8th October 2014
Another lousy night’s sleep.
Once again I am awake at about 03:30 and doze fitfully until about 07:00. I go down to the Breakfast Buffet and have a coffee and some orange juice – it wasn’t a good spread.
I decide I must do something about my bank and credit card company. To this end I visit Walgreens (a sort of Boots – although I somehow doubt you’d see cigarettes for sale in a UK chemist
), where Preston – all dyed hair, piercings and eye-watering acne – provides me very efficiently with a calling card for $10. This will allow me to call a toll-free number and then ring the UK for one cent per minute. I resolve to stop early today and ring both card providers.
I fill up nearby and I’m on the road, heading for the Eastern Sierras at about 09:45. It’s a beautiful morning, crystal clear and already in the high sixties F.
I travel through scrub desert for a while, but eventually reach some hills – the road twists through the rocks...
...often leaving me in shade and reflecting once again how much cooler it is out of direct sun…
I overtake a truck loaded with vividly green hay – I see these all day, it surely can’t be an economical way to feed cattle?
I turn left at Smith and head toward the distant hills – there’s smoke or dust on the horizon…
I enter the Toyabe National Forest – notable so far for its utter lack of trees…
…and soon afterwards catch sight of the snow on the peaks of the mountains to my right…
It’s getting towards lunchtime – I decide to stop at the next diner I see. As I pass the Bridgeport Reservoir (the level of which looks
severely low)…
The town of Bridgeport appears…
As does the Sportsmens Bar & Grill…
…that’ll do nicely.
After lunch I get back on the bike and – with 130 or so miles since my last fill-up, contemplate topping up with fuel. I decide against it, as I’m pretty sure Doris has some gnarly dirt and gravel roads for me and I don’t want to carry the extra weight.
Can you hear a bell tolling in the distance?
Sure enough, after a couple of miles of highway, Doris turns me off right onto a dirt road that winds up towards the mountains on my right...
It's pretty well maintained, with only the odd outcrop of rock to keep you alert - I wouldn't want to ride or drive it at night...
It gets rougher the further up into the hills I climb - I'm probably at about 8000ft here...
The autumn colours are beautiful...
Eventually, just as it was getting rough enough for me to start missing riding on tarmac roads, I reach the final junction...
...and take a left back down towards the highway...
I start the long descent towards Mono Lake...
...looking a beautiful pale blue colour.
Now this is where my planning starts to go awry. The 'random point in the Sierras' I had programmed into Doris was Yosemite National Park - and I am now at Tioga Pass, the Eastern Entrance. What I
should have done was book some accommodation at one of the motels in the little town of Lee Vining, filled up with fuel and then set off into the Park.
What I
actually did was set off into the Park.
12 miles up Tioga Pass I pay my $10 entrance fee - a complete bargain...
RV renters - top people - always pull over to let you past, never slow down for no reason.
Oh wait - that's not RV renters - they're complete gits - my mistake.
I stop for a breather at Ellery Lake - another body of water that looks very low compared with my last visit...
...then kit back up and head into the park proper...
Yosemite has a way of making your camera work better. Not my line – Jorgé's - but it's true...
I find a whole collection of Harleys stopped at Tenaya Lake. They turn out to be a bunch of chaps and girls from southern Poland. Their 'Ride Captain' (he had a badge that said this) tries to give me a complicated handshake that I fail miserably at. I ask them how long they've been over and where they’ve been. It seems they're halfway through a three week visit and have been to Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Moab etc.
"So, you're badass Polish tourists then?" I ask.
The Ride Captain looks at me hard for a second, then grins "Yeah, badass tourists - that's us"
He tries to give me another complicated handshake and then they ride off into the park...
Forest fires have hit the park this season - indeed there are still fires burning, meaning that Highway 140 is closed (not a route I'd planned anyway)...
...but the smoke will mean I'm not going to see the park at its best.
I wonder if anyone's told them?
The further I get into the park, the more evidence of the fires there is...
It is still a breathtakingly beautiful place though...
Down in the Valley, the air's a little clearer...
...and I mosey about taking the views in...
...ignoring the fact that it's getting late...
In fact I ride up towards Glacier Point - one of the most magnificent views I have ever seen - thinking that there will be time to get there and still come up with a plan for finding somewhere to stay.
At the Glacier Point turn-off I have a moment of clarity.
I am low on fuel, with nowhere to stay. The nearest accommodation I am aware of is in Lee Vining, over 50 miles away and I don't have the fuel to get that far.
I ride back into the Valley and find a Park Ranger who tells me that there is 24hr fuel available about 15 miles up the Lee Vining road (I had ridden past it).
The snag is that you'll need a credit card. Since I have not made my call to the UK yet, mine is only good for scraping the ice off windows. No snags - I have cash. I ride up to the gas station and there find Alex and Susan from Austria...
Who happily use their credit card to put $20 worth of petrol in the Adv in exchange for a $20 note - Hurrah!
OK - next snag - accommodation. I set course for Lee Vining, cursing the 35mph speed limit set in the park (and the people in front of me obeying it
).
The sun's directly behind me for most of the trip - the sunset colours setting the mountains in Tioga Pass ablaze...
I eventually get out of the park and head down Tioga Pass just as the sun sets. Arriving in Lee Vining I find all the motels are full
Thankfully Dawn, one of the receptionists - who just adores my accent - gives Tioga Lodge a call (they are about five miles up the road). They have a room and will hold it. I thank Dawn profusely and ride down to Tioga Lodge, where I am given a cabin that - at night - looks like the set of the Evil Dead...
...but has the requisite bed...
...and very stylish bath.
At $100 per night it's not a bargain - but perhaps that'll teach me to plan better in future...
I have a quick shower and then try to get the pics to upload - there is less than half a Meg upload speed
I leave them uploading and turn out the light - I am asleep before my head hits the pillow...
