Taking one more wrong turn at the light, we finally escaped the clutches of this blue laked basin and made our way down to Truckee. Being the biggest town we'd seen in days, and probably for days into the future, the decision was made to locate yet another spare tire for the trailer to assure we'd have no issues for the remainder of the trip. A source was found after a few phone calls were made and soon we had one more tire that wasn't quite right. This one was for trailers, but just under the weight rating for what we were pulling. Beggars couldn't be choosers at this point, so we thanked the tire guy for his quick service and were off to get a few more supplies before Downieville. We picked up a garden hose, wash bin and Micki scored some S'more ingredients which would turn out to be very fruitful before the end came on this day.
The road began to climb out of Truckee and the trees started to return. Past the summit, we found ourselves winding through a valley with open meadows stretching far on either side of the road. Old towns and seemingly forgotten houses blurred by and we began to search for food. Andooke had been wise and filled their tummies in Truckee, but we had taken yet another sustenance gamble and seemingly were going to loose once again. The flat plains of green gave way to steep valley walls. An occasional glimpse or sound byte of the river down to our left could be detected as the asphalt narrowed and began to twist ever deeper. We made a quick pull over to refill the water tank in the trailer and before we knew it we were upon Downieville with a crossing of a single lane steel girder bridge bright red in color.
The town was much smaller than I had imagined. A blink of an eye when passing through and you'd swear it never existed. Skinny streets crowded with ancient wooden buildings. We found the local store, made not or nearby gasoline and found parking. All this occurred within feet of arriving and luckily we ended up right next to Yuba Expeditions, as to which we had been informed would be the best source for local trail info and conditions. Once inside we were greeted by the man behind the counter who began to provide us with answers to the questions we were all firing at him in a rapid fire succession. It became apparent that his first love most likely wasn't cycling, but his best guesses and suggestions were helpful. I located a long sleeve shirt on sale for $10 so I was more than satisfied with the services and products Yuba had to offer. The girls however where looking for more specifics, but hunger took over and refocused our concerns in other directions.
Across from parking was a small general store with a sandwich shop inside. From the outside, the best guess was that Micki was going to be in trouble but hunger has a way of making even the most limited menus work for any of us. Once at the counter, we were met with a surprisingly varied ingredient selection. They had everything from ribs and deli meat to whole wheat buns and veggie burgers. Micki and I found food very easily. I even got to choose my toppings by selecting the "drag through the garden and leave out the dirt" option on the order form. We all found a seat, located the Chinese Checker board and began a game. It was soon enough fairly obvious who had played before, as Andy began to use some sort of actual strategy to cross the board. Ever frustrated by the novice hacks currently opposing him, Micki ended up through sheer luck being the victor, much to a couple of local patrons glee. We ate our food, went up to pay and got ready to go.
This is where things got a wee bit confusing....
The girls were in my opinion were dawdling by the register. Looking at maps and trying to gain some sort of "vital" area information. We had already made a group decision to head out of town to the "Indian Wells" campground and I was ready to get going. Remembering we needed gas, I decided to get a head start and went for the car to loop around and fill up on the other side of the parking lot. My haste led to confusion, and the girls then rushed out to get in their respective co-driver positions. I mentioned to Micki I was just going to pull around and get gas. We looped right, then realizing we had a roof clearance issue with the bikes on top had to double back left. At first we saw Andooke pull out and seemingly do the same, but at second glance they were no where to be found. Assuming they headed out of town towards Indian Wells, we didn't think much of it and began to fill up.
Now reading full on the gauge, we also headed in that direction and soon enough found the last camping spot. But Andooke had disappeared. Confused as to why, but remembering all of the camping drama we had been having so far we decided to nab the spot and setup. We even had a small laugh thinking that they had probably pulled up around the corner and were waiting for the Hilton to be erected so they could show up after and take a nap. This unfortunately couldn't have been any farther from the truth.
With no cell service to be found, the girls vital communication link had been severed. We decided to drive further down the road, checking every camp spot and parking area along the way. With no luck in that direction, we headed closer to town investigating with the same intensity. Andooke had seemingly vanished. It just didn't make any senses. We all knew where we were going, Micki and I could have sworn we "saw" them head out of town in the right direction. With the only known meeting point being that where the trailer now sat, we headed back in hopes that they would now be there with an amusing story to tell.
Minutes passed and soon we were looking at an hour of separation. This trip seemed destined for disaster with even the shortest drive of the vacation from Tahoe to Downieville seemingly not even possible without a major headache being created. Finally the Subie slowly approached the trailer, but the occupants inside were mere shells of the shiny happy people we had left a while back at the sandwich shop.
SHAZAAAMMM!!!!
With the power of my fingertips... I now advance time and space to where the sun has buried itself under the horizon and the campfire burns bright with flames dancing upon red coals. That's the kind of crazy magic shit I bring to the BLOG game yo!!!
The S'more supplies were broken out and sticks produced from what was left of the trailers storage area. Surprising they had remained on board after our exploded tire had ripped things apart. Andy was taking marshmallow browning to another level and during his search for perfect carmelization we began to peel back the layers of the onion in regards to this afternoons events. It turned out that during the several loops of trailer that had been done for gas a larger motor-home had gotten in the mix. The obstruction had given way to confusion as to my direction, and made Andooke think we had left town in the other direction. Now for most people, that would be a source of humor and they would simply have waited in the parking lot for my dumb-ass self to realize and had gone the wrong way. But Andooke is a loyal couple, and they followed the ghost of us out of town, simply amazed at how fast I had gone seeing that I had seemingly vanished down the road.
After several miles they let me go, then waited for me to return. After much time had passed and equally frustrating attempts to reconnect the lifeline our smartphone had been creating throughout the trip, their frustrations boiled over at the lunacy that was this California vacation. Eventually they decided to head down to camp instead of just head home. Luckily for us, they made the right choice and now regrouped with somewhat better moods prevailing all we had to do was try and keep our marshmallows from burning long enough to slap them into a Hershey chocolate and Graham cracker sandwich.
Just then... disaster struck!!!!
Oh crap!!! Andy had pushed his limits just a tad to much and his wonderful cube of puffed sugar hanging on the end of his stick had exploded into flame. In a panic, he whipped the burning victim out of the fire in an attempt to stop the catastrophe. Have you ever seen what happens to a springy coat hanger when momentum takes over? Well, the weight of this seemingly lost mallow flexed the thin wire downwards until physics took over and with a snap of recoil the red and blue smoking comet left the stick and escaped into the air... heading straight for Andy's face with unimaginable speed.
Ninja...? F'n yes, Andy basically is one!
But even his cat like reflexes were no match for this flaming comet of sticky goo. Before anything could be done, the napalm nugget had struck and stuck to his face!! Yeah man, it totally hit his face!!! The immediate horror was quickly averted as the sticky, burning glob only rested for a second before gravity took over and dropped it down to his shirt. A rapid yet gentle padding put out and removed the nasty bastard and before we knew it we were all laughing uncontrollably at the situation. Even a somewhat still disgruntled Andy had to smile, as we all realized that no matter how hard we tried to make this trip work, the chances were pretty good that California already owned us and we'd just be lucky to get out in one piece.
We all soon tired of the million and one mosquitoes joining the party and retreated into the trailer in hopes that tomorrow wouldn't be any worse. But we had high hopes for Bullards Bar which was the ride scheduled for the next day...
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to comment on this post.