Yosemite

We rode in to Yosemite on Monday which was a feat unto itself. 25 miles straight uphill with an astounding elevation gain. All the pissheads that laughed at me the day before I left and told me that because I didn't do the Lamoille hill climb I wouldn't make it can eat the dirt that flies off my tires.
I called the CA highway patrol to report the fact that everyone was speeding and I hadn't seen a cop in two days. Someone blew past me at 60mph when I was under a 20mph sign coming within two feet of me. Kind of scary roads, lots of swearing, shaking my fist and throwing the bird. But we made it!
We rode to Crane Flat campground that night. It was quite scenic but very dusty. I got upset with the stove because it wasn't working well for me mostly because I was impatient and famished. Phil finished cooking dinner for us while I sat despondent and dirty in the tent.
We went to bed right after dinner. I don't think I have kept such strange hours in my life. Going to bed at 9 and waking up at 6 or 7 am. Or are those normal hours? We woke up and packed our gear up and rode to the garage and got coffee. Phil has a strange way of calling gas stations garages, but he pronounces it
Gair-age. Outside there was a woman ranting about the shitty coffee, but I didn't think it was too bad. We then rode twenty five miles into Yosemite Valley which was the best ride ever. The views were stunning, the air crisp and cool, and it was all down hill.
We got a campsite and ditched our gear there. Riding around without all the weight was fun. We ate some lunch and decided to hike to Vernal Falls. We locked the bikes up and hiked up.
A native American man was coming down the trail and yelled, "let me take a picture o you two right there!" So I gave him my camera. Everyone here has been very nice, a lot of Europeans on vacation who all get a kick out of hearing me speak, so I throw in more ya'alls than entirely necessary.
It was a nice hike, very pretty with a rainbow created by the waterfall. I stopped at the top of the falls by the Emerald pool to stand in the quiet for a moment. A mountain lion strolled past me and was looking to get a drink of water, I watched it for a bit and then all these people with cameras scared the poor cat away.
I hiked up a bit further and sat on the side of a rock overlooking the valley and it was very peaceful beautiful and pleasant. Phil found me and joined me on my perch. In a moment of contented happiness I tried to give him a kiss. He brushed me away and gave me a lecture on how inappropriate that action was. So it wasn't very romantic. In retrospect it is kind of funny, what a prude.
We hiked down, splashed in the water and went back to camp. We started cooking and met our campmates. Mike is from Austria, he was really cool, we shared his cigarettes with me. We exchanged vodka and ginger rum. I drank all the vodka I had cycled here from SF an was very glad I didn't throw it out two days ago like I had considered.
We were all sitting and chatting when Wendy showed up, she was camping in the same area.
Today, we woke up early to pack all our gear to catch a bus to Toulumne Meadows. The YART bus driver who has been tracking me since priest grade showed up. He opened the doors and I heard him telling the passengers" these crazy kids cycled here from SF," so we were part of their sight-seeing. He told us, no bus there till Saturday. So we are going to attempt to hitch hike out of here because there is no shoulder and would take us all day to climb out.

Ahwahneechee

Phil and I stopped to read the sign about half dome here in Yosemite and the native stories about it make a lot of sense. See Tissiak got into a tif with her husband, had a tissy fit and threw her acorn basket because he was going to hit her. Because of their misdeeds they were turned to stone. That is why they call half dome Ahwahneechee or "I wanna hit you."

Update for a couple days

We stopped at Moccasin camp site by Don Pedro reservoir to camp which was pretty pleasant. We went swimming. Phil didn't believe I could easily start a fire so I showed him my mad girl scout skills. Then I cooked rice and vegetarian chili while he wrote his blog that contained libel against me. (The cook who was feeding him) I only had one beer btw.

Anyways. Yesterday Mel's bike shop in Oakdale was awesome. He fixed my bike brakes and tried to fix this strange clucking sound that hasn't been resolved but seems to be trucking fine. I am very glad we got the brakes sorted before the hill, watching him fix it showed me how I had been adjusting them a bit off.

We ran out of water because I wasn't looking at the map, luckily I saw some houses. Opting to not knock on the door of the "trespassers will be shot" house we metTodd, I believe his name was... I was sort of delirious for the introductions, who gave us water and some route advice and was super cool.

We met Kevin and Olgya at the Chinese Camp store over a beer. We talked about burning man and our route to Yosemite. Turned out they were staying not too far away in Groveland. We made plans to meet them for breakfast the next day, which turned into lunch by the time we got there.

The road there was only three miles but the steepest hills, my knees hate me. When we showed up I practically fell off my bike and was revived by buweiser. Never appreciated beer so much and today I drank a couple.
They cooked us a wonderful meal of bacon, sausages, bagels and a wonderful Russian cheese pancake.
We went swimming at pine lake with them, very nice lake. They were very kind to us which refreshed our spirits.

We rode from their house through Stanislaus state park to a campground called something Pines. It was a very lonely little place and we shared a campsite with a nice lady named Wendy from Ontario. She has been on an exciting journey as well, much longer than ours. We shared a pleasant dinner together.

Other things of note. Phil is patient, likes to make fun of my cursing. Got stung in the damn head, first bee sting ever in the middle of a bridge. And rode through a beautiful area called the Red Hills.

First day outta the gate

Well, the universe works in strange ways. My ID showed up to the SF house then vanished before I ever got my hands on it causing much drama and discord Wednesday. Alas it was not found so we left this morning anyways. So I embarked on this journey with no money and no identification. Luckily today I made forty dollars on a piece of Jewelery that I sold at Jimmy's one stop.

It is very worrisome to not have access to my bank account and to have to rely on Phil. He has been very kind, patient and generous throughout this whole shenanigans. It is probably a good lesson to learn to be able to step back and let things be, trust, and be taken care of. Obviously I haven't been doing a good job of taking care of things myself. Or alternately when I get the reins acting like a megalomaniac with an iron fist.

But I am a damn good Bo- jangler though! I got a free turkey sandwich and two beers.

In other news, the riding has been very fun with good conversation. Passing motorists have been very nice and given the berth needed for our bikes. We plan to be in Yosemite tomorrow.

Oakland Pride

Phil accompanied the Uncles Jeffery and I on Sunday to the Oakland Pride celebration. It was a nice sunny day with much fanfare. I especially enjoyed the Gay Men's choir. I got a free HIV test, turned out negative. I think there should be a socialized system for basic healthcare maybe just basic tests, luckily I was in the Bay Area where they offer free services.

It was a wonderful cultural experience for Phil. I have been taking him all sorts of places to help him experience America. I sent him into a 99 cent
store on mission to ask if they had a map. Got a laugh out of that one.

We went to a tumbleweed wanderers show after we visited the bike kitchen yesterday. The opening band Amaker Rodeo was styling and very good. It was good to see the boys from Tumbleweed Wanderers. They killed it on stage and it was nice to see them with such a big crowd.

So far the trip has been quite fun. Sprinkled with bits of interesting.

Procuring Phil's Bike

Caltrain took Phil, the radish and I to Palo Alto where we sourced the freeradical from our friend Lawrence. He showed us his collected rainwater flushing toilet that was genius. I am going to make one myself. We also went to Ron's house and he sold Phil a nice bike and gave us some lights and other things.

Paul Freedman has been very helpful in getting us outfitted for the ride. He gave us pointers on what bike to get and sold us some gear that will be very helpful including some cool rock the bike cam straps. Ariel and Paul helped us figure out if we are road ready.
If you haven't checked out Rock the bike you should, www.rockthebike.com

Phil and I assembled his Trek to the xtracycle at SF's bike kitchen. The volunteers were very helpful, and excited about our project. It is a really nice idea to have a place to learn about and ask questions about bikes. Kevin really helped us out and was good company.

The xtracycle office was very nice to us even though we showed up slightly unannounced. They have some really cool rigs in the shop. Including a folding cargo bike. If I haven't convinced everyone yet that these bikes are the best, I will soon. Maybe then we will see a couple pop up in Elko.

Much gratitude to everyone who helped us, we would not be on the road without your help!

Friday's long ride and Critical Mass

Friday of the full moon was a blast.
I met Phil on Valencia, we got some coffee and went to Back to the Picture to see Randy. I got to help the proud owner of an original Red Vic movie poster for Harold and Maude pick out a frame. We talked about our favorite movie, and I am going to make Randy and Phil sit through it. We rode through Golden Gate park stopping to climb the tower at the DeYoung museum. We saw some cool knitted metal sculptures, a huge bronze, and two sphinx.

We then continued our ride to Ocean Beach where we sat for a minute looking at the Pacific. We then bought some fruit, bread and cheese for a packed lunch and kept riding. We sat to eat our lunch at the USS San Francisco memorial.

We then rode through the Presidio stopping at the Legion of Honor and the Holocaust Memorial. Then to the Golden Gate Bridge. We went over and back, very windy. The views of the city, bay and ocean were superb on this ride.

Hauled ass to sports basement and looked around. I bought an MSR fuel bottle. When we left we rode as fast as we could to Justin Hermann Plaza to catch Critical Mass. My back light fell off and I stopped as Phil picked it up. I pulled to the side of the road and Andrea, a friend from Elko was walking on the sidewalk right there!

There were bikes with charcoal grills on them, boom boxes, unicycles too! Very diverse set of bikes and riders. Lots of hooting and hollering as we took over Market st.
I got to show everyone my bike acrobatics on van ness. We went through the broadway tunnel and made lots of joyful echoing noise.

Phil's couch surfing host rode with us. Robin has been going to critical mass for twenty years! He was a lot of fun to ride and talk with. I talked to a lot of different riders on the almost two hour ride. I met Lawerence who might sell me an Xtracycle free radical for phil's bike. He told me about his visits to Elko, NV and I know his brother who is a geologist. Small world.

After critical mass my friend Pam had invited me to a kickstarter concert party with free booze! So we went to Optical Underground, where the door lady was nice and let me park my bike inside. The Sioux City Kids played and they were very rocking, very danceable but it was a packed venue so I couldn't get crazy dancing. Pam was right, they gave me free beer and I was very content because that is what I needed after the days riding.

After that we got a burrito and Pantea, my Uncle's co worker, stopped to chat for a bit. I feel like I know a lot of people here. I rode home alone and got to see a bit of the full moon before it was obscured in fog. That's the short version, you'd have to get a bike and take the ride it's much more entertaining first hand. If enough people would be willing we should start a critical mass in Elko! Take over the streets, granted we might actually get run over by diesel trucks. Or arrested.