Well, tomorrow I return the bike in San Francisco. It is almost OK to exhale, but not yet. Right now, I am in my little cabin along the Russian River in Cloverdale. When this first began in San Francisco, with that day ending in Yosemite Lakes, I didn’t know how I was going to pull this ride off. It was cold and dark. I had been on the bike for at least seven hours straight and found myself on a two-lane mountain road, hoping the office would be open when I managed to find it.

My last full day on the bike began back at Ft. Bragg. In the interest of accuracy, I have to print a retraction. The population of Mendocino County is 80,000 and not 15,000 and I have my staff to thank for catching the error in my last post.

 I had a great run this morning along the coast at the Noyo Headlands Park. It is a rugged looking shoreline, kind of barren, with very little vegetation. When you are in that type of environment, it draws you inside because there is so little distraction.

I did a little more exploring with Joe Seta before taking off. We went to a building called the Company Store, because it was actually the company store for the Union Lumber Company. It was where workers purchased all sorts of necessities, made available by the company. It is now home to a salon, a yoga studio, an upscale restaurant, a bicycle store and more. It is the headquarters of the Living Light Culinary Institute and I met Dan Soria to talk briefly about his business model, because I was curious. No need to bore you with details, trust me. He and his wife, Cherie, were way out front before raw foods and the vegan diet were popular.

I took off from Ft. Bragg around Noon. I think I have mentioned already that I have become overly cautious on the motorcycle, too slow around turns and very uncomfortable at times. Now that I am so close to the end, I don’t want my luck to run out. I pulled over to let traffic pass on a number of occasions. Over the course of two weeks, there have been enough close calls to make me a little jumpy.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to write tonight and probably shouldn’t have. This is the last night on the road and I want to relax. I planned this ride for a long time and now that it is ending, I don’t have a plan. I know I want to keep writing and I will.

I have been terribly selfish and never once asked how you were doing. I am sorry. So what’s going on with you?