...and no, it wasn't sitting on a train between San Francisco and Seattle for 22 hours and 10 minutes.
It was riding across the Golden Gate Bridge on a BIKE! - Thanks Jill for the suggestion :)
Friday 13-Oct-2006
San Francisco Day 4
San Francisco - Seattle Day 5
Wednesday was my last day in San Francisco. I had to check out of the hostel by 11:00am but they were able to mind my bag for me so I had the full day to fill.
I decided to go back to the waterfront as I enjoyed my time down there on Tuesday and also I had it in my head that I may, just possibly, hire a bike and do that ride across THAT bridge.
Sure enough, that's where my feet took me - Pier 41 Blazing Saddles bike hire. When they explained the route to take it sounded a long, long way. And it is - 8 miles to Sausalito on the other side of the bay. From there you can take ferry back over.
Deciding I'd give it a go, I saddled up and off I went. If it was too hard going I could always get off and walk a bit. Especially over the Bridge as it is definitely uphill for a long way.
In actual fact the ride there was fairly easy, especially along the water where it was flat. There were two major hills to climb but I made it up one with not too many dramas and half way up the other one I walked for a bit. Of course, stopping every 5 minutes to take a photo of the bridge as it loomed closer and closer made it somewhat easier also.
Finally I made it to the start of the Bridge, and if I thought I was excited getting to Alcatraz on Tuesday, that was nothing compared getting ready to ride a bike across that Bridge. Once I was on the bridge stopping every 2 minutes for photos made for an easy peasy ride to to the middle.
Bike riders and pedestrians share a footpath along one side of the bridge separated from the streams of traffic by a safety rail. On the other side of the footpath is the safety rail to stop you falling off the bridge. A good thing too. It's a long long way down and as the signs dotted along the bridge next to 'Emergency and Crisis Line Phones' say "The consequences of jumping from this bridge are fatal..."
Once I made it to the middle it was practically all down hill to Sausalito. There's a look out just at the end of the other side of the bridge called 'Vista Point' which had very good views of the whole of SFC and a different view of the Bridge... I stopped to take a photo or two, just in case the 137 of the Bridge I already have aren't enough!
From the look out it's a 10 minute downhill, steep downhill run into Sausalito. It looked like a pretty little town but I didn't really have a chance to look around as I had the bike with me and didn't really want to leave it anywhere.
A 30 minute ferry ride got me back to the SFC side of the bay and the end of the my Across the Bridge in a Day ride. To complete the experience and to brag a little, I just had to buy an "I Biked the Bridge" tee-shirt.
Once coming back down to earth - I really was that thrilled to do that ride - I had dinner, made my way back to the hostel to get my bags before going to the Amtrak Station for my connecting bus to Emmeryville.
I had a bit of waiting around but the time went quickly and before I knew it it was 22:12 and Train 14 The Coast Starlight was pulling out of Emmeryville station bound for Seattle.
There was a lot more room on the train then I thought there would be. I was in the last row of seats in the last carriage which meant there was very little noise throughout the night from people walking around and opening doors, etc. The seats reclined and there were leg and footrests so it's possible to get quite comfortable. I think I dozed for most of the night from Sacramento to just before Klamath Falls, Oregon.
We were running behind schedule up to an hour at one stage. I think the delays were largely due to freight trains using the same lines. We 'overtook' at least 3 or 4 during the day yesterday that I saw, and many more coming the opposite way. One of the trains we passed was being pulled by five diesel engines. There was no way I could have counted how many trucks there were. Lots.
We got to Seattle right on time - 20:30 - and by 21:00 I was at the Green Tortoise Hostel. I was very pleased to see that the hostel is located directly opposite Pike Place Market so that's where I am headed today.
I'm going to go now as there are only five computers here - four iMacs and one PC and people are waiting. Unfortunately I got an iMac which uses Firefox so I've been struggling along not knowing how to open new windows or even copy/paste. Does ctl-C not work? ctl-X? Seriously, in Seattle of all places I thought I would have had a Windows PC! Where is that Bill?
Till next time...
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