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| I awoke to one of those beautiful March days in California that
make you understand why 33 million of us have chosen to live here.
No snow today, no rain today, just a perfect 68 degrees and some beautiful
green hills that call out, “Why aren’t you on your motorcycle, fool?”
OK, so I’m up and start calling people who might want to go for a ride. Bill can’t go, has a lady friend who wants to see Monterey. Go for it Bill. Bill is 74. Jim can’t go, it’s his birthday and his family has plans for him. All right, maybe next time. I get sidetracked reading a new magazine about motorcycles, second best to actually riding. Then I get a call from Rich and he tells me his Beemer is ready to roll. I take a quick shower and head down the street. We’re not sure where we want to go so we head north on Hwy. 280. This freeway is one of the nicest stretches of superslab in the Bay Area. It takes you right through the middle of rolling green hills with million dollar homes peaking down from their lofty and expensive heights. If we stay on it, we’ll end up in San Francisco but today we want to explore some new roads. After twenty minutes or so, we exit on Page Mill Road and head up into the foothills. Now there is a turnoff from Page Mill that will take us over to Hwy 84 and up to Alice’s restaurant on Hwy 35. Pretty standard stuff for riders in this area but today I missed the turnoff and we kept heading up into the hills. I’ve never been up here so we agree to keep going and see where this road takes us. That’s the beauty of a nice day with no schedule; you can take the time to explore. So up we go and Page Mill turns out to have a number of switchbacks and tree covered areas that make this a great ride. Because of the narrow road, the going is a little slow, but like I said, no schedules today. We finally come out on Hwy 35, which is what we suspected since Hwy 35 is the ridge road along the top of these mountains. We make a quick right turn and head toward Alice’s.
We encounter more motorcycles up here; most are crotch rockets that seem to be in a hurry. We, on the other hand, stop and take a few pictures of the ocean on our left and the bay on our right. What a great clear day to be able to see both bodies of water at one time. When you’re down in the valley, you can easily forget that we live on a peninsula but up here you can see all of that water surrounding this long stretch of land. In the summer, there is often fog over the ocean and smog over the bay. Today is one of those clear days that make winter riding such a pleasure. (photos 1 & 2) A short time later we’re pulling into the parking lot across from Alice’s Restaurant for a little lunch. There are lots of people up here today but be find a table out on the patio with a view of a little man-made waterfall and enjoy the moment. All during lunch motorcyclist are coming and going and we finally decide to join them. We plan to stay on Hwy 35 just as long as we can today. We head north, cross Hwy 92 and hook a left that takes us right along the Crystal Springs Reservoir (photo 3) and eventually come to a dam that keeps the water out of a wooded ravine but also has a great view of the Hwy 280 viaduct that crosses this same ravine (photo 4). Up on the hill you can see some of the million dollar homes that look down on the reservoir and the highway. Some of them are quite unique such at the “Pod” house (photo 5) which is obviously one of a kind. I’ve always thought if humorous to see these great homes overlooking the freeway. The traffic noise has got to be tremendous. I’m not sure how you would enjoy sitting out on your patio with the freeway traffic being what it is; the noise would drive you crazy. Maybe it’s just “sour grapes” on my part. There is a parking lot at the end of this bridge so people can stop and hike trails around the reservoir or walk back and take pictures of the bridge and lake (photos 6,7,& 8) as we did. After a brief stop, we’re on the road again towards the City and the Great Highway.
Hwy 35 now starts to run through residential property but is still a nice wide road with a 45 mph speed limit. Pretty soon we reach a dead end that requires we get up on Hwy 280 for a couple of miles before exiting again. Now we’re closer to the ocean on our left and south San Francisco on our right. We can now see Sutro tower ( photo 9) in the distance and row upon row of track homes. For those of you old enough to remember the folk song of the 60’s called “Tiny Boxes” you now know what the singer was referring to (photo 10). San Francisco is only about 10 miles on each side, and they cover those 100 sq/miles with every thing they can, houses being one of them. Because there is more demand than availability, you can see why a house that costs $400,000 in San Francisco would only go for $150,000 somewhere else. The wind is starting to pick up now as we have the ocean on our left and up ahead we can see the first signs of hang gliders and paragliders and know that Ft. Funston is just down the road. We pull into this park/reserve and find a place to park the bikes close to the launch area. There are lots of people out today. There are also lots of hang gliders flying to attract them. Ft. Funston has been a hang gliding Mecca for many years because there is always a consistent wind off the ocean here. All you have to do is step off the cliff into oblivion and you’re on your way. I must admit, getting up the nerve to take that first step must require a real “leap of faith” that you know what the hell you’re doing. That’s why only experienced gliders go here. This does not look like a place to do your first flight. I take a look at the folks who fly these things, and they don’t look like they have bigger balls than I do?
So many people come to see these hang gliders that they have a viewing area for all of us “wanna be’s” to watch and take pictures. (photos 11,12,13,14, 15,16,17,18,19). I have to admit, if I were younger, this would appeal to me. If you think motorcycling makes you feel free, how about flying like superman? Maybe I can try that paragliding thing. Nah, I’m already spending too much money on motorcycles to start another hobby.
We have a nice visit and then head over to Ft. Point, built right under the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. In short order we’re on the Great Highway and heading up the hill towards “The Cliff House” a famous restaurant that seems to have seen better times (photo 20). This long stretch of beach is very popular with San Franciscans but the undertows can be dangerous. So much so, that the city has taken the unusual step of flat our telling you that people have drowned here, and they do it in several languages (photo 21) but it doesn’t seem to do much good. Each summer someone seems to end of in trouble. I guess it so seldom gets hot in San Francisco that when it does, people will risk drowning to keep cool. We start winding our way around the city streets to stay close to the ocean and out of the real horrendous traffic, if possible, and Point Lobos Road takes us right in front of the Palace of Legion of Honor, an art museum which is hosting a display of Leonardo da Vinci’s work. We take a few pictures of the building and the statue of a man on horseback, since we can kinda relate to him (photos 22 & 23). The view from up here is just great. You can see the Golden Gate off in the distance and see ships coming and going into one of the great harbors of the world (photo 24). Of course Rich wants one of his Beemer with the bridge in the background (photo 25). I can see why since it’s a great backdrop.
We are starting to run out of sunlight now so we better be going. We wind our way over to Fort Point, which is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. I snap another photo of Rich and his gallant steed and one of Ft. Point (photo 26). The story here is that the architect that designed and built the Golden Gate Bridge felt that tearing down Ft. Point would be criminal so he designed a special arch into the bridge abutment that protected the Fort. I’m glad he did. The Fort was built with millions of bricks in the early 1860’s if I recall correctly, and the builders used almost all of the bricks manufactured in the entire bay area, so they built their own bricks foundry to keep up. If you get out to San Francisco, make sure you stop and visit the Fort. It’s on the Presidio grounds and is well worth the visit. From the top of the fort, are some great views of ships coming into the bay, wind surfers, and fishing boats as they head out under the bridge. Off to your right is a great view of the San Francisco city front (photos 27 & 28). Once you finish your visit to the Fort Point, you can head into the city of some great food.
Well, we’ve done everything we set out to do. We’ve ridden roads that are new to us, we’ve seen the hang gliders at Ft. Funston, and visited Ft. Point under the Golden Gate Bridge. Time to go home. Rich takes the lead and we head out of the fort only to get lost. After wandering around in city traffic, never a fun thing, we turn towards the sun and head for the ocean. We hit the Great Highway that runs along the ocean and now know where we are. We hook a left, and a short time later we’re up on Hwy 280 heading south for an hour of fast riding home. As I pull into my driveway, the sun has set and the fading light puts an end to a perfect day. Now, where do we go next week………..? |
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