and on to Los Angeles. A couple of my friends are working on a movie there called "Monster Mutt". I might be able to hang out for a few days until I can find a shipping company to take the buddy back to New Jersey. He deserves a rest.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Yosemite Sawyer
I thought I had accidentally traveled back in time emerging from my campsite to this scene in Yosemite. His name is Luke and from the spring to the fall he clears the 900 miles worth of trails in Yosemite. Upon giving him my card so that I could contact him with this picture, he said he hasn't seen a computer in months. I would love to follow them back on some of those trails with a camera. Maybe someday I will.
4,000 miles
California, I was hoping to be the easiest part of the drive. It hasn't been. More desert, beautiful, but hard and the trail to back way of Sequoia last night was anything but accurately represented on my map. A small road, more like a trail winding through the mountains with road signs and placards that hadn't been repaired for years. The road is only open in the summer and only visited by raging scooterists searching for Giant Sequoia trees...and they were worth the 4,000 miles it took to get there.
Highway 6 - Nevada
Right around the halfway mark of this road the sun began to set and I couldn't help but to stop every 5 minutes and take another picture
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Nevada Night
I drove 90 miles through the desert at night, but it was not a wise decision. When I turned off the scooter to sit for a moment the only lights were the moon and the stars. The land was so quiet I could hear without disruption the damage to my right ear drum that happened from an ear infection when I was little. Back on the road, the darkness and the nothingness started to get to me. Jack rabbits darted across the road in pairs and always scared me. Getting too tired to drive about 45 miles in the route I had to pull off before another mountain pass, but the sand was soft and at about 0.5 miles per hour I dropped the buddy on the ground. Frustrated-tired-I pulled out my tent and went to sleep. When I got up I continued another 50 miles until I reached the Great Basin National park Utah Rob had suggested I stop at. In the morning, I drove and then hiked to the top of the mountain where there is a grove of thousand year old Bristlecone pines. They are a Gnarly bunch that grow so slow that the oldest tree there at 3,000 years old was only 16 feet tall. I wondered what it would be like to be that old and I came to the decision that it would be awfully boring, especially stuck in one spot the whole time. They should get out more.
Utah Rob
Eating breakfast near Heber CIty, a fellow rolled up on a geared up V-stream, checked out my rig and I noticed the usual confusion when he got to my license plate. New Jersey?
He came in and sat down near me and we talked about the trip. I told him I was planning on going up to Salt Lake to see the scooter dealership and he said "Not today". It didn't take long for him to tell me the Mormons are pretty strict about their day without work and after generously paying for my pancakes he he offered his garage and a hand with the oil change.
On the way to the auto-parts store(corporates seemed to stay open), he told me his daughter is about to be married in California and he got a good deal on an Rv so he and his wife could drive over for the wedding. She was just diagnosed with Colon Cancer, but when I met her I thought she was sitting the top of the world from her happy attitude. Have fun at the wedding and I wish you both well!
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