Diary of a Wandering Thule

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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21:30 Pacific Day46 Oakhurst, CA handbags.uprooting.pebbles

A days travel in four distinct parts.

  • A sorta standard commute into town.
  • A gentle wind through downtown.
  • A full-speed blast through freeways exiting town and the outskirts
  • A pastoral wind up into the hills.

About 5 miles out of Santa Rosa the fog shows in the hills. The traffic forms and builds. First time I have been in this commuter stuff since, well LA.

As per usual, the sky is blue with modest cloud cover and no prospect of rain. I’m not confident I know how Rog’s windscreen wipers work.

Four lanes of traffic grind to a halt under the Freitas Parkway, ironically. The F150 beside me belongs to Freddie Freitas, general contractor. Fred doesn’t look like he’s impressed with the irony. We resume a slow crawl until the Oakland exit and then the congestion progressively lifts and eventually flows on the limit basically for the next 4 hours.

The Golden Gate Bridge was one of my first man-made items on my bucket list and it’s now crossed off. You pass through the Robin Williams tunnel and there it is, looming and towering out of it’s renowned fog. Then an RHS exit to see the Crissy Field marina and the Palace of Fine Arts then onto Battery East for the obligatory photo stop.

Next is back onto US101 to quietly and scenically wind through Cow Hollow and Civic to get onto I-80 and cross the Bay Bridge. You don’t get to see much of outside your lane so the lower tier of the bridge feels like a scene from Dr Who with the Tardis time-travelling through warps until you discover you are back on the tarmac/concrete on 580 heading towards Tracy and Stockton. Then a run of Ms. Manteca, Modesto, Merced and Mariposa gaining height and losing urbanity.

The county side looks dry. Again I note that despite this dry summer outlook buildings don’t seem to feature gutters on the roof nor sport rainwater tanks. The temperature is in the high 90s and the humidity is dessicatingly low.

Oakhurst seems to have the same function as Cody with Yellowstone and Kalispell with Glacier, gateway service centres. The city seems nhave low regard for pedestrians with footpaths and crossing points along the main drag after thoughts and barely functional.

Curiously enough the Oakhurst cemetery, a pleasant burst, and virtually the only, bit of greenery along the main street is called the Oakhill cemetery.

Lunch was taken at the taproom of the South Gate Brewery. Their Bahn Mi sandwich was OK, the Red IPA very good and the Glacier Pale Ale even better.

Dinner was taken at a Japanese restaurant which seemed a little incongruous given the pick-up trucks parked outside and extensive number of wooden bear figures that adorn the town but the place was full and product was good.

Have a tour of Yosemite tomorrow and then I’ll thunk out the itinerary for the last couple of days. We are going to do some tree spotting through the Sequoias on Wed. Wish list in the greater LA surrounds include Hearst Castle, La Brea tar pits and Watts Towers. Happy to field suggestions.

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I didn’t know the Mormons had a big presence in Moses Lake, but not surprised. About 40-50 years ago a coworker moved there. Right before Mt St Helens blew. The next time he came down to visit, he had awesome photos.

Heh, I wouldn’t call Hearst Castle in the L.A. area. It’s hours away.

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If your route to LA is via 41 to 101, Hearst Castle is a short side trip from Paso Robles.

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Both routes are very scenic from 101, but personally, I’d take Highway 46 over from Paso Robles. Some of the views as you crest the hills over to the sea are spectacular. :slight_smile: Plus it’s a little further north than Highway 41, so less backtracking to get up Highway 1 to Hearst Castle.

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21:00 Pacific Day47 Oakhurst, CA handbags.uprooting.pebbles

Day spent on a guided tour of Yosemite.

About the only fly in the ointment was this “small group” tour had 26 of us in the bus. Including 22 from a family group with 10 adults, 12 kids all under 10yo and two with some sort of disability. These two were consistently disgruntled at the days events and screamed in extended fits of frustration. It wasn’t much fun, but then I was affected only for a couple of hours, and so my sympathies for all the family involved.

Yellowstone is all about the team and wildlife. Yosemite is all about the rocks and the trees. I took way more photos today than usual … of rocks and trees. Magnificent, majestic, oversized and stunningly attractive rocks and trees.

We spent 2 hours wandering the Mariposa Grove. The grove of giants, actual and prospective shakes the senses. But as far as the life forms present were concerned, homo sapiens americanious outnumber everything mammalian, avarian, reptilian or pescatarian combined by orders of magnitude. But lots of interesting rocks and trees.

We did the usual tourist circuit of the valley floor along the Merced River. People everywhere though traffic and pedestrians moves well enough. Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan. Even stopped to half an hour watching a minute speck abseil the bottom ledges of El Capitan. Swung back to Glacier Point and the took in the perspective from the top of the valley.

Been there, done it and have a stack of memorable images to remind me.

After the tour concluded went for a beer with Phil the tour guide at South Gate Brewery. This was a probably the highlight of the day. Finished with dinner at an Indian restaurant where the fish tikka masala served as a whole fish was an intriguing variation of my expectations.

Tomorrow, we resume our tree hunting phase with the Grant and Sherman trees and Sequoia NP finishing with overnight staying at Lindsay.

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You hadn’t anywhere near the time but getting out of the valley floor and into the backcountry (permit required) will get you all the wildlife you could want. A friend of mine did that with two buddies. A week long hike was planned but they had to cut it short because bears ate all their food.

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…and once you are aware the bears have finished all the other food , you realize you should really hurry out… :grimacing:

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They were experienced backcountry hikers…

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20:00 Pacific Day48 Lindsay, CA dividends.sung.juror

After a day spent looking at rocks and trees, today was essentially only trees. :upside_down_face:

From Oakhurst the team hooked onto US41 to Fresno then US180 to Kings Canyon NP.

The primary, indeed fundamental ,hassle of the day was that I couldn’t rouse Katie from her slumbers. Whether using the hotel wifi, or hotspotting from either phone she was adamant that a route couldn’t be plotted. Bugger you. I resorted to Grace from Google maps. Call me unfaithful, fair squeeze , but you gotta admit it’s all Katie’s fault.

Grace directed us through Fresno with ease and the climb unto the hills. We got to about 4 miles from the Grant Grove Village by 10:30am when we were stopped for 20 minutes for roadworks. Then we crawled another 2 miles and were stopped again because of traffic congestion.

Finally through to the park entrance where my National Parks card did the trick again. (note to anybody who plans on regularly hitting the National Parks), the “America the Beautiful Annual Pass” is well worth it. Then we were put in another holding pattern for congestion for 20 minutes.

At this point Grace went out on strike in Navigators Union solidarity … but it’s less than a mile on a road without junctions … how hard can it be? The answer it wasn’t, just took a long time. Mostly time was waiting with engine off for a pilot car to guide us the next quarter mile.

Bladder control became a factor. There was even the amusing sight of both male and female drivers leaving their vehicles, disappearing into the undergrowth and emerging with a relieved smile on their face. It took 1 1/2 hours to get to General Grant. At that point I was considering Plan B for overnight stay and fuel, though I still had half the tank of juice.

I like Gen Grant, especially as I got a really handy park. The tree is sited quite close to vehicle access. There is a sense of superiority, “Ain’t I grand”?" about the way he stands a little alone and aloof from competitors. Gen Grant is a relative whippersnapper who has found a prime spot. By the time he gets to be Sherman’s age he might vault the current scale of #3 ranking to take top spot. Of course, they both need to survive global warming and Trump to make it that far.

There as another 10min delay exiting the grove. Most traffic seemed to be attempting the full Kings Canyon Scenic Byway circuit. I bailed out and,with a bit of (overdue) luck, tagged on the end of the traffic knot heading back to the entrance. Then hanging a left onto the Generals Highway about 1:30pm. Aspirations were of getting to Gen Sherman and out of Sequoia NP before sundown. But the traffic just vanished. We flowed along the meandering route at approx. the limit of 45mph all the way. Wonderful scenery and an engaging drive.

Gen Sherman is a modest hike downhill from the grove’s parking station, where I nailed another choice spot. Sherman is sited in a grove with more sequoias and more giants. It’s only when you get fairly close that you realise his comparative scale against the other giants. Unlike at Gen Grant I would have thought the significant bulk of spectators were of foreign origin.

Then came the highlight of the day. Without the assistance of either GPS (but there is just a single road so they would have been mute in any case) I navigated Rog along the Generals Highway to Three Rivers. About 12 miles as the crow flies and 26 miles via the bitumen it was simply the most fun hour of driving on the tour. Switchbacks after switchback beside oversized trees and sheer drops, with views of snow capped Sierra Nevada peaks and following the Kaweah River as we dropped most of 6,000 feet of elevation. Seriously considering doing both the climb and descent again tomorrow.

Once reaching Three Rivers my GPS issue became problematic. I was heading to Lindsay but had no real idea of where to turn though I was in the right general direction. My muddled together strategy was get to Visalia and hope that I could find a signal or get a map from a servo.

Then a bit after the town of Lemon Grove, Grace burst into life, wanting me to chuck a left in about 100yds onto R216. I managed to hit the anchors and make this maneuver and via the back roads made the last 5 miles to Lindsay. Lindsay is a citrus growing area on the valley floor and its level groves of orange trees stretching into the distance it looks a stark contrast to the mountain escarpments I had just left.

Grace was directing me to Lindsay town centre and so I was thinking about finding my motel location when Katie bursts into life (union solidarity apparently be damned) with directions to the motel. So the last 2 miles I had competing GPS systems in a cat fight trying to direct me to slightly different locations. Play hard to get, that’ll learn 'em.

After settling in with my post day routine I find that the only viable dinner choice is the local Mexican restaurant. I think I’ve already discussed that issue of Australian unfamiliarity with the US’s favourite cuisine. But without a viable alternative wunderbread white WASP PT ventures into an establishment where neither the menu or the waitress are familiar with Australian English. Without a clue of what I’m doing I order Molcajete, which turned out to be chicken, beef, sausage and prawns in a salsa served in a three legged granite mortar. Looked spectacular, tasted to match. Convinced nobody I knew what I was doing.

Tomorrow is Hearst Catle and overnight in Santa Barbara, with the possibility of doing the Generals Highway again. For the fun and heck of it.

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I remember doing that drive about 30 years ago. Glad it’s still awesome.

ETA: Molcajete is the name for the vessel your dish was served in. Translates as mortar and pestle.

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22:00 Pacific Day48 Santa Barbara, CA fitter.liners.dragging

From the mountains to the sea in one day.
First thing was I did repeat the Generals Highway ascent and descent (as far as the Giant Forest Museum). As I passed through the NP entrance Spotify played The Angels “Take a Long Line”, which commences with Doc Neeson’s instruction “This is it, folks. Over the top!” Got good dashcam footage of both legs. With the morning sun the ascent footage has a lot of glare in places, but it’s useable and shows what it looked like from the drivers seat. My assessment of the ranking of the drive is undiminished. A great driving experience.

An interesting minor point was that at the Giant Forest Museum two of the NP staff were helpful with my inquiries and as thank you I gave them each one of the kangaroo lapel pins I have been handing out during the tour. Now both these people work in one of the more spectacular office locations in the US, but their squeals of delight at receiving a trinket was quite chuffing!

Once back out of the mountains it was onto the near gunbarrel straight US137 then US41/46 where there is a shortage of passing lanes and the speed varied from 70mph unencumbered to long sections under 50mph. Plenty of braod acre farming, flood irrigation and large solar plants.

The highway signs were a mix of GOP political slogans and local issues like “Stop dumping 78% of water into the ocean” .

But we made SH-1 OK, then up the coast for a short tour of William Randolph “Citizen Kane” Hearst’s megalomaniac masterpiece of “something a little more comfortable up on the hill” called La Cuesta Encantada or Hearst Castle. A rather stark comparison on the same day between the natural magnificence and the human decadence.

After all that bling the next stop was at Morro and its distinctive volcanic plug Morro Rock as distinct from the Moro Rock in Kings Canyon. Got my feet wet in the Pacific and pondered the impossibility of swimming home.

The final leg down to Carpinteria (Santa Barbara) was slow going with traffic snarls and roadworks adding a couple of hours to the journey which makes for a rather long day.

Dinner was at Italian soup, pasta and tiramisu from Guicho’s Eatery. Food was very good but it’s the only Italian food outlet I’ve heard of which doesn’t have coffee.

Final days travel tomorrow into the LA jungle. If GPS and my nerves hold we’ll see the La Brea Tar Pits and Watts Towers to conclude this eclectic sight seeing tour.

Assuming the gods of great circle navigation and aviation are on song, I fly out Saturday evening.

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22:00 Pacific Day48 Los Angeles, CA voices.sudden.puppy

My Santa Barbara motel was on the Via Real Road which I assume was the original US101 Left later than usual because its a fairly short run and I thought a bit later might improve the traffic. Have no reference point but traffic didn’t slow noticeably until the Coldwater Exit.

The coast roads generally hug the foreshores which are jammed bumper to bumper with RVs but there’s absolutely nobody in the water.

Cross off Ventura Highway, or at least Freeway from bucket list. Driving into the morning sun through sea spray isn’t ideal conditions.

The freeway/Interstate/Highway seems to concertina between 2 and 6 lanes which can be a bit disconcerting to the novice. There were few low spots as were got to the LA outskirts but frankly mossieing along at 25-35mph is a lot easier on the nerves for a newbie…

Waze gifted me a new GPS voice for services rendered and I adapted “Noir Detective” for the journey. The additional commentary he provides adds some interest but he’s too quietly spoken compared to Katies’s School M’am and he doesn’t read the street names, just distance to the next turn.

First stop was the La Brea tar pits which I found stunning. I didn’t realise they were that close to downtown LA ie literally a couple of blocks. I didn’t realise the scale of the entrapment including 27 Columbian mammoths, over 2,000 Dire wolves plus representatives of virtually every terrestrial or avarian species found in Norh America since the last Ice Age. The documentary shown was excellent but hey, its infotainment and we are in Hollywood. Highly recommended.

Second stop was Watts Towers. You gotta be impressed when a short jaunt across city involves using two Interstates. The story of Sam Rodia has fascinated me since I first heard of it was watching Bronowski’s masterpiece in “The Ascent of Man” more than half a lifetime ago. The motivation. The persistance. The innovation. To create something so remarkable and then to give it away and leave the city. A curiosity are the four eucalypts growing well in the adjacent park. I thought they might be Lemon Scented Gums.

So that’s it. tomorrow is just a short drive to return Rog to his playground at Hertz. Hopefully his next driver appreciates his capabilities. If his steering wheel was on the other side you’d consider bring him home. Just under 12,000 miles in seven weeks @34.3mpg. 340 US gallons of 87oct. USD 1,300 spent. Rog Always started and handled the diverse conditions imposed on him with ease. Grew to enjoy, if not rely on the vehicle management system. The callouses on my hands which developed in Arizona are almost healed.

Apart from that tomorrow is about getting stuff loaded onto UA389 and surviving 15 hours in an aluminium tube.

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Hooray! A good end to this journey and story.

Glad you liked the tar pits.

7.5 hours from just north of Seattle to Eugene the other day with construction delays and accidents; I thought longingly of your speedier journey.

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I love the tar pits. Y’know “brea” in Spanish means tar, so the La Brea Tar Pits means: The the tar tar pits.

I can remember before the Page museum was built, and you could sneak down and peak through the fence at the scientists doing their work. Don’t forget – one human was found in the pits!

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Only one? Slackers.

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16:00 Pacific Day49 Los Angeles LAX, CA dared.kings.lion

Rog has been successfully returned to his stable. (Thanks for the memories, will forgive you for the calloused hands.) The process is remarkable simple compared to my first memories of hire cars. You find the return lot. Follow signs to the agency. Attendants tell you where to park. Take out your stuff. Leave the keys. Walk away.
My attendant was impressed that “Hells Bells” was playing. They handle over 1,000 returns a day. Given the temperature, a day spent on your feet in an asphalt parking lot must be oppressive.

Being a mere male, I thought that having arrived at Terminal 2, that UA would logically depart from Terminal 2. Bzzzz Terminal 7 which is some distance away and required another shuttle bus.

Have made way through border control, they all seemed happy enough to let me skeddadle. Probably have paid sufficient dues.
Baggage checked in. I have accumulated an additional three bags of stuff being cheap trinkets, mementos, books, maps, apparel etc. I guess less than one bag per fortnight isn’t that excessive. The excess baggage charges have caused me to reassess the value placed on my children. Have yet to plan my duty free. Expect a bottle of Woodland Reserve bourbon would be due recognition my newly acquired education in such refined arts.

Just announced that flight has been delayed an hour due to maintenance. Might get to see Sun 6th Aug yet (arrival is Monday morning)

I have been holding this one back and advance warning, this probably isn’t safe to read during meal times. I also accept the notion that motel rooms are not representative of the typical US residence.

Toilets in the US.

They seem to come in two broad categories. Large oval ones and very large round ones, more correctly described as swimming pools.

The mechanical difference seems to be that when you flush the oval ones some sort of sluice valve opens and the bowl contents disappear at such a rate that I count my fingers to check none have been lost. The circular ones start with a stream of water along the side which steadily fills and builds the centripetal forces until the bowl contents disappear down the vortex.

The importance of this relates to the logistical basics of my tour where spending six hours sitting and consuming a diet of low quality roughage is the norm. So the first visit to the loo is a major relief. In the aftermath the sight of a group of “merde” sharks slowly circling a “papier”iceberg until the required orbital velocity is achieved is frankly disconcerting. Delunchable even.

But here is the ginger point. I don’t know whether the problem is one of posture, positioning, velocity or adhesion but I don’t get it all in the water and after flushing the task doesn’t complete. And multiple flushes don’t resolve the situation. I can’t be the only one. Surely. Yet in none of the forty odd establishments in which I temporarily aboded was the basic necessity a toilet brush available. This sanitary equipment omission then requires some further manual intervention because I didn’t want the housekeeping staff to think there was some unhouse-trained gorilla loose in the hotel.

What der hey? I can handle at a pinch rooms where the lack of a means to heat if not boil water. Or lacking a microwave. Or lacking a fridge. All rooms are festooned with health warnings. For sanitary reasons, all the plastic/paper cups are individually wrapped in polystyrene. But guests on their knees wiping the porcelain clean?

Normal services resumed:
Like most of travelling humanity, one spends too much time waiting at airports. With wifi and connected devices it is much more civilised than it used to be.

At the UA gate lounges most of the commuter traffic and a substantial portion of those of us killing time until our call are also foreigners returning home and the ambience of diverse languages from excited children and weary parents is comforting.

Thank you to the other contributors who have advised, corrected, encouraged and supported this thread and associated activities.
Appreciated.

Checks the time … 7 hours to go!

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Do you plan to post pictures? I would really love to see them. I have very much enjoyed reading about your tour. Thanks for taking us along with you.

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Usually google has worked but is failing me. Ginger point? (I mean, I can guess at the context; but may be missing something.)

(thorny’s bathrooms each contain a toilet brush. And she is glad she doesn’t have to clean hotel room bathrooms.)

I hope that your flight goes smoothly, and thanks for this thread and the beer!

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Hadn’t planned. Not sure how best to go about it if I was to…
There’d have to be about 10k of stills. If even 1% had some merit that’s still a bagful of images.
There’s also nearly a terabyte of dashcam footage which will take a while to edit and splice.

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Hope you have a restful flight home. I had a lovely time time meeting with you (twice!) and hearing all about your journeys and your homeland. (And nice to meet with @China_Guy, too!) Bon voyage!