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| Day 1 - Santa Clara, CA Day 2 - Lee Vining, CA Day 3 - Baker, CA Day 4 - Las Vegas, NV Day 5 - Las Vegas, NV Day 6 - Grand Canyon, AZ Day 7 - Durango, CO Day 8 - Glenwood, CO Day 9 - Highlands, CO Day 10 - Highlands, CO Day 11 - Estes Park, CO Day 12 - Craig, CO Day 13 - Jackson, WY Day 14 - Cody, WY Day 15 - Mammoth, WY Day 16 - Choteau, MT Day 17 - Kelispell, MT Day 18 - Sandpoint, ID Day 19 - Omak, WA Day 20 - Anacortes, WA Day 21 - Anacortes, WA Day 22 - Poulsbo, WA Day 23 - Poulsbo, WA Day 24 - Poulsbo, WA Day 25 - Astoria, OR Day 26 - Lincoln City, OR Day 27 - Bandon, OR Day 28 - Eureka, CA Day 29 - Anchor Bay, CA Day 30 - Martinez, CA FINAL THOUGHTS |
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Well, after all of the planning, waiting,
and getting ready, we finally left Santa Clara at 8:30 (photo 1),
with a send off by Bernie and JoAnne Ostrom, Linda’s sister and brother-in-law,
who will be house sitting for us while we’re gone. Today we will
be heading for Yosemite National Park then stop at Lee Vining, CA
for the evening. We headed up Hwy. 880 to the Mission cutoff over
to Hwy 680 then to Hwy 580 East. This took us through the Altamont
Pass area with its hilltops full of windmills for generating electricity.
We have been experiencing some warm days last week and they continued
today. It was 76 degrees when we left but by the time we reached
Manteca, almost two hours later, it was already 84. We stopped at
a local McDonalds for 20 minute breakfast break, then back on the
road. As we got to Oakdale, the temperature was at 88 and climbing.
Now the route of choice to Yosemite from the bay area is 580 to 205 to 120 to Yosemite. Sounds easy and actually is unless you get lost in Jamestown like I did. We stopped at a car dealer and talked with the only person there, who happened to be an Asian fellow with a video camera in his hand and he didn’t speak any English. The conversation went something like this. “ Hi, am I on the right road to Yosemite?” “ Yosemite?” “Yes, Yosemite. Am I on the right road?” “How do you get to Yosemite?” “I don’t know, I thought you might know.” He shakes his head and points first in one direction and then the opposite direction, and says “ There or there?” It dawns on us that this man, the only person standing in the middle of a KIA car lot, wearing a KIA shirt, doesn’t speak any English. “Let’s go,” encourages, Linda. “Thanks anyway,” says I, with a big smile, “I’ll find it.” With that I continue in the direction I was headed wondering if he worked there and if so, whom did he sell cars to since there are not a lot of Asians in the little town of Jamestown in the middle of the Sierras. A few miles down the road, I pull into a gas station. When I ask the lady inside if I’m on the right road to Yosemite, she says, “Naw, you’re a long ways from where you should be,” and she pulls out a packet of preprinted maps from under the counter and shows me where I’m at and where I should be. “So I’m the first person to miss the turn, huh?
“Not by a long shot, she smiles.” Nice lady. I’ve gone some ten plus miles in the wrong direction, or twenty miles counting the return trip. We finally find Hwy. 120 again, and beat a path up the mountain to Yosemite. The temperature has now reached 94 degrees and we stop under a shade tree for something to drink and to get rid of our jackets. I don’t like riding without the jackets but I don’t like heatstroke either, so we change into long sleeve shirts and continue on our way (photos 2). In a reasonable amount of time, we finally see the entrance to Yosemite (photo 3). I bought one of those National Park passes for $40 bucks and as we pull up to the Rangers station, the lady says, “$20 dollars, please.” Hot damn, one more park and I break even. I’ll spend $30 to have them overnight me a part for the motorcycle trailer and not blink, then turn around and feel giddy at saving $20 bucks getting into the park. Man, my priorities are screwed up.
As we head into the park, we just have to stop at the overview of the valley. Anybody who has ever been to Yosemite, has to stop and take a picture (photo 4), then we head into the valley for some lunch. The driving is slow so we don’t actually eat until about 2:30. We walk around just a little, take a picture of Bridle Vail Falls (photo 5) and then back on the road. Wait a minute, this is Yosemite, and you can’t get out of the valley without Oohing and Ahhing and stopping to take more pictures. This time I photograph mountain climbers on the face of El Capitan. Yeah, like you could actually see their little body’s way up on that mountain. Anyway, I take that and some other great views on the valley floor (photos 6 & 7). and then back on the road towards Tuolumne Meadows and Lee Vining. Although the temperature is now down to a comfortable 78, we are still hot and stop by the shade of a tree with another view of Half Dome in the background (photos 8, 9, & 10). You can see Dave’s Montgomery’s Escapade trailer in these pictures. Dave’s my neighbor and was kind enough to loan me his beautiful Escapade trailer while he took his Harley on a trip to Colorado. We have now been on the road for almost eight hours, with stops. We’ve traveled on freeways, through mountain passes, through heat and snow. We’ll maybe no snow, but we saw some snow on the mountains. We’ve been in and out of the trailer several times by now to get drinks, put away our jackets & helmets, etc. and you don’t even know it’s there. What a deal. I never even considered a trailer but if Linda and I are together, it makes the trip a lot easier. I may have to look into buying one of these myself. Actually, I do believe that the Goldwing Owners Association requires you to own one if you are going to travel. I think that’s why these things have a six-cylinder engine, for trailer towing. No, really.
As we enter Tuolumne Meadows, we start and stop, start and stop…. to take pictures. At one stop, I meet a young couple on a Harley Road King that they had rented in Reno. They are from Florida and we got to talking at one of the turnouts. They are a kick to talk to. They tell me Yosemite is awesome. They have never seen anything like it. They are just blown away by all of the rock formations, the trees, the falls, the streams (photos 11,12,13,14, 15 & 16). Everything that makes Yosemite special. It’s nice to see it through the eyes of someone who is seeing it for the first time. I know the place is special, but sometimes I forget just how special. At 6:30 p.m. we finally pull into the Gateway Motel, a small place on the Mono Lake side of the road in Lee Vining. We went down to the local Mobil Station for dinner and it was all right. It seems that the local Mobil Station has a small restaurant attached and in this town of 350 people, it’s the “in” place to go for dinner. Tomorrow we get an early start for Las Vegas. |
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