Pedaling to Petaluma

Today was another day of contrasts. We started off in wine country, entered another redwood forest, and spent the last 18 miles going through dairy country. It is amazing that such variety can be seen in just a relatively short distance. The land for the vineyards and forest looks so fertile while the dairy pastures look so brown that you wonder how the cows survive.

This was the first day that I was on the bike for the full day. It has been since early June that I last rode 72 miles. I handled it great, though. We had a couple of good climbs. The first was on the way up to Occidental, while the other was short but on a 14 percent grade for much of the hill. I think that Tracy will find another route around the latter hill as the road was in terrible condition. I talked to a local cyclist before we turned this road. He does not ride it because the hill gives his knees trouble. He continued straight and we met him on the other side. He traveled an additional mile or so, but was on a better road surface than we were.

Want wine? These signs pointed the way to many vineyards. We saw another one like this along the road.

These grapes look nearly ready to be crushed.

Having lunch at the Bohemian Market in Occidental. If you saw some of the people hanging around here, you would understand why it is called Bohemian (with apologies to my fellow Bohemian brothers at church).