Yosemite, CA July 10 --We arrived (we being me and my older-by-15-months sister Colleen) on Saturday night after a fun afternoon in Cloverdale (see previous post). There is some really beautiful country between the Sacramento River Delta area and the High Sierra country. Rolling hills with abundant oak trees. The grass is very dry -- everything is right now in this area; very high fire hazard -- so it is golden brown and the oaks are a deep green. I think it would be even more beautiful in fall when the oak leaves color or in spring when the grasses are green. But there is something very solid and admirable about this country even now in the height of summer. The road to Yosemite is very steep and windy -- 25 and 30 mph curves. I can’t WAIT to drive the Mo back down. I was hoping to find an easier route but have been assured that this (120) IS the easiest route.
On Sunday we drove up into Yosemite Valley, stopping often to take pictures with my 35 mm camera. (Unfortunately, in a hurry to get a disc so I could share pictures, I took them to a one-hour developer in Groveland and he did a pretty poor job of developing them. I’m very disappointed and sad.) El Capitan, Half Dome and Yosemite Falls are breathtaking. The granite rock formations here are amazing. It is incredibly beautiful, in a very different way from Montana. The rock is less jagged, but no less imposing. The Ponderosa Pines are beautiful. The tourists are a pain in the rear and parking in some of the areas (at least on weekends) is harder to come by than cell service in this remote but crowded area. They take paradise and put up a lodge and souvenir shops . . .
On Monday we decided to go up and over Tioga Pass. Beautiful area, but you drive up to an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. It is the highest motor vehicle pass in California; I’m guessing it’s got to be one of the highest in the U.S. We then made a circle by coming back across on Sonora Pass. This is a narrow, windy road with road grades of up to 25 percent. Signs clearly advise against taking rvs, trucks, trailers, etc. We were driving my sister’s Camry so we did fine. But of course there’s always got to be one smart guy dragging a trailer who thinks he’s such an outstanding driving that he can ignore the signs. Sonora Pass is 9,600 foot elevation so not as high as Tioga but actually more challenging because of steep grades and very sharp turns.
At one point we pulled over so I could grab my camera from the trunk. The spot we pulled into had several guys, two or three in traditional Arab garb, and a couple of cars. One of the guys, dressed in desert fatigues but with no insignia identifying him as military walked over from where they were standing towards us. He asked how we were doing. I told him we were fine and were just stopping to get our camera from the trunk. I noticed the SUV he was driving had Nevada plates and no military insignia or plates. He waited until I got back in the car. As we were pulling away I noticed one of the guys with an Arab headdress was holding a rifle. I waved to him as we pulled out and he waved back. There was also a sign indicating that the Marines sometimes held military training in the area, but these guys didn’t look like Marines or any other official U.S. military. It was strange and kind of scary. We spoke with a Forest Ranger up the road (where the guy with the travel trailer had slid off the road). She was as puzzled as we were and promised to check on it. She also had lots of pats and sweet talk for Charlie. He gets that alot.
So it was a very full day of driving and we got to try the steep, windy hill of 120 again. I’m not feeling any more confident of heading down there tomorrow.
Today we took it kind of easy. We took Charlie for a nice long walk, and he splashed around in the creek that flows through the campground. There was a little area that someone had dammed up and made a fairly deep hole. Charlie stepped into it and realized it was over his head -- he couldn’t touch bottom and had to swim. He doesn’t like the insecurity of not being able to touch bottom. Kind of like most of us who don’t like the insecurity of not knowing where the bottom is or where we’ll sleep tomorrow night or so many other things we find to worry about. He had no problem swimming --- it’s not like he’ll drown if he can’t touch bottom. It’s just the feeling of not having full control.
Colleen and I went into Groveland, a very cute little town about 20 miles from our 1000 Trails rv preserve. I took the photos in to have them developed and put on a disc and we wandered around for awhile. We ended up eating in “the oldest establishment to serve liquor in California,” having been established in 1852 or something like that. It was a pretty funky old place. Across the street is a hotel that was established in 1849. Old gold-mining country, apparently.
Colleen and I had plenty of time to talk about a variety of things, including our spiritual beliefs. She has a hard time dealing with the Catholic Church (many people from my generation do -- old hurts, anger, impatience at some of the stupid things the church has done and taught in the past). It’s sad that the church has alienated so many people and even sadder when that alienation is so total that they cannot even consider themselves followers of Christ or believers in God. I believe that God works with us all however God can reach us and uses whatever voices and experiences are necessary to tell us of the great love S/He has for us.
I continue to feel very convinced that this time of travel is important to me. It is a time of waiting, listening, praying. I find that being with others, while fun, is also distracting me from my journey -- which is more internal than out across the country. But I am also finding that the more I do and hear and experience, the more I grow, the more I stretch, the more I know I am capable of. I don’t yet know to what end this will lead, but it feels right to be doing this right now.
I will go back to Corning tomorrow and see if I can get my car and tow equipment. Maybe wash a load or two of laundry. If it’s as hot there as it was last weekend, I could probably wash things and hand them out and they’d be dry in 10 minutes or so. Then I’m not sure where. I thought about heading over to the Calif. coast but the road looks like it could be steep and windy and I’m not sure if I’m up for that. But for sure back in Oregon by the weekend, I think. I’ll spend some time with my daughter and son-in-law and then back to Portland for my last long stay until who-knows-when. I can’t touch the bottom, but I think I can swim well enough to be safe.
TravelinLady
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