Back to the Sierra: June 2015

A few months ago I realized this summer's birthday has not one but two 5s in it, and naturally that calls for a long(ish), hot bike ride. In the Sierra, with a tent and way too many other things. Then I had one of those moments - you know, those moments when a kind of dreamy idea suddenly becomes a doable, if nutty, idea.  So here I am in a hotel in Truckee, sharing my room with my bike, two big and two small panniers, and a generous supply of other gear.  Tomorrow morning I hit the road for a five day ride, along Hwy 89 pretty much the whole way, over to Mineral - a very small townlet outside of Mt Lassen.  I've been imagining this ride for ages, very excited to be actually doing it.

In honor of my lazy summer dreams I'm taking it pretty easy, actually - doing short days, up early to beat the heat and getting to my next campsite around lunchtime. Then it's swimming holes and naps, so I can stay up late enough to enjoy the moon (and planets!).

I took Amtrak up here:  BART to Oakland to catch the train, then there's a connector bus from Sacramento to Truckee. All those transfers were kind of a pain but it's fun to start a bike adventure on a train.  Plus since today was the Gay Pride parade, BART was crowded with folks going to that - it was very jolly and festive.

The sort of ridiculous thing is that I will hardly ever have the Internet - Will just have to hunt access down in the little towns along the way. Woo hoo!