The ride on Friday was a glorious one consisting of riding my favorite road: PCH from Morro Bay to Big Sur. On just about any given year, I am more likely to ride this road than Ortega Highway which starts virtually at my garage door. The temperatures were mild and the skies were crystal clear blue. What more could one ask? The only response I have for that rhetorical question is "more time" for on this trip I had a very important rendezvous at the Oakland Airport. My wife Nancy was arriving at 4 pm and she hates to wait. Even though she doesn't display the exasperation she is obviously experiencing, I can tell she is definitely exasperated waiting for me. I thus abbreviate my trip by cutting off a side trip to Alice's Restaurant and more importantly Skyline Drive.

I depart the coast at Monterey. My fuel stop in Carmel approximates the take off time from Orange County. She will have spotted me 400 miles and yet will be waiting at the curb for me when I arrive. In an attempt to get to the airport quickly, I'm lane splitting all along I-880. I spend most of my time wondering how slick that lane striping paint is when it's wet. Fortunately, she only waits a few minutes. Nancy dons her riding gear and we are off to the hotel in Concord. We spend the evening reviewing the next day's adventure of stopping at all the parks in the area.

Saturday morning we are up and out earlier than I had planned. All of that extra time is wasted because our first stop, the John Muir National Historic Site isn't open until 10 am. This problem is magnified as I continue to get lessons on using my new GPS. I also learn how important it is to be absolutely accurate when storing waypoints. We decide to move John Muir NHS to the end of the day and go on to our next stop which is Rosie The Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Site. This site was hard to find because it wasn't a typical National Park. It is a monument constructed within a local park. The display is interesting and does a great job of pointing out the contribution of women during WWII.

The next stop is Point Reyes which means a trip over the Richmond Bridge. Fortunately, westbound is not as intimidating (to us) as eastbound. Westbound is the upper deck. Eastbound is the lower deck and has a metal grate decking. It's a little distracting being able to see the water below you. We arrive at Point Reyes and Nancy is relieved that we don't have to go out to the lighthouse. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoyed going to the lighthouse, but we've already been there and it's lunch time. We do a quick tour at the visitor center, get our stamp and requisite photo and we are off to lunch at the Point Reyes Station Cafe.

After lunch, we head south stopping at Muir Woods. As we are leaving the visitor center, I ask Nancy if she wants to tour the facility. She rolls her eyes and I get the idea. We're back on the bike and heading towards the City when I realize I forgot to take a photo at Muir Woods. We make a U-Turn, return to the parking lot and get a photo without getting off the bike.

We arrive in SF for three stamps. We ride around the Presidio (something both of us have wanted to do forever) and are amazed how well the facilities are kept. We find the visitor's center (no easy task since it's in a temporary location) for the stamp and head down towards Fort Point. I'm fascinated by the structure in the area. Not only the incredible masonry (including arched ceilings), but this location also puts us closest I've ever been to the substructure of the Golden Gate Bridge. Fascinating view.

We depart the Presidio and make our way to Fisherman's Wharf to find the San Francisco National Maritime Museum. Finding the museum isn't very difficult. Finding a parking place is. We eventually find one after circling the block a few times. We go inside and get a stamp, I snap a picture on the outside shooting across the busy street. It's getting late and I'm worried that we won't make it back to John Muir NHS in time.

It takes us quite a bit of time to get to the Bay Bridge (Sunday afternoon is a terrible time to get through town). Unfortunately, we are about 15 minutes late and the visitor's center is closed once again. Nancy suggests I take a picture anyway.

As I promised, we once again get on the bike and ride back to Fisherman's Wharf. I'm concerned that Nancy is too tired to go back considering how close we are to the hotel. I already knew how to convince her otherwise. All I have to do is ask "Do you want to have dinner at Aliotto's or go back to the hotel and watch TV?" She says "Aliotto's". So, back we go. We have an enjoyable dinner and watch the sunset from Fisherman's Wharf. After dinner, we tour Pier 39 before calling it a night.

On Sunday, we are up and ready to go pretty early. I take the time to check the bike. Air is fine. Oil is fine. We have a nice breakfast courtesy of Comfort Inn (Nancy loves the waffle maker) before going to the apparently final stop for the weekend. We arrive at a Park and Ride facility in Danville. Right on time, the Park Ranger picks us up as well as three others. We make our way up to our destination, the Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site. The tour was wonderful even though I'm not "up to speed" on playwrights. The tour guide was very informative and entertaining. After the tour, we are returned to the Park and Ride facility. We find a burger shop in Danville and then make our way to the airport.

I drop Nancy off (gently) at the Alaska Airlines curb. She packs her motorcycle clothes, she gives me a kiss and a hug and says "I'll see you tonight". I respond "You bet!".

It's 2 pm and I'm heading south on Hwy 101. Sure, I could save a little time by taking I-5. I could also make a deal with the devil, but neither are going to happen on this day. As I'm approaching Soledad, I realize I'm near another National Monument: Pinnacles. It's nearly 4 pm but I'm pretty confident that I can get to the visitor's center before 5 pm as long as the visitor's center is on the west side of the park instead of the east side. You see, you can't get from the west side to the east side directly. If the visitor's center is on the east side, I've just wasted precious time. It seems like I'm riding forever on this normally wonderful two lane twisty road. But the anxiety of not knowing whether the visitor's center is on my side of the park is compounded by worrying that this detour is going to make my late arrival in San Juan Capistrano even later.

Finally, I arrive at the visitor's center. It's 4:30 and it's open. I get my stamp and my pictures. I'm off realizing that this detour, while bagging a bonus, it's cost me an hour.

I continue my way south trying to make the best time I can, but it's getting late and I'm getting tired. I stop more often than I would like to get a "boost". I roll into the garage before 11 pm, which equates to 500 miles in 9 hours. That's not too bad considering my Pinnacles detour. It's not as good as I wanted, but it's pretty good considering the late start. I'll take it.