Sunday, February 21, 2010

On the road from South Lake Tahoe 2/19/10

Friend (Joe) - I see you made it over the Sierras. How was the crossing?

PR - You know, I couldn't have asked for nicer weather, sunny and warm for the two day climb to Echo Summit.

F - Which way did you go?

PR - I decided to keep going over Hgy. 50 from Placerville instead of Hgy 88. It was the most direct route from where I was at. You may recall I said I had to pick up winter gear I'd sent ahead there.

F - So you got everything okay?

PR - I did. I made it there from Sacramento before the Post Office closed and everything I'd sent ahead was there. I was most anxious to have my warmer sleeping bag and tent stove. It was all there waiting. My "just in case" new studded snow tires from Don's Cycles in Grants Pass were also there. I was a happy camper.

And you know the following night I fired up the stove. The last time was at Jackass Summit in BC. Heat, warm tent, it doesn't get much better than that cold camping.

F - So it got really cold on you.

PR - No, it wasn't below freezing but I had climbed up to 5000' by then. It was cooler and there was patchy snow on the ground. I was about six miles or so west of Twin Bridges on an old road grade above the main highway, in the pine forest.

F - So how was Hwy 50 for biking?

PR - Not great for cycling. In a lot of places there are no shoulders and even during the week plenty of traffic, but I made it, with help.

PR - So I'm sitting at my host families kitchen table writing this. I just looked up. Whoa baby! A black bear, big, just walked up on the back porch.

I yell at Jean, She's upstairs on the phone and runs down, gets a pan out and bangs on it. The bear ambles off, in no great hurry. It had a red ear tag.

This one is a known character, his name is George, Jean tells me later after a phone conversation with a friend. People aren't as careful with garbage here as they should be she says but George is apparently old, sometimes sleeps under a porch and hasn't broken into anything yet apparently.
The winter has been mild here Jean tells me. Still it's not normal for bears to be wandering around this time of year.

F - So a little excitement in the AM eh?

PR - I'll say. This one wasn't acting aggressive, but what a surprise, look up and there's a bear framed in the window, 10 feet away with only a couple of glass panes of separation.

F - Did you get a picture?

PR - No, in the excitement didn't think of it until after, of course.

PR - One more story from the road.

F - Let's hear it.

PR - I reached Echo Summit in the early afternoon, 7400' roughly. I didn't see a sign for Echo summit with the elevation on it on my side of the road but there was one on the other side. I cross the road to take a photo of my bike in front of the sign. I'm getting set to take a photo when a truck pulls in behind me. It's Mike in a California Transportation maintenance truck I find out after some conversation. He says I saw you back at Strawberry heading up the hill. You know there's a steep downgrade right after the next bend, the road is narrow with no shoulders. I didn't know. There was only a sign saying steep downgrade. Mike takes a picture of me, then I take his.

Cars have to swing into the other lane to pass you he tells me. I don't want anyone hurt on my road. I'll follow you down the hill to the bottom so cars can't pass. He tells me where there are a couple of turnouts I can pull into to let cars pass. I'll let you know where he says, it's only 4 1/2 miles long. He has a PA system in the truck.

Wow! Kindness and consideration for the welfare of others, so many times repeated on this journey. I thank him for that, grateful, humbled.

I tell Mike about the Warm Showers host family I'm going to stay with in Lake Tahoe south. A few minutes later an Outback Suburu pulls in front of me. I guess it might be Greg my warm showers host. He told me he was going to Placerville when I called the evening before. He said he might see me on the road. It was him. He said his wife Jean wasn't going to be home when I would arrive. He drew a map for me with directions to the house and the combination to the garage door.

F - So no problems getting down he hill.

PR - No, thanks to Mike. Just round the next bend from the summit, a stunning view of distant Lake Tahoe as the valley floor falls away to the north. Mike says pull over and take a photo if you want. We pull into the next turnout to let cars pass and I for a quick photo.

F - So what are your plans now?

PR - Head down the road and make a few more miles today.

Many thanks to Holly Wenger in Sacramento for hosting and riding part way with me to and from Sacramento and to Jean and Greg Bergner for letting me stay with them in their lovely home by a marsh with indroductions to George.

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