This is our last night before going up the mountain, and we specifically chose a place with (a) laundry and (b) internet. But more importantly, for the first time in a week we have an electric and water hookup, which means LONG SHOWER! and AIR CONDITIONING! (more…)
I just finished a truly satisfying snarfari in Red Bluff, California. This is a lovely little town which seems at least in part to be held in the 1950s, with many original-style signs and structures. There is only one snarf on my list that I could not find–it burned down–and its place has been marked by a little cupola/bell tower that chimes songs on the hour. It’s very peaceful.
Sunday is a great day to go hunting for landmarks. You don’t trip over anybody, they don’t trip over you, and there are nowhere near as many parked cars messing up your shots. Also, that lovely sign “Except on Sundays” applies to most parking places.
Don is cooking us a burger, and then we’re on the road again to our destination for the night.
Oh! Katster will be happy to hear that the State Theater is being renovated. They run old movies — June 28th is Rocky Horror, anyone want to come? — and a buck from the ticket price goes to the fund. It looks like they are starting with the interior. :)
Hey! It’s June.
We’re at Camp Flying J in Corning, just for a change. ;) It was dark when we arrived, and the first thing on the menu was a nice shower with water freshly added from the roadside rest stop. ;)
After we left Marysville, we took highway 20 which was pretty and wonderful and even had a snarf. Then we got onto the freeway around Williams or Willows or whatever that W-town is at the 20/5 interchange.
The “our wheels are being annoying” theme continues. I was riding along minding my own business when the right rear hub cap on the rig decided to make for a bid for freedom. Bummer! (more…)
Then we carried further along to Rocklin, where we found the Camping World. Arriving ten minutes before closing, we whirled dervishly, bought stuff, and forgot the item that had been our main reason for going–a macerator (explanation some time later, if you don’t know what one is already).
We therefore stayed overnight, and found that due to the incorrect implementation of a tire pressure indicator our front right tire had gone flat, while mine remained inflated.
Oh, the irony. (more…)
It was pretty hot on the interstate, and then it closed. We went off on some wild goose chase because I-5 is now closed through downtown, creating wondrous and annoying congestion, especially since it was approaching commute time on a Friday. My bike’s gears started to stick in the heat and I lost thirty pounds through sweating. Well, not really. But a gal can dream. ;)
When we hit 80 and Don pulled off into a big RV-flavor parking lot, I ran off on my bike to visit Cycle Gear. Only it had moved. I had no trouble finding the street, but a bit of trouble finding the location since it was tucked away in an obscure corner. But when I did I called Don to come look. The new location is a superstore, probably the biggest bike supply shop I’ve ever seen. It provided me with much-needed new gloves, and a shiny new inner tube. Well, maybe not shiny. But definitely NEW! Without HOLES!
This will be my last visit to Lodi Panera for a while.
We spent the night at Camp Wal-Mart. We got to the storage shed and the tire was as flat as a pancake. We’re setting out anyway. Here’s why: We reinflated the tire, it’s been three hours, and the tire still has full air in it; we figure that it just needed riding for the hole-plugging goop to do its pluggy thing.
We’ll be passing a Cycle Gear en route to Camping World this afternoon, and picking up a new tube. It’s a very, very slow leak, and if the old one fails en route, we’ll just do a field repair. At least we know how to take the wheel off quickly now. ;)
We made it back to the storage shed safely, though it was certainly quite exciting. We would start with my rear tire overinflated–to 45 pounds rather than their usual 32–which makes things like turning quite…unusual. Then every few miles we’d stop to check. Slowly the air would leak out but this time enough stuck around that there was no need to restock. On the other hand, by the time I’d ridden the 30 or so miles, I was down to about 30 pounds.
We took the tire off, again, and the tube out, again. The leak could be heard, but was elusive. Eventually we took the entire tube indoors and dunked it until we saw the bubbles coming out. One of the older patches had failed. We put a new patch on and reinserted the tire. All this, of course, took several hours. (more…)
We got here late last night–around ten. The tire-ing saga continues.
We spent yesterday morning and afternoon doing research, backups and other maintenance over a wireless connection. After a while we tootled down to the storage shed and tried to make the gunk in the compromised rear tube seal while going through our stuff on the assumption that we would soon be leaving it behind. I sat there and contemplated all the boxes and felt rather sad. (more…)
Our lives are not straightforward. I don’t think anyone’s lives are, really, but ours in particular seem to have a sense of humor to them that require any actual plans to fall by the wayside quite rapdily. This afternoon I had found someone who said they had my size inner tube in stock. We walked into the strange showroom, festooned with hunting and fishing trophies, and the remarkably dour proprietor fetched the tube and dumped it–I use that word quite on purpose–on the counter in a plastic bag. (more…)
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