Yesterday we got to go take a nice ride, it was completely spur of the moment. We left the valley around noon, heading up the river, and when we got up to the highway, we passed another biker which we waved to. Got on up a ways and they passed us as we were sight seeing a bit, so we knodded to them again. It was pretty hot down here in the valley, somewhere in the 90s. They rode in front of us for a while, and then turned into the Jamestown Harley dealers. We went on up the hill, and it started to get a little cooler. Whew.. thank goodness! So we just kept going up. We got up to Sonora pass and it was soooooo nice. It was still spring time up there. It is close to 10,000 ft at that point. The ride was just perfect, the weather was nice. I started to notice that we were hitting some clouds that looked like thunderheads. Next thing we know, there was lightning and thunder way on up the hill. Well we didn’t really think too much about it, except that it was pretty cool. So we just kept on going and going. We wanted to go on over to Bridgeport and have some lunch. So then we started to smell the rain, but you could tell it had rained already, as the ground was wet, so we kept going. Next thing you know, we are getting rained on. OUCH! Of course having run out the house, we didn’t even have long sleeve shirts on. And a leather coat? Oh hell no, we had nothing. So we finally gave in turned around and got out of the rain a few miles back down the road.
We saw some deer, we saw those cute little chipmunks scampering around, and spring time on top of a hill in the middle of a hot hot California summer. Oh yeah, and back down the hill a few miles we once again saw our fellow bikers from the valley. They were just getting back on their bike from eating some ice cream at the little mountain store. We all had to laugh at how many times we had run into each other during the day. We introduced ourselves, and of course I had to tell them about Cyclefish.
So back down the hill we came, we stopped a quant little lounge in Strawberry for lunch. Me in all my infinite wisdom decided that I wanted some hot wings. Hello, they call them that for a reason! So after feeling the burn and filling our bellies we took off again. It was getting late by then so we headed out down the hill. Oh boy the farther down the hill the hotter and hotter it got. Heading west, the sun was directly in our face all the way home.
But as always my favorite part of coming home from the mountains is when we leave Oakdale and come in by the irrigated orchards. It is like a spring breezed compared to the heat of the sun in our faces.
Life is much better with little stories of the rides we take!
Thanks for taking me along for the ride Debrajoe. I really enjoyed it!!!
