San Rafael to Petaluma

A guy named Robert picked me up in San Rafael and took me to Sonoma. He dropped me off near Sonoma Creek because he thought I might like to spend the night there. I considered it, but I instead chose to make my way toward Petaluma. About 4 miles up Rte 126(?) I found a nice spot to camp. I had wanted to turn the slow day into a 10-mile day, but I was OK with 9.5 miles. (I felt shitty for a couple more hours.) Again I got to sleep early and woke up late, which may be explained by the fact that the cold night kept me up for a while in the early morning hours. I was all packed up and walking by 11:00 this morning. I wanted to walk all the way to Petaluma, but there was almost no shoulder on the busy road, so I gladly accepted a ride from Antoine McGrath 2 miles up the road. He took me to Petaluma and we talked while I ate at In-N-Out Burger. We also met a nice Native American lady named
Susie, who was busing tables there. More about Susie later. I'll be staying at Antoine's place tonight.

Sausalito to San Rafael

After a short nap at a bus stop Saturday, I walked from Sausalito to Larkspur. In Larkspur I talked to some nice people walking in the park around their neighborhood. I found a great place to camp under the 101, near an inlet from the bay, then set up the tent as soon as it was dark (about 9:00). I fell asleep well before midnight, expecting to get up at 7:00, but I didn't get up until at least 9:00. (I must have needed some make-up sleep after not sleeping the previous night.) The first thing I did yesterday was wait by the on-ramp for two and a half hours. By then I was sick of it and I felt shitty, so I walked by San Quentin prison into San Rafael and waited by another on-ramp for 20 minutes. I don't know why I felt so shitty. It wasn't for lack of sleep; maybe dehydration. Anyway, I kept walking parallel to the 101 until reaching another on-ramp, where I just wanted to sit in the
shade for a while until my head and body stopped hurting. Of course, I had a ride within 10 minutes.