Day 17: Petaluma to Novato

Day 17:  Petaluma to Novato

May 8th, 2017

10.01 miles in 4 hours 28 minutes

Made it back to 101 today, and off the dreaded CA 37. I would not recommend anyone else hike this entire section of the planned Bay Trail until things change. Legally I think it is ok, because it is a highway, not a freeway. But the bridge over the Petaluma river doesn't take pedestrians or even cyclists into consideration. There was a yard wide curb to walk on next to a yard high concrete railing. Walking on the roadway wasn't an option, as the two lanes of traffic were relentlessly using that space. I quickly learned to kneel down and hug the railing whenever a semi truck went by. It took courage each time I stood back up and took further steps along the bridge. I'm grateful for having made it across.

I feel like I've rounded the corner and I'm on the homestretch now, only a few miles down 101 back home. But first I have to go to pick up my middle son Ben from college in Oregon. We are planning to hike the next segment on the way back home on Friday. I made it to a hillside that once held a reservoir for the Hamilton Air Force Base nestled below it.

To get to Oregon, I got to drive back across CA 37 to reach I 80. That was part of what convinced me not to recommend hiking this section the way I did. When the cars fly over the hill on the western side of the Petaluma River, there is zero expectation of a hiker on the bridge blocking the beautiful scenery. While I was freaking out I was freaking others out. I'm glad I didn't know this before I started. I'm glad no one honked.

Day 17:  Petaluma to Novato

Accounting: 

    Starting Balance                                      120.54

• Uber earnings to Novato                               (50.51)

    Ending Balance                                         70.03

Kombucha of the Day -- Root Beer

Voice Notes:

This Port Sonoma marina is the most desolate place I've been to on the trip.

That is not quite true, further down the road was a seemingly running marina.

Just saw a mama duck and her brood paddling down a little canal between the road and a railroad. When I turned and took an interest in them and reached for my phone she quacked out an order and they took off in a sprint of almost flying down the creek.

Hard to imagine a more awesome invention then the one I'm walking through where photosynthesis driven organisms produce pollen pollen on flowers and little hovering drone the machines pick it up out of the beautiful display and make honey.