Sherri and I were alone this weekend and Sunday night I got a little restless after relaxing for most of the weekend. It was 9pm and I said, "Let's load up the bike for a night and ride to the coast." She asked, "Where?"
"I'm not sure," I replied. I knew I wanted North Coast, but wasn't sure where we'd end up. I suppose it's like that when I go abalone diving with my buddies; we never seem to decide where to go until we are there.

So we loaded up and left at about 10pm, gassed up on Hazel Avenue and 50 and super slabbed it: 50 to I-80 West then North on Hwy 12 to Sonoma. We stopped in Sonoma for some coffee and hot chocolate, rode around the town's square (lovely little old town it is) and then headed up to see if my favorite stained glass guy was still in business (he is) and then we scooted out 121 to 116 to Petaluma and continued on 116 to Jenner. 116 is just a riders paradise kind of road, and it ends at the famous CA highway 1.

The deer were out in abundance that night. We saw about 20 or so, and had to stop once to avoid hitting a couple that, once standing in front of my bike, (about 2 feet away) it decided it had better move. It went left, then right, then left then right again and off the road. We were moving again with a smile.

Well, it was about 1:30 pm and in Jenner there were no hotels open for the late night rider. We turned around on 1 and went south to Bodega Bay where there were two hotels where we could get rooms at 2am and only one had any rooms available: Bodega Bay Lodge.

They gave us a $75 discount for being so late and that was nice, and so was the room with a fireplace, two duraflame logs (better than nothing to burn) and a big room with a big soft bed. The morning revealed a view of the ocean, obstructed, but still very nice.

Then we were off on our ride back home with some stops:

View from the room with early morning fog:



Iceplant right off the balcony held proof that other people might have had fun here too in the past (I have aspired to be an amateur archeologist you see)



Gotta love Highway 1



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Along Highway 1, for those that don't know, there are numerous State parks. Some are simply single lane roads to a parking lot, and others are larger with various amenities (toilets). This pic was taken from a small one, name forgotten, between Bodega Bay and Goat Rock Beach: (worth the stop)



Here are a few more from that same pull off:





From entrance road to Goat Rock Beach:



Even though the lighting is behind the bike in the morning shot from the Goat Rock Beach parking lot, I really like the "mood" of this picture with the FJR:



Sherri and I playing with the time delay feature for the first time (Goat Rock Beach):



And then we went home. 116 in the morning was AWESOME!!! Take this ride when you have a chance :-)