We decided to take a week off from our trip and play in San Francisco. We have done well as tourists visiting many fine places this great American city has to offer. The first day after walking all over the city and getting our bearings, we purchased the "CityPass" for only $50 apiece which enabled us to take the any bus, trolley, or cable car for one week and got us into six fine museums, such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the De Young Art Museum, Legion of Honor Art Museum, two Aquariums, the Cable Car Museum, Cable Car rides, the hands-on Exploratorium. We stayed in the most amazing hostel called the Green Tortoise. Free breakfasts every morning, free dinner 3 nights a week, all the internet you could possible use, organized outings, and a lot of travelers from around the world. The evening life around the hostel is astonishing with a mix of music clubs, Chinese restaurants, Italian eateries, girlie strip clubs.

I got my hair cut in Chinatown by a male stylus who spoke very little English but did seem to mutter over and over as he cut my hair "too much hair". After the haircut I got a Chinese acupressure massage by a young lady, Eva, who did speak English. It was a treat for me to get the knots worked out that I had gathered after 4000 miles of riding. In the very late evening we had a small bite to eat in the Italian sections of the city at "Calzones" We sat at an outdoor table under the heated canopy watching the flood of people who crawled the evening streets looking for a life changing event. I know that most never found it that night. It made me think of how nice and full our life is by the simplicity of bicycle touring and having each other to share our adventure together.

Today we finally got on our bikes and rode over the Golden Gate bridge to the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate Recreation Area. Carlos, a wonderful new friend, showed us the city and the parks. He was a wonderful guide and companion for our biking adventure in San Francisco. As a side note: if any one wishes to go for a 400 kilometer ride in one day, contact Carlos who does these very long rides and has all the information. Does anyone find it interesting that we make friends with extreme adventurists? He can also help you with 600 and 1200 kilometer rides.

Boy, what city of life and culture and and wonderful times. We are heading out tomorrow if we can really leave this exciting place. We have decided that the coast is calling us more so we will follow the Pacific highway to the Mexico/United States border.