We were fortunate to be able to hang out with Jan and Randy for a couple more days before we prepared to head back to Oklahoma. Terry made an appointment at Wild Bill's Tattoo Shop for a birthday tat. He had an eagle placed on his chest....very cool!
In case you want to check out this famous tattoo place...
Thursday night they prepared a feast for us to enjoy by the pool in the backyard. Randy even opened up a bottle of the Petite Sirah, which they have nicknamed Big Daddy! What an honor!!
Relaxing in the backyard....
Cheers to a fantastic trip to California!!
This chicken was amazing along with a fresh tomato, cucumber and onion salad and grilled veggies. It was fabulous....and the company was even better!!
Our last full day at their house was on Friday. I was thrilled to help Jan watch her granddaughter, Cadence, who was about seven months old at the time. She was so much fun to play with and we even got in the pool with her. In the evening we went to one of their favorite breweries, the Out of Bounds Brewery in Rocklin. Of course, Terry being the "brewmaster" wanted to try each of their brews...so we got the sampler!
This was back where we sat to enjoy our craft beers and also wood-fired pizza from a food truck. These were some of the fermenters next to us.
Of course Terry had to take a picture of the Harley back there as well. Cool.
The Pink Ladies enjoying their brews! There was even a corn hole game set up in there....and I kept my winning streak alive against Terry! Haha! Then they drove us to the Total Wine store....WOW....anything you could possibly want as far as alcohol was in there. They were even holding a beer tasting class in the back room. The joys of living in the larger cities....
Saturday dawned early and way too soon for us...as we knew it would be time for us to head on down the road. Randy made some Mickey Mouse waffles for us...and they were yummy!! Our plan was to make it to Yermo in southern California by evening time...with an excursion through Yosemite National Park.
This is what our map looked like for us to head out....south and then a little east so that we could drive through Yosemite. Even the best laid plans will encounter snafu's occasionally...right??
Seemed easy enough according to Randy and Jan's directions for us, and we followed them well for the first three turns....and this is about where we took the wrong turn. Instead of getting on the road to go south, we went north as far as Yuba City before I realized we were going the wrong direction. This posed a problem for us considering we were already planning for a 10 hour day of traveling. Our "directional challenge" added another two hours to our day....yeah...12 hours on the Harley!! Oh well...might as well enjoy the scenery and not fuss about it...
I continued taking pictures as we ventured on...these gorgeous red bushes were in the median for a while.
We were wishing that we had time to stop in for some wine tasting at the Gnarly Head winery as it was one of our favorite wines (before we joined the California wineries that is). But our blunder north to start the day didn't allow us any wiggle room now.
A hazard of any traveling (motorcycle, vehicle, bicycle, airplane, etc) is when accidents occur. When we hit Manteca we needed to fill our gas tank, and as we were sitting in the left hand lane waiting to turn into a gas station we heard the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle crashing and sliding on the pavement. It was in the right hand lane right beside us and he went sliding past us for probably 100 yards more, with the motorcycle and the driver tumbling over and over each other. The guy eventually got up and he is in the picture above talking to the EMT's, and it appeared that he was refusing to be attended to. Wow.
Of course....we always come across Harley Davidson dealers in every state. This was in California somewhere on our way south....
We decided to head east before going south again so that we could drive through Yosemite National Park. On the way there were some winding roads in the Stanislaus National Forest. There were times when I couldn't even look down....I just snapped pictures without looking!
We would be on that lower section eventually....
The roads just snaked around the mountains forever. It was a beautiful ride...with me holding my breath at times. After making one more U-turn...we finally arrived at our destination....
Yosemite National Park is almost 1,200 miles of granite, waterfalls, ancient giant sequoias, deep valleys, wilderness, meadows and so much more. It was protected in 1864.
At first the scenery was a lush, green wilderness area. Unfortunately, there had been wildfires there in the spring...
In the quiet of the day...driving by these dark, sad remnants of their former selves...it was as if I could hear their cries of pain....
...and even though I know that eventually it will be restored...these poor trees looked so solemn.
This continued on for too many miles...just so somber (**later on last summer there were more fires in Yosemite).
Yosemite was full of surprises around each bend...you never knew what would be coming up next...lush green forests, or towering granite
The view of the Harley as we stopped to climb up on a lookout rock! Just amazing....
There are two rivers that flow through Yosemite, the Tuolumne and the Merced Rivers. There are many hiking trails and camping areas. Definitely would like another chance to visit here and stay longer. But we had to keep moving on....
Down and then out as we continued on our trail to southern California.
These mountains are all part of the Sierra Nevada's that were beside us---almost as if they were watching us for most of the trip on south. Eventually we stopped for dinner in Lone Pine. It was a cute little town and we found a quaint little place to wet our whistle and grab some grub....
Can you tell which is Terry and which is the wooden Indian?? Ha! I couldn't either!!
Everyone else had written on the wall...so I asked the little waitress if I could and she told me she would turn her back and see nothing!!
Fortunately for us...this day was the Summer Solstice---June 21st. This meant that even thought it was our longest day of riding, we would also enjoy the longest day of summer. This was still not going to be long enough for us to get to Yermo before dark due to our early morning mistake.
The sun officially set at 8:34 p.m. that night, and still we continued to roll down the highway. There is a stillness at night that is peaceful and calming...until your mind begins to ponder the likelihood of an animal roaming into your path....or the possibility that you are not on the right road.
My final picture before it was completely black out....with no moon to guide us. Two more hours we ventured into the darkness...once coming to the city of Barstow before landing in our original destination...Yermo! Two weary road warriors checked into the hotel and collapsed...knowing that tomorrow we would begin the journey again.
Next installment will be a stop in Williams, Arizona...that was an interesting and fun town!! A jewel on Route 66!!
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