Tuesday & Wednesday:

Them are some big trees!  I spent the day looking at, taking pictures of, and just starring at the largest trees on earth.  First I drove down to the General Grant tree grove:

Small ones by the parking lot

General Grant Tree

Then I heading sound towards the the General Sherman tree.  Pretty cool to have one of these magnificent trees named after you.  I picked out a few that would be good as the “Not a General but Alvis no less trees”  Lobby your congressman and let’s see if we can get one of these named the “Alvis Tree”. 

Pics of Sherman

iPhone Pano version ( a bit distorted)

Tree all the other Trees pick on

It was getting late in the afternoon so I opted for staying in the Lodge Pole campsite  near to the Sherman tree.  They do offer dispersed camping – out a road to more isolated backwoods campsites, but I was tired and went the safe route.  You meet some interesting folks in these campsites and there appears to be a lot of Europeans over checking out the sites. 

Ode to Ria:

Ria is a blessing, a great travel companion, but a bit limiting in terms of taking hikes, etc as dogs are not allowed in the back country of national parks.  BLM is a bit of a different story so that is something to consider as I turn east in the coming days.  She is starting to get in a rhythm and learning the tricks of the camper, the timing of early to bed and early to rise.  On walks through the National park campsites, she basically is running for mayor and trying to win everyone’s vote.    

Monday (9-26)

Bacon and Eggs for breakfast – life is good and nothing seems to brighten your day like the smell of frying bacaon.  

Hard not to take a bunch of pictures

Token selfie

Broke camp and decided to head south to glacier point but on the way to the turn (angelic cord) I found the showers.   Hot shower and fresh clothes makes for one happy camper. 

Glacier point is one heck of a view:

Unfortunately the Mariposa grove of giant trees was closed for renovation, so I was out of Yosemite and heading south the Sequoia National Forest. 

The drive down to Fresno was a quick lesson in why you try to stay above 5000 feet.  Pulling into Fresno the temperature gauge was showing 100 degrees.  It was fairly dry so tolerable but it spurred me to get my Walmart spree completed as fast as possible and head for the hills.   I drove out hwy 180 out towards  the high country with my eye on getting to a campground in Kings Canyon or Sequoia National Forest.  I ended up staying in Azalea campground  in Kings Canyong National Park which was an easy choice as it was getting towards dark (a reoccurring theme – get you butt to a campsite by late afternoon!). 

King's Canyon campsite with now to familiar Bear box

Yosemite valley:

So I head to Yosemite to join the masses and get a first hand taste of the cathedrals of stone that is Yosemite.   Traffic is kinda nuts getting into the park and one must be prepared for long stretches of staring at the license plate in front of you.  

The wait as worth it.  As you enter the park you quickly find yourself saying – oh my, wow, check that out , as your picture that is your windshield fills with spectacular scenery  that gives glory to the creator.   

Ok do you see the climbers yet

Wall tent

see the little spot of color 

I decided I needed to break my two day streak and actually camp before dark, so I got on the waiting list in Yosemite for a camping spot within the park.  Luckly that worked out and I cooked up some pulled pork, along with chopped avocado and tomatoes slathered on a flour tortilla.  Ria met all the neighbors and still is a bit of a licking fool.   This is communal camping as you are right next to your neighbor, so  bit like camping at a music festival with really tall trees. 

Saturday (9-24 have been out of internet coverage so a bit behind)

After stuffing some quarters in the pay shower and enjoying a nice hot shower,

I decided to head towards Yosemite Valley.  This was a bit of a backtrack to hit the best highways heading south.  I took 80 back into Sacramento to catch Cal 99 heading south.  This is miles and miles of agriculture – orchards, vineyards and a occasional town with your normal cast of  retail characters.  This road is a bit like I-35 heading towards Austin – always crowded, occasional  slow spell and then the big one – 30 minutes of just crawling for no apparent reason. 

Ria is starting to get into a “road rhythm” and understands that we are driving for a long time so she might as well just crash out.  The occasional stop brings a spurt  of energy followed by another nap – wow I’m jealous cuz I like me a good nap. 

I tipped a hat to the old stomping grounds of my sister inlaw Evonna as I passed Modesto and the road to Oakdale.  My goal was to get within “spittin distance” of Yosemite such as the next morning it would easy to visit the park.  As the day before my timing was a bit off and I found myself trying to find a camping spot after dark.  Note to self:  get to a camp spot before dark is a much better plan.  I credit my brother Kyle as I have him a call and ask him to do some internet magic and give me some options off 140 heading into the park. 

He suggested driving  to a BLM (Bureau of land management) spot  (name) 30 miles of so west of the park.  After missing the turn and driving till I could figure out where I could turn around (Ford F150 + Camper not the easiest of U-turn mobiles), I was running into darkness for the second day.  I drove up a gravel rough road about 2 miles following an old railroad bed not road to some dispersed yet marked camp areas.  I managed to find a spot and proceeed to setup camp,  which luckly for my camper is just pushing up the roof and rolling out my sleeping bag.  I noticed a tent in the spot next to me and hailed to no avail to meet my neighbor.  So  a bit later I heard footsteps coming my way and figured – 1. It was my neighbor, 2. It was Sasquatch , 3. I should prepare for self-defense.   Well it turn out to be my friendly neighbor John Bowie which calmed my fears as how could any right Texan not like living next to a Bowie.

A couple of interlopers made a camp nearby in a area not designated for camping, but my initial thought was “go for it”.  Then my thoughts turned to can they really talk that much and that loudly.  I was struck be the irony of being in the middle of no where and wishing I had some earplugs as they talked about every conceivable subject.   Ugly American syndrome with a Californian twist and a sneezing  girl friend would be the most terse description I could come up with. 

Back to John:  A bit of conversation and more in the morning revealed John to be an interesting character.  He hails from Michigan, Detroit city to be specific and is the son of a long time Chrysler executive.  His story turns dark as he relates how he and his siblings had a scrabble over the estate of his father and it was not a pretty sight.  So here he was living on some BLM land, picking up trash, tending to land in the spirit of escaping a bad situation and using the experience to clear his head, find a true north, and to some extend escape a bad situation.  He seemed content and I told him I would pray for peace and resolution in his situation.  He seemed to be getting along just fine and was thinking about  some business opportunities in Mariposa, which is near by. 

Pictures from campsite and drive in:

Bear Box for food storage

Road out to campsites (~2miles or so)

Merced Wild and Scenic River BLM

Friday:

Up and early to get into Sacramento by 9am – that was the plan anyway.  After the day before “Grapes of Wrath” dust storm I did not get as far up 395 as I had planned.  I intended to get to South Lake Tahoe on Friday, but ran out of juice (boy needs his rest) so stopped in Bishop, CA. 

The drive to Sacramento was very pretty as I drove by Mono Lake.   It was just getting light but here is a google image (bizare):

Here is a quick sunrise photo:

I was only a couple hundred miles away and I could not understand why the GPS thought I would make it by 11am.  In my mind 10am was more like it, but then came highway 89.  It is a beautiful yet crazy uphill winding road through the mountains and I conceded to the GPS that I would not make it by 10am.   This road reminds me of the trip up to Sierra Blanca ski area in Ruiduso with an added curvy kick for good measure. 

Wait a minute a straight part of hwy 89

Sacramento, CA stuck in traffic

All Terrain camper  boys get to work pictures and shop pictures.

(angelic cord) There it is the All Terrain Ocelot:

We have a problem here:

Just like checking the zipper on a new pair of pants, I was checking all the  doors, locks, buttons, etc and discovered we have a problem.  The door dead bolt lock was misaligned and would not engage.  After several adjustment attempts, it was determined that the door was defective (they source these doors from another company).  So lucky me I got a new door which happens to be a better door because they have changed companies.  So bolts and screws came off and soon the new door along with a new all terrain camper sticker as on the camper ready to roll.  During the door swap, Marty gave me a tour of the factory showing all the steps, materials, and techniques used to build the camper.  This was very cool and geeky enough for me a ask many questions (mom would be proud).

Well all of this change excitement caused another slight issue – I would be late getting out of town.  So I experienced Sacramento rush hour on my way to fill up the propane tank and get out of town.  Next problem – where to go – so I headed out highway 80 towards Reno with no real plan or objective.  A couple missteps here and there put me after dark finding a camp site.  The irony of the name was perfect as I  happened upon Greenhorn campsite.

Time to move in a different direction – stay tuned.