Day 7 - August 20, 2001
Lake Almanor to Lake Tahoe
I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over Lake Almanor. Sarah had to work today (Monday) so everybody was up early. Sarah's other friend left at about 5:30 am because he had to be in Sacramento by 12:00 noon. Sarah and I got up a little later. First Sarah took a shower, then I. She left for work at about 7:30 am, gave me a big hug and said goodbye. She got in her car and left. It was kinda hard to say good bye this way, but life goes on and I'm on vacation, remember!
I
packed up my stuff and began my ride south - around the lake, back through Chester
and south on Hwy 89 towards Lake Tahoe. On the way, I went through the town
of Almanor, which was just off Hwy 89, and passed one of Eddie's and My favorite
places to eat so I stopped...........to eat! Coffee. Coffee. Ahh. Coffee! The
basted eggs and hash browns weren't bad either. Continuing south along the lake,
I wanted to check out our favorite camping spot and boat ramp. PG&E used
to own the land, but had to sell them off thanks to the "energy crisis".
I was curious if the new owner had changed anything. Every thing was pretty
much the same, except the lake which, like I said before, was really low.
So as I drive over the dam that holds Lake Almanor, I wave good bye. South
on Hwy 89 which winds through some beautiful country through Indian Valley to
where Hwy 89 joins Hwy 70 and the Feather
River - towards Quincy
to Blairsdan where Hwy 70 and 89 split. We continue south on Hwy 89 towards
Truckee.
I found a nice little loop, or side road that would get me back to Hwy 89, but
after going through some beautiful forests and lakes. Up the mountain and into
Turckee. Last year, I remember, they were repaving Hwy 89 and I had to ride
through about 15 miles of oil covered road. What a mess! However, this year
the new road was very nice, and again, there we're very few cars to contend
with. Following Hwy 89 along the Truckee River, I saw hundreds of people floating
down the river on rafts of all kinds - people riding their bicycles along the
bike path. Just another beautiful day in Tahoe! turned south and went continued
along Lake Tahoe towards my destination, Rubicon Bay, but the closer I got the
smokier it got. I had heard about all of the fires burning all around me during
this trip, but hadn't seen any evidence until now. The smoke was quite thick
when I arrived at James' house. From his house you normally can see the entire
lake and all the mountains around it, but because of all the smoke you couldn't
even see the lake. Smoke was pouring over the ridge to the west which looked
like the fire was just on the other side of the ridge, but it was actually much
further to the south and 60 to 70 miles to the west. That's how big the fire
was!
James
greeted me as I was taking off my helmet and wasted no time showing me his brand
new motorcycle. A Ducati
ST4s.
Basically a sport touring bike with a slightly tuned down Ducati 996 race engine
and suspension. A really beautiful bike. James, being a hard core Ducati/big
twin engine guy, had been wanting a bike like this for years. We talked and
compared our bikes for a while then James broke out his new saddle bags and
luggage carrier stuff. Well, we immediately started to mount all the mounting
brackets. But the most important topic of conversation was ...where are we going
to eat! We decided to go out for Mexican food, which would include our favorite
beverage - The Margarita!
Well,
we had a great time and drank way too much. Joel, James' assistant kindly agreed
to be our designated driver home. Thanks Joel. We arrived back at the house
in one piece and after a little more conversation, went to bed. All of us were
pretty tired after the day's events.
So upstairs to the guest room and my first nights sleep in a real bed since my trip began.
End of Day 7
179 miles