Notes from the Road - Day 20

2/18/04 10:00pm San Luis Obispo, CA

Well, I didn’t make L.A. today, because when I woke up the sun was out in San Francisco. For the first time since I got there, I realized I could get some great, clear views. I loaded up everything in the car, checked out of the hostel, and took off for Haight-Ashbury. On Haight Street, I came to Buena Vista Park (which means “good view” in Spanish), so I pulled over and decided to walk to the top. I’ve gotten more exercise in the last week or two than I had in the preceding year. It turns out, the view from the top of the very steep hill wasn’t worth the effort, since the trees were so thick and tall you couldn’t see much of anything.

I got in the car and continued west to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, and maybe it was just too early in the morning, but the place seemed pretty dead. Endless brightly decorated shops selling every thing under the sun lined both sides of the street, but most were closed, with the black barred sliding gates locked tight. There was construction going on in a couple places, too, so I went on by to get to Golden Gate Park. This place is enormous, bisected by several roads and located right along the western beach. I didn’t walk around the park, but I did stop by the windmill and walked along the beach a bit. From the parking lot, it looked as though lots of white paper trash was blowing around and collecting in a depression that was holding a little water, but as I got closer I realized the white stuff was just sea foam, light as the air, that was rolling in off the ocean waves, getting picked up by the breeze and moving ashore. When I picked some up, I was surprised once it evaporated to find sand on my hand.

I then headed north towards the Golden Gate Bridge, first stopping at a museum on top of the hill that sported a holocaust memorial and apparently the original sculpture “The Thinker”, since there were no signs that said it was a replica. The art museum charged admission and was already full up with two school bus loads of kids, so I skipped it and kept moving. I was now in the Presidio area, where Fort Point, a battery housing cannon to protect the city, once stood. The Spanish had originally claimed the territory in the 1800’s. I managed to find a parking spot and walked around getting some great pictures. Then I bought lunch and prepared to wish San Francisco a fond farewell. However, it took me another hour or more to make my way out of the city. It was almost 2:00pm when I left.

I drove past San Jose and Santa Cruz without stopping, and gradually the land changed, becoming first farmland, which resembled Indiana for miles around, then back to mountains. One descent easily equaled anything I’d seen before for percent grade and length of drop in altitude. After that, I found myself in a familiar position, with a mountain range on either side of me while driving on a mostly flat plain.

It was during this time I looked to my left and saw a tremendous rainstorm falling on the green mountainside. When I turned to my right, my first thought was of a huge mountain range, but I quickly realized the top was all clouds. It looked like a giant tidal wave frozen in the very moment of cresting, with the sun just above and casting a huge, dark shadow just below. I turned the radio on and heard the surrounding areas were getting several inches of rain, but I was still dry and happy when I saw the signs pointing to the Pinnacles State Park. First, I passed an exit for the west entrance thinking to skip it, then I went ahead and took the exit for the east entrance. The road first went through a little town that looked 9/10^ths Mexican, then wound up into the mountains east of me. I followed it maybe 15 miles, hardly seeing another car on the two-lane road, but conscious of the time. At the top of one crest I got out for a picture, and at another point I saw the first rainbow of the trip. When I checked my guide book, however, I saw the park was about to close, and I didn’t know how much further I had to go. The map could be misleading, and even if I got there, I could’ve lost the remaining light to storm clouds and dusk, so I turned around and got back on the highway. Maybe next time.

I got into San Luis Obispo relatively early, but decided to make it a quiet night anyway, so I could catch up on sleep and shower before putting in at another hostel where both may be scarce.