Joe's Roadtrip

Location: Santa Rosa, CA

Miles Driven: 525

Total Miles: 13,151

Taylor had to head out to work early, and my plan was to be a bum for the better part of the morning.  I took advantage of the continental breakfast, relaxed for a bit, and then got some exercise before getting ready.  I made it a point to shave the beard that had been growing on me for about two weeks, and man, that took a long time.  Thanks again to Taylor for letting me treat his hotel like my own.

Around 1PM I was on the road and making my way north along Highways 101/1 along the coast.  It was a beautiful drive, and I had good views of the blue Pacific.

Farmland near Hearst Castle

Big elephant seals on the beach

The only bad thing was I got hit with some overcast skies as the drive went on.

One of my last glimpses of the sun

Winding turns along Hwy 1

Looking back along the coast

I had underestimated how long it would take to get north via Hwy 1, as at some points you need to travel fairly slow going around the turns.  Before I knew it, it was dark, and I wasn’t even close to San Francisco (and the heavy clouds didn’t help).  I eventually veered off of Hwy 1 around Monterey, and made a beeline towards Santa Rosa.

In Santa Rosa lives my buddy Kevin, a guy I knew back in college and became friends with thanks to us being assigned to the same project team in a class.  Haven’t seen the guy since a reunion with that professor several years ago.  So I’ll hang with him for a while, check out San Fran, and enjoy the nice company in Northern CA.

joe