Mostly driving really. With some scenery.
So, Tuesday morning we made the motorhome shiny, except for the footprints that weren't supposed to be on the roof, and the one towel of theirs that we used and sort of destroyed. Accidently. It's sort of black from dirt from when drK and I thought the floor of the RV wasn't THAT dirty, and sort of pink from when drK and I were doing the washing and something red snuck in. Anyway, the RV place gave us a Gold Star, and we will be Permitted to Rent From Them again. Then we went to the airport to pick up the rental vehicle (we have spent a hell of a lot of time in that place considering we haven't actually flown in or out there - there was a whole saga before BM involving Cricket's lost luggage and how United Airline operates out of Hell). Hey, Reno airport has SLOT MACHINES, I wanted to take photos but didn't want to be detained for questioning. So we went to pick up the SUV, that the girl who'd served us cheerfully assured us would take five people and all our luggage and found...a SOCCER MOM car. We'd already waited in line for a really long time, and were expecting delays and arguments when we went to explain their mistake, and instead got the BEST (and quietest) service ever. In fact, the guy only spoke two words to us the whole time - 'sign here'.
And that's how we got Aiden. Aiden and I have bonded. Aiden is a sort of cross between a minitruck and SUV, or as Jody puts it 'it's a big, fat car'. After lunch at Bertha Miranda's (a Mexican place we'd tried the night before BM on the rec of the hotel guy I may possibly have been flirting with. a bit) we Set Off. drK drove for the first seven hours of our five hour journey. *pause* We went the scenic way through the mountains, nice roads, the stunning Lake Tahoe, and headed off towards Sacramento. Except we weren't going there. We were SUPPOSED to turn off onto Hwy 49, except that Hwy 49 wasn't there the first time we went through Placerville. Except we didn't realise that for a long time, and there were long highways and boring flat landscape and and the smog layer in the distance, but then we came to a Starbucks and all was right with the world because I had my first Mocha Grande. Back we headed to Placerville and searched, but still no Hwy 49 and so Dave got out at a gas station and asked for directions and the attendant had no idea but sold him a map of Placerville and then we set off and got a hundred yards up the street and Hwy 49 manifested in front of us. Our theory is that Dave somehow fulfilled some arcane ritual. hwy 49 is spooky and dark and passes through all sorts of tiny goldrush towns all lit up with fairy lights. We stopped somewhere near Jackson for gas, and then I took over driving. (I should probably mention at this point that my entire experience of driving on the other side of the road and adjusting to the strange road rules took place over a couple of hours in Reno before BM) And Aiden is quite big and fat. drK spent the first half hour or so (and periodically after that) saying 'shoulder! shoulder!' until I got the hang of clinging to the shiny yellow lights in the middle of the road. Which came in handy an hour or so later when we found ourselves in mountains again. Big Scary Mountains. With tiny, narrow roads that wind tightly around them, with dark chasms that I was could see out of my peripheral vision. And so the hours passed. I'm sure the mountains looked lovely by the light of the full moon, I didn't dare look away from the golden lights. Which became yellow lines as the reflectors (my best friends) were left behind. At exactly midnight (really!) I managed to pull over so the back seat people could get out and pee (very quickly, we were afraid of being attacked by bears). drK asked if I wanted to swap but I really didn't. Adrenalin was doing its thing, big time, and I was having a really intense sort of fun time. The really fun part came when we got to some ROADWORKS, and a traffic light that said 'prepare for 15 minute wait'. Advice from the passenger seat was that it was one o'clock in the morning, no need to wait. Except as it turned out, the 'roadworks' were a temporarily constructed ONE LANE bridge to the next mountain, a ONE LANE road and then another ONE LANE bridge. And half way through this, a car came towards us. I managed to find enough room to pull us over, and a couple of cars passed us, and we got over the second bridge. To find a cop car, and another set of lights with cars waiting to go. I think we all learned a very valuable lesson. Shortly thereafter we found our motel, and it was universally decided that we were too tired to unpack the car, and were going to crash in our clothes. The others went to check in and I parked. And then suddenly we were unpacking the car, especially all foodstuffs, because it had been a few years since bears had ripped a car door off, and the motel people wanted to keep it that way!
Lazy morning, then we set off to Yosemite. We drove around a lot. We stopped a lot to stare and take photos of some pretty rocks and mountains and meadows and stuff. More fun mountain driving.
Back to the motel for dinner, Jody and I decided to share a pepper steak meal. Turned out, for $2.50 extra, they 'split the plate', which means they cut the steak in half and put it on seperate plates and then we got two serves of everything else, the sauce, the garlic mash and vegetables, bread, and the salad bar, which was excellent and included raw broccoli and cauliflower. So, still haven't been able to finish a single meal I've had since I've been here. They had REAL BUTTER packets, so I absconded the restaurant with some, and the rest of our bread. (hey, it was OURS), in happy anticipation of being able to have vegemite toast for breakfast for the first time. Oh, vegemite, how I've missed thee! (I'd just found out that day that drK had brought some, it made me exceedingly happy) Except I got up this morning and the ants had got to the bread. *cries* So I had some peanut butter muesli bar thing that sort of tastes like cake, instead. Then we drove through mountains for a few hours, and then onto highways where I got to go 65 miles an hour! Whee! Aiden is very keen and wanted to speed, but I hardly let him at all. Late afternoon, driving alone wide roads, fabulous mountains on either side, and the light falling on them, just so, I got for the first time, why people do this for fun. There was one moment of panic when it started to rain and I realised I didn't know where the windshield wipers were.
At some point we detoured a long way to go see the Bristlecone forest. Oldest trees in the world. They look it, too. There was a one mile hiking trail which I followed, not realising that everyone else had decided not to, for various reasons. It was hot and uphill and I got breathless very quickly, and thought I was having my usual late arvo energy crash early, til I remember that we were at 10 000ft, and then I just paced myself and the scenery was...odd..and stunted..and quite brutal. It was beautiful.
As I was saying, Aiden makes me want to go get a better paying job so I can have a car like him. Five people plus much luggage phases him not at all. He is lovely to drive, if a little bossy. Seriously, he gets grumpy if the passenger doesn't put their seatbelt on. Also, he has a PHONE in the ceiling which Cricket inadvertently discovered one time while randomly pushing buttons.
And now I'm up to date, sort of. Still lots of Burning Man stuff, including the part where I went on a trip out to Black Rock and DISCOVERED A NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACT.
And that's how we got Aiden. Aiden and I have bonded. Aiden is a sort of cross between a minitruck and SUV, or as Jody puts it 'it's a big, fat car'. After lunch at Bertha Miranda's (a Mexican place we'd tried the night before BM on the rec of the hotel guy I may possibly have been flirting with. a bit) we Set Off. drK drove for the first seven hours of our five hour journey. *pause* We went the scenic way through the mountains, nice roads, the stunning Lake Tahoe, and headed off towards Sacramento. Except we weren't going there. We were SUPPOSED to turn off onto Hwy 49, except that Hwy 49 wasn't there the first time we went through Placerville. Except we didn't realise that for a long time, and there were long highways and boring flat landscape and and the smog layer in the distance, but then we came to a Starbucks and all was right with the world because I had my first Mocha Grande. Back we headed to Placerville and searched, but still no Hwy 49 and so Dave got out at a gas station and asked for directions and the attendant had no idea but sold him a map of Placerville and then we set off and got a hundred yards up the street and Hwy 49 manifested in front of us. Our theory is that Dave somehow fulfilled some arcane ritual. hwy 49 is spooky and dark and passes through all sorts of tiny goldrush towns all lit up with fairy lights. We stopped somewhere near Jackson for gas, and then I took over driving. (I should probably mention at this point that my entire experience of driving on the other side of the road and adjusting to the strange road rules took place over a couple of hours in Reno before BM) And Aiden is quite big and fat. drK spent the first half hour or so (and periodically after that) saying 'shoulder! shoulder!' until I got the hang of clinging to the shiny yellow lights in the middle of the road. Which came in handy an hour or so later when we found ourselves in mountains again. Big Scary Mountains. With tiny, narrow roads that wind tightly around them, with dark chasms that I was could see out of my peripheral vision. And so the hours passed. I'm sure the mountains looked lovely by the light of the full moon, I didn't dare look away from the golden lights. Which became yellow lines as the reflectors (my best friends) were left behind. At exactly midnight (really!) I managed to pull over so the back seat people could get out and pee (very quickly, we were afraid of being attacked by bears). drK asked if I wanted to swap but I really didn't. Adrenalin was doing its thing, big time, and I was having a really intense sort of fun time. The really fun part came when we got to some ROADWORKS, and a traffic light that said 'prepare for 15 minute wait'. Advice from the passenger seat was that it was one o'clock in the morning, no need to wait. Except as it turned out, the 'roadworks' were a temporarily constructed ONE LANE bridge to the next mountain, a ONE LANE road and then another ONE LANE bridge. And half way through this, a car came towards us. I managed to find enough room to pull us over, and a couple of cars passed us, and we got over the second bridge. To find a cop car, and another set of lights with cars waiting to go. I think we all learned a very valuable lesson. Shortly thereafter we found our motel, and it was universally decided that we were too tired to unpack the car, and were going to crash in our clothes. The others went to check in and I parked. And then suddenly we were unpacking the car, especially all foodstuffs, because it had been a few years since bears had ripped a car door off, and the motel people wanted to keep it that way!
Lazy morning, then we set off to Yosemite. We drove around a lot. We stopped a lot to stare and take photos of some pretty rocks and mountains and meadows and stuff. More fun mountain driving.
Back to the motel for dinner, Jody and I decided to share a pepper steak meal. Turned out, for $2.50 extra, they 'split the plate', which means they cut the steak in half and put it on seperate plates and then we got two serves of everything else, the sauce, the garlic mash and vegetables, bread, and the salad bar, which was excellent and included raw broccoli and cauliflower. So, still haven't been able to finish a single meal I've had since I've been here. They had REAL BUTTER packets, so I absconded the restaurant with some, and the rest of our bread. (hey, it was OURS), in happy anticipation of being able to have vegemite toast for breakfast for the first time. Oh, vegemite, how I've missed thee! (I'd just found out that day that drK had brought some, it made me exceedingly happy) Except I got up this morning and the ants had got to the bread. *cries* So I had some peanut butter muesli bar thing that sort of tastes like cake, instead. Then we drove through mountains for a few hours, and then onto highways where I got to go 65 miles an hour! Whee! Aiden is very keen and wanted to speed, but I hardly let him at all. Late afternoon, driving alone wide roads, fabulous mountains on either side, and the light falling on them, just so, I got for the first time, why people do this for fun. There was one moment of panic when it started to rain and I realised I didn't know where the windshield wipers were.
At some point we detoured a long way to go see the Bristlecone forest. Oldest trees in the world. They look it, too. There was a one mile hiking trail which I followed, not realising that everyone else had decided not to, for various reasons. It was hot and uphill and I got breathless very quickly, and thought I was having my usual late arvo energy crash early, til I remember that we were at 10 000ft, and then I just paced myself and the scenery was...odd..and stunted..and quite brutal. It was beautiful.
As I was saying, Aiden makes me want to go get a better paying job so I can have a car like him. Five people plus much luggage phases him not at all. He is lovely to drive, if a little bossy. Seriously, he gets grumpy if the passenger doesn't put their seatbelt on. Also, he has a PHONE in the ceiling which Cricket inadvertently discovered one time while randomly pushing buttons.
And now I'm up to date, sort of. Still lots of Burning Man stuff, including the part where I went on a trip out to Black Rock and DISCOVERED A NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACT.