San Rafael Report

Mission Report: Trial Run to San Rafael Arcangel

Date: 5/1/95

Mission San Rafael

Travel Statistics:

We were sad when we woke up this morning and saw that it was raining. We had already postponed our trip to Mission San Rafael last Saturday because of rain. With hopes that the weather would clear up by afternoon, we decided to pack up our bikes. It turned out that we were in luck.

Today was our "trial run." This was our chance to make sure that we had packed our bikes well and that all of our equipment was working the way it should. We had some trouble with the back "panniers" (special bags for bike touring) on Matt's bike. Matt has very big feet and when he pedals his bike sometimes his heels hit these bags. (Matt wears a size 13 shoe! Brian only wears a size 12.) We are still trying to solve this problem.

Brian at The Golden Gate Bridge

We left our house in San Francisco at about 2:00 p.m. and we arrived at Mission San Rafael at 4:30 p.m. In the beginning of our ride we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. The morning rain had cleaned all of the smog out of the air and the view was beautiful.

Since we began our trip so late, the Mission's museum was closed when we arrived. For this reason we don't have very much information on Mission San Rafael for you.

Here are a few facts that we did learn about the Mission:

  1. Mission San Rafael Arcangel was founded December 14th, 1817
  2. It was the twentieth Mission to be built.
  3. In 1817, the population at Mission San Rafael Arcangel was 387 people.
  4. On foundation day, 26 people were baptized
  5. Very little of the original Mission structure remains.

Questions

  1. Baptism is a "rite of passage" into Catholicism. Can you tell us what "rites of passsage" other religions use?
  2. We couldn't find out why the original Mission buildings are gone. Can you find out for us?

Until next time!

--Brian and Matt

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