Getting Closer to Home !

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John's Journal

Day Thirtyeight

Mileage- 676

Route- I-84 West, Hwy 20 West, Hwy 395 South, Hwy 70 West, Hwy 49 South

Ahhh, the sound of light rain outside.  How nice to wake up to that sound.  Well, I am on my way home and all this makes me  happy to being winding it up.  But, it may stop at some point.  I packed up and headed out without breakfast or coffee  hoping to get going out of this stuff and stop for lunch early. 

I saw sunnier skies, I thought, but a little rain came back.  I stopped for breakfast around 11am at a small town along Hwy 20  and the sign on the door said, "No Power.  No Coffee."  Bummer.  They said the power is out for 15 miles all around and no  one knows why.  Hmmm.  Guess I'll go on to the next town.

I pulled over about an hour later at the Night Owl.  They fit the requirements:  gas and food.  It was a real homey place, the  guy who took my money for the gas made a crack about the food being alright, if I didn't mind the cook, motioning to the  woman cleaning up a table.  It was his sister, I think and their Mom, the usual cook, was in a booth having a smoke.  It was  simple, good food, the kind I have been trying to get along this trip.  I chatted with a guy from Cheyenne, or should I say he  chatted to me about his travels.  He looked about 70 and has been up here, down there and all around the west for a long  time.

After lunch, I rode out Hwy 20 among some small mountains (not sue which, not as big as the ones I was used to the last  few days) through a few passes called Drinkwater Pass and Stinkingwater Pass.  It is a highway, so the road is very well  maintained, smooth nice sweeping curves, not much traffic.  I had hoped that people would not be using this road to get  away for the holiday weekend and I was right.  I have seen more motorcycles, though.  That's always a good sign of the  weather being better and great roads.

When I turned onto Hwy 395 South, it really became beautiful.  The weather was getting warmer and clearer.  Big, white  puffy clouds provided some places for the sun to play Hide-and-Go-Seek.  The stops for gas became farther apart, so I had  to watch it to take sure I didn't run out.  The road coming into Valley Falls, just a junction of a couple of roads, came around  beautiful Lake Albert (or as the sign said, "Lake Abert" but someone added an "L" kind of cockeyed in place). The lake on  my right was mostly perfectly still, with these great rock covered hills on my left.  I kept looking up at the hills and wanted to  stop and climb up to walk along the long ridge.  But, I didn't.  I wanted to see how far I can go today, not stopping for too  much.

So, I didn't stop, except for gas and a snack the rest of the day.  As I got towards the CA border I got a bit more anxious to  get to Nevada City, which then meant that I was closer to home.  I knew that home was too far, but to my sister's, well that  was like home, but not quite there, yet.  Those feelings, combined with the gorgeous weather, propelled me into high  speed and I really screamed through much of the rest of Oregon and Northern California.

There was a beautiful sunset over the Sierra Mountains as I came in from the North.  I actually did stop (I lied earlier about  not stopping) to take a few photos of the wonderful clouds and sky as the sun was nearly dropping behind the hills.  Then,  I zoomed ahead (many stretches of this great 2-lane throughout the day I was cruising at between, sorry Mom, 80-100  mph) and started into the last stretch toward Nevada City along Hwy 49 just at sunset.

It was a bummer that I was getting so tired and that it was getting darker and darker, because the road I was on is really  amazing.  Even though I couldn't see much of it, I could tell by the many, many tight corners and sounds of water nearby  the road that this stretch of road must be quite wonderful to see in daylight.  As I approached one of the bigger small towns  along the way to the other big small town that my family lives in, there were people all over, a section of the road was  blocked off and I could hear some live music, too.  I wanted to stop, but it was getting much later than I had wanted to be  navigating this curvy road and I had been riding for the entire day.

I did stop to rest at one point about 20 minutes from Nevada City along a very dark, quiet stretch of this little road.  I sat back  on the bike with my helmet off just listening to the sounds and watching the vast number of stars in the clear sky. 

My trip is coming to a completion. What have I learned, felt, thought, etc...about all this.  Man...what a journey.  This is a great way to softly end the trip. 

I am very happy.