We start today with tough decisions.  It is very hot!  After hitting 117 degrees yesterday, making our way through the Mojave Desert, I have to think about the heat more today.  I like to think I’m invincible, but the heat is really affecting me!  It’s already 95 when we wake up in Barstow, California.  After days and days and days and days and days…. (Ok you get the picture), of temperatures above 100 degrees, I just know that my body cannot handle too much more.  So, we choose our route today, to skirt Death Valley.  We take highway 395 north, which keeps us 100 miles west of Death Valley.

Still I can easily see how much sun there is here, when off on the horizon, I’m seeing something spectacular, that’s blue.  Once we get closer I see it’s a huge solar farm!

Down the road, we pass two cowboys on horseback, off in the pasture and one of them offers up a huge wave.  I’m really laughing now at the cowboys I’ve seen on this trip.  Just a few days ago in Arizona, Terron and I both grinned at seeing some ‘modern’ cowboys; a man on a 4×4 and another on a dirt bike, herding cattle that had gotten out of the fence line!  And today, I am rewarded with seeing the traditional kind, dressed head to toe in Western wear on horseback!

I keep seeing billboards for Gus’ Jerky, claiming to be the best in the west, so we pull in and there’s more than just jerky.  Inside Gus’ tiny little shop, there are olives, pickled vegetables and honey too!  While Terron asks the guy behind the counter if he’s Gus (he replies that he’s Gus’ helper), I start tasting olives and honey, while Gus’ helper offers Terron some samples of their jerky; venison, buffalo, beef, jalapeno, teriyaki and more.  We walk out 10 minutes later, with a bag full of different kinds of jerky for Terron, cactus honey for me and a jar of habanero stuffed olives we’ll both enjoy!  We also meet a couple of fellow travelers, who we passed a short time ago; two men in a truck, towing a camper and kayaks.  When we see them at a gas stop down the road, one of them jokes that they’re following us.  I ask where they’re headed and he tells me he and his brother are going to June Lake and then Reno for the week.

 

We hit the road again and I work hard at staying hydrated, drinking sports water from the water bladder I keep in my tank bag, since it is again 108 degrees.  But after just about 4 hours, I’m suffering.  We stop for gas and I tell Terron that I need to sit for a while and super hydrate.  At this point, we have to make a decision.  The turn for Yosemite is up the road, which I really want to take, but this will add a minimum of an hour to our ride today.  I am too afraid that I’m already too heat-stricken to tack on the extra time, so I reluctantly decide to skip the park.  I will just have to come back another time.  Today, I just don’t think my body can handle the heat much more than it already has to.

We are still rewarded with amazing vistas and views today!  Throughout the day, we ride through or along, the Sequoia, Inyo, Sierra, Eldorado and Lassen National Forests!  The mountains are incredibly beautiful.  At one point, I can see the layers of sediment on either side of me, where workers blasted their way through the rock to create this section of highway.

Before he hit the road this morning, like we have for several; days now, we check the wildfire map, to make sure we will not be going where there are fires burning.  Today, we should be in the clear, as long as nothing new comes up.  But then at a gas station, I spot the headline on a newspaper that says highway 395, the one we’re on, was shut down just 48 hours ago at Lee Vining, for a wildfire.  The photo on the front page of the paper shows large, orange flames and smoke!  Since we checked the maps this morning, we figure we’re good and continue North.  Before we even reach this area, large temporary signs say:  “Watch out for fire trucks”.

At the same time, I can see a spectacular lake, off in the distance.  It’s Mono Lake and there’s a scenic overlook, so we pull in.  Half of the parking lot here is cordoned off for firefighters.  Their tents fill many parking spaces and I spot a few resting in the shade, so I know that this fire is active here in the area.

We stop and marvel at Mono Lake, which is very large and very blue.  We stop to take a photo and I notice that wonderful smell of fresh grasses I’ve been enjoying, is now replaced by smoke.

We hit the road again, now skirting the shoreline of the lake and all of the land on either side of us, is scorched.   This area must get a lot of snow, because the highway is lined with those tall, orange poles that mark the roadway in winter.  These poles are now melted and leaning over.

I’m now also staring at burnt guardrail all along the highway and then I see the fire is still burning, just feet from the lane I’m riding in.  Firefighters are about 10’ off the road, still working on keeping small flare ups down.  I can see the red fire retardant all up on the hillside to the west of the highway, that air support obviously dropped in the last few days.

We make it through fine and I give the firefighters I see along the way a thumps up for their hard work.  (And now that I’m able to, I researched this fire.  It is called the Marina Fire and it burned more than 650 acres so far.  Right now it is 60% contained and firefighters are worried about storms and rain this week, since rain they say could cause rockslides, now that the hills are unstable from the fire.  The exact cause is still under investigation, but it’s listed as ‘human caused’.)

It’s not too far up the road, that the smell of wildfire is now replaced with the fantastic smell of fresh pine and all kinds of grasses!  So fresh and invigorating!

Terron and I hit a few good mountain passes, one that’s called Deadman’s!  Yikes.  I’m keeping my eye on the road!

Over the passes and back down on the lowland, we suddenly drive into a huge swarm of…?  We don’t really know what it is, but there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of something swarming right in front of us.  I see Terron duck down behind his windshield, trying to avoid getting plastered with whatever it is.  I am just stunned at what this could be.  I get a few splats on my windshield, boots and pant legs, but at least I’m spared any direct hits on my face mask, in my line of sight!

When we stop later for gas, we ask each other what it was.  Then Terron sees exactly what it was, since there’s one stuck in an air vent on my helmet.  They were crickets!

While I’m taking pictures of this little critter I pulled off my helmet, a little boy walks up to Terron and tells him he really likes his bike.  Then, pointing at the GoPro mounted on the bike, he asks, “Is that your stunt camera?”  Terron says, “Yes, so that when I jump a curb, I can record it.”  The boy seems satisfied with the answer and runs off.

We’ve been filling our water bladders with ice at each stop, to help us stay hydrated.  Terron goes into the store to buy a bag of ice and the clerk takes one look at him and says, “You have to be hot!”

Terron replies, “Yes I am!”  She decides that it’s just too hot to charge him for the bag of ice and says, “You deserve to get that for free!”  Thank you!

We’ve still got a few hours before us to reach Redding, but our drinks are now cold and the road ahead is full of curves and switchbacks!  It’s also got some shade!  I am concentrating hard on the road, but also seeing lots of little lakes and ponds along the way.  This area of the state is much more lush than we’ve seen all day.  We are also watching for wildlife and sure enough at least twice deer pop out at the side of the road.  Thankfully, they don’t dart out in front us, just watch us whiz by!

We make it to Redding and seek out some dinner.  I order my usual chicken and finally, literally for the first time this entire trip, I get a chicken breast that’s properly cooked!  The others have been either rubber, cardboard, plastic, or just all together inedible.

Terron and I are so excited about this, we make a point of telling our server.  As he walks to the next booth to check on them, one of the guys at the table says, “This chicken is terrible.  The worst I’ve had!”  Everyone gets a good laugh and when I start talking with him, I find out he’s a regular here and then he tells me which towns through Northern California and Oregon have good restaurants!

Another gentleman at the at the bar, just wants to know more about our trip, since we said we’ve been on the road now for 17 days and can’t get a good chicken breast!

This trip has been so much fun, not only seeing our American countryside, but meeting all the local, sweet, quirky, eccentric, down-to-earth people we’ve run into along the way.

There’s still one more day!  More than 600 miles to get home and of course we’re choosing the back roads, so stay tuned…