booth didn‘ t see me. Finally a car came out and I walked in, checked in, pitched my tent and fell asleep pretty sun after taking a hot shower.