Day 15 Bodega Dunes to Mill Valley 64 miles (total miles 649)

We broke camp early today and packed our bags one last time

for the ride into Mill Valley where we had our hotel waiting as close as we could find to the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Today was going to be the longest ride of the trip which was the price we paid for cutting our day short and grabbing a motel in Ocean Cove two days ago. 

The morning ride was once again just endless ups and downs as Highway 1 veered away from the ocean at Bodega Bay and then eventually back again at Tomales Bay where we rode along the shoreline for about 20 miles

It must be oyster season in Tomales Bay because every tiny town we passed was full of cars lined up to buy oysters at the docks or at little shack seafood places.  We found one such place for lunch.... The Marshall Store where about the only thing on the menu for Catalina that wasn't seafood was a pork sandwich. 

After lunch we finally left Highway 1 which we have been following since Leggett and veered inland following our biking guide maps which were good to have because we still had no cell coverage 30 miles from downtown San Francisco.  We followed a series of small country roads across one final set of hills and through the redwoods of Samuel P Taylor State Park until finally breaking out into a series of upscale suburban Marin County towns where our route took us along suburban bike routes and bike paths.  We had one final hill to climb before finally glimpsing San Francisco in the distance and descending into Mill Valley and our finish.  I didn't take any pictures of the final ride through the suburbs because we were just tired and Catalina was driving us hard to beat her sisters to the finish line.  

We finally made it to the hotel just moments ahead of the cars and after cleaning up in the first real showers in 2 days we had a nice reunion dinner at the hotel restaurant.  

Tomorrow we will bike the last few miles to the Golden Gate without packs or trailers.  I don't even remember what it is like to ride without 60 lbs of gear and trailer hanging off the back.  Then we will say good bye to Grandma and Grandpa and start our week-long family vacation in San Francisco before driving home to Texas.