I've been on vacation the past two weeks and have been getting some driving in while I can. Last week Nancy and I trailed the Speedster 155 miles to the coast for a make-up drive since our last coast trip got cut short due to my carburetor fire. The trip was awesome. Over 200 miles of coastal adventures were experienced.
This week I've been sweating in the yard since Sunday getting yard work finished, solar panels cleaned (all 63 of them), windows in the house cleaned (all 32 of them), and various other chores. Average daily temps have been 105 degrees so it's been early to rise to beat the heat. I decided to treat myself with a One Tank Adventure today so I got up at 0445 hours and was out the door before 0515 hours to begin my adventure.
As always (well, almost always) my adventure took me to the Sierra Nevadas for some mountain driving. I've posted a link on Google Drive for a map of my trip. After I passed Hartland Christian Camp I stayed on what I thought was the main route after coming to an intersection at Eshom Valley Dr and Forest Rte 14S75. After a couple miles the road was becoming more and more less of a road. Pavement became spotty pavement, then gravel, then dirt, and finally a rugged dirt path with massive crevices due to erosion. I turned the Speedster around and headed back to the last place where the road was good. I met a guy standing on the side of the road who is local to the area and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he's a Canadian/American artist/musician and he's selling his mountain retreat to move to Cuba to continue his life's adventure playing the clubs around Havana.
I confirmed with him my return route and continued on. I made a loop of the trip and only repeated the last 15 miles of my loop. All in all I was in for about 175 miles if you add the 30 miles it took me to get to the starting point from my house and another 30 miles to get home. The route couldn't have been any better with a majority of the roads being shaded by the canopy of the forest. I went out in shorts and a t-shirt but could have used a sweatshirt in the early morning hours due to the chilly morning mountain air. I watched the sunrise over the Sierra Nevadas and stopped often to look at the majestic beauty of the sierras, to listen to the sounds that only the mountain solitude can provide, and smell the aroma of the pines. I stayed to the southern end of the SN due to the massive fires burning in the north. I managed to get above the smokey air where it was fresh but I could see the smoke layer as I was headed home.
All-in-all it was a great day. Too bad Teby can't get out of bed at 0500 hours or the could have gone too.
Maybe we should call him Cyrus 
