Day 7
We hurredly packed up our things and left the KOA. We headed towards the California coast along I-80 to CA-37 to CA-101 to CA-1. Before Petaluma there was some beautiful marshland. Erin kept bothering Izzy about the marshland, because he was attempting to read emails about the house. We then arrived in Petaluma.
We needed some supplies, so we found the a Whole Foods in Petaluma. Erin told Izzy that Petaluma was the birthplace of the industrial organic chicken industry, and remains the hub of that industry. So, while Erin was in the vegetable section, Izzy went to get eggs. They said “Cageless” and “Freerange.” Izzy, wondering about the slighty cheeseball marketing on the egg cartons, whipped out the AWESOME GOOGLE PHONE to investigate the chicken farms. He found that most of them were from the same large chicken torture factory, right in Petaluma. “Cageless” actually meant wooden cages, instead of wire cages. Please read “An Omnivore’s Dillema” to find out more about the “Freerange” industrial organic chicken. Izzy subsequently found some eggs that were actually truly freerange, using the SWEET GOOGLE PHONE.
We continued towards the Coast, and the GREAT GOOGLE PHONE FAILED! It told us to turn left from a highway onto a road, for which there was no exit! We were apparently supposed to drive through the guardrail and make a crazy stuntman jump onto this road. Thus the small print at the bottom of the Google map pages stating that the directions are for planning purposes only and that we must follow all laws (the laws of gravity especially). We had to backtrack about 10 miles to get off, then drive back up 10 miles to get on the road. The path that Google chose to get us to CA-1 was very long and odd, but ended up being quite scenic.
We arrived at CA-1 and attempted to find a beach to run around on, but they were fraking packed! The first one we tried had a line of about 25 cars waiting for beach access. That is not what we call fun! We decided to drive north for a few miles until we found a less populated beach.
We finally found a nice looking beach, paid the $7 for parking, tied up the dogs, and ate PB&J sandwiches. Then we took those maniacal mutts down to the water. Cauchy’s eyes nearly burst from her head when she saw ALL THAT WATER! So, with the waves only splashing up to our ankles the dogs played in the water. Then, the lifeguard (aka the fun police) saw us. He came to tell us that we were on the world’s most dangerous beach and we would certainly die if we continued to stand, ankle deep, in the water. Erin gave the fun police the stank eye with a bit of the lasers, and grumbled back to the car. We needed to get on the road if we were going to make it far enough North to find an open campground.
The drive North was spectacular, and there were many many many cyclists. We think going to do the cyclist tour next time, it would be totally awesome dude!
We stopped at a small wine store and got a $17 bottle of wine.
We found a nice campground by the beach, pitched our camp, then walked down to the beach itself. It was gorgeous, but extremely cold! Izzy got some sweet pictures, especially of Erin. Our day ended with that bottle of wine (the best $17 Cab Franc Erin has ever had), grilled portabello mushrooms, and tasty pasta.
From Fire Strewn Sand,
–Israel and Erin