This morning we bid a sad farewell to San Francisco. We both really liked it there, and could easily have spent more time assimilating. We will miss the deal that Beck's Motorlodge had worked out with the bakery across the street Sweet Inspirations. It was nice to get up every morning and walk across the street for a freshly baked cinnamon roll or chocolate chip muffin. The coffee is free if you are staying at Becks. This morning, we knew they were setting up for the San Francisco Marathon to be run Sunday morning. What we didn't realize was that it would be closing the streets that provided us access to the 101 out of town! We wandered around a little bit, hoping the Garmin lady would stop directing us to closed streets, until we just gave up and waited until the bulk of runners had passed, and they would let cars sneak through in between groups. We were less than a mile from the Freeway entrance, so by 10:00 we were on our way, heading across the Bay Bridge on I-80.
     There really isn't any good way from San Francisco to Yosemite without starting out on the Interstate . We went from I-80 to I-580, to I-205, for about a total of 75 miles of what started out as crazy mega-lane traffic to some somewhat boring, crappy road construction typical interstate. At the end of our interstate saga, we gassed up, and headed out on CA-120E. A much better grade of scenery on this road to Yosemite. The original plan called for following CA-120E to within 30 miles of Yosemite, then turning south on CA-49S to Oakhurst. But we made such good time, as it was only about 1:00 that we would get to the hotel too early. So we decided to follow CA-120E into Yosemite at the west gate, and we could follow it almost into Yosemite Village where we would turn south on CA-41S to Oakhurst.
     This gave us a chance to check out some of the scenery on CA-120 that we would have missed if we only entered from the south. There are a few different sections of Yosemite to check out, with the most important being the Yosemite Valley and the Tioga Pass. We came in on CA-120, and had we not turned on CA-140 to Yosemite Valley, we could have followed CA0120 all the way across the northern part of the park through Tioga Pass . We would then have to stay overnight east of the park and come back the next day. Just too much time for us to spend on this trip. Maybe some other trip we can make that ride, For this one, we are going to concentrate on the Yosemite Valley in the morning.
    From the west entrance the climb immediately rises to about 6200 ft in elevation one another of what have become our favorite switchback rim roads. This one had some spectacular views, and very little guard rails, but also very few turnouts to take pictures. So we stopped when we could, but most of the road was geared to keep everyone moving and not stopping to view. Most of the day on this part was a 2nd or 3rd gear ride, with an occasional upshift to 4th. It was a great ride, and now that we had moved inland, the temperature was up to the upper 80's and low 90's. The jackets finally went away and we could ride in t-shirts again!
     There were 2 tunnels on CA-120, and when we made the turn back on CA-140 to CA-41S, there was another very long one . Meanwhile the scenery was just spectacular. There was even one spot we stopped where you could see the half-dome through other mountain peaks. This made for a great photo. While we were taking the photo of the half-dome, we met another couple taking the same picture. It turned out they were here from Apopka, just arriving a couple of days ago for vacation. They ended up taking pictures of Jody & I together for the blog.
     We decided to turn south just before entering the Yosemite Village because it was getting late and we knew once we got to the village, there would be lots we wanted to do. We didn't stop at any of the scenic overlooks that we would be repeating in the morning when we come back into the park from the south entrance. Instead we headed for the hotel, having missed out on pizza last night, we were determined to find some good pizza tonight. The Pizza Factory was voted best pizza in Oakhurst in both 2013 and 2014, so that must mean something! Sure enough, the pizza was great, and tomorrow we can check out one of the other of several interesting restaurants in town.
     Tomorrow, we hope to be up reasonably early so we can stop at some of the scenic overlooks on the way, and still make it to the Yosemite Valley Visitors Center before the crowds,You can tell it's full season as the crowds and traffic have picked up. Also Yosemite is one of the more popular national parks.
 
241.4 miles today
11,754.1 miles total

9.888 gallons today
284.941 gallons total