Alvis has left the building

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: