Things don't go as planned - A wandering ramble through the Great American South West. Part 1.

Things don't go as planned. How many times are we reminded of the idiom - "Best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray"? Now this might sound like a pessimistic view to hold, but I disagree. Is it still a compelling story - if everything goes as planned? If everything is instrumented and executed smoothly and perfectly, like a machine? Although, aren't machines just as flawed? Conceivably inheriting the inherent flaws of their human creators? 

I am reminded of a recent conversation I had with a new acquaintance over a campfire in Yosemite. This person had just hiked the Mt. Whitney trail, a 22 mile round trip, and a portion of the longer John Muir Trail (a 210 mile hike with a ~10,500 feet elevation gain), which he is planning to tackle next. An avid hiker, who takes great pride in his planning and execution as well as his physical abilities. During our conversation, we started to discuss the protagonist in the recent bestseller - Wild. I asked him if he had read the book, and he had, but didn't like it. When aksed why, he replied in a long-winded fashion, but which I distilled down to the woman having made every mistake in the book. I countered - that's what made her story a fascinating read. She was/is flawed, she made mistakes and lots of them, she encountered peril - even if sometimes it was of her own making, but there was also perseverance, learning, and growth from those hard knocks. I don't think I sold him on the concept. What do you think? If she had done everything by the book, how many would have bothered to read her story?

This story is not nearly as exciting, except things didn't go as planned. It isn't even by any means - concise, so go grab that coffee, tea, or maybe even a real drink. You might need it! : )

This jaunt through southern Utah had been planned several months ago, with Brian - my mentor and riding partner on some such touring excursions in the past. Despite our starkly different riding styles, we had on previous occasions managed to ride together with only a minimum of friction. That may have been because those outings were some years ago, and being new to longer distance touring at that time - I mainly just acquiesced to his plans, riding style and wisdom, the last of which he does have an over-abundance of. At this point you may be wondering, what is so inexorably different about our riding styles? It boils down to our personalities and motivations. Pitching the stop to smell the roses, and stop to take in the sights personality vs. the stop for nothing, just keep on riding, there is still miles to go before I stop/sleep type. The satisfaction we derive from the type of riding we prefer also resides in different hemispheres.  I prefer the twisty and scenic byways and back roads, Brian prefers the freeways and the long, plumb highways through vast valleys and farm country. Something had to give for this dynamic to work. Would it work?

A brisk and for summer, a surprisingly balmy run across the high desert of Nevada was first on the agenda. Brian was on his Honda ST1300 a proven touring and rally bike with over 100,000 miles on it. I had left the veteran, just a bit shy of 80,000 miles Yamaha FJR1300 in the garage, instead deciding to stretch the legs of the rookie Suzuki DL1000, it only had about 12,000 miles at the beginning of this journey and hadn't before been ridden past a 500 mile radius from home.  We weren't setting any speed records in the desert. We had chosen the northerly route on US Hwy 50, over the much faster and much hotter E.T. highway, running nominal speed out of towns. It was an uneventful journey across Nevada, we noted and commented on the desert being unusually green for this late in the season. Spring Valley pictured below in White Pine county, Nevada was still grassy and living up to it's name.

US Hwy 50, Spring Valley, Nevada.

Getting out of my comfort zone - Yosemite.

There have been an interesting sequence of events these past couple of weeks, in this adventure called life. The theme has remained the same - getting out of my comfort zone. One was planned, something I wanted to push myself into this weekend - to expand my horizons, and to discover a new experience. I have wandered solo for respectable distances, if not far and wide, but I have never camped before, having preferred the luxury of a comfortable bed and a hot shower at the end of the night. For the first time, I wanted to dip my foot into a new stream, albeit in a place with unrivaled charm and beauty, which perhaps made the experience infinitely more enjoyable, even for a first time. 
The other had been planned for me, by fate/life/chance/destiny - whatever you want to call it, perhaps giving me a chance to see what I was made of, and what I can make of myself. I wouldn't find out about these other plans till the Monday after I returned home, and then again unceremoniously, as is often how these things are practiced. Involuntarily coerced out of my comfort zone on a much larger and definitely life altering scale. For the time being, I have been taking a little bit of time 'just for me', before I start contemplating my options in all seriousness and unfold the sails and set a new course. 

I will be refraining from dulling this blog post further with the philosophical grappling in my mind, but my hope is that I will soon see the light at the end of this tunnel, and it will likely lead me to a better place.

Monitor Pass - Riding the Sierras Series.

Arguably for some, but inarguably for me, some of the best riding in the alpine country of the Sierras, and with some spectacular views! This stretch of Hwy 89 or Monitor Pass as it is called, is unlike the other highway passes which bridge the West side to the East (and entirely a different planet) side of the Sierras, in that it is entirely a two lane highway, and in my experience has also been *almost* always entirely deserted throughout the riding season. Which means, a much diminished chance of a smug Californian's snail paced Prius polluting your fun. In comparison Hwy 4 (Ebbetts Pass) while beautiful, is a one lane highway for about half of it's length, the stretches of Hwy 108 (Sonora Pass) are immense fun, but you will find it peppered with slow trucks and other four wheeled obstacles. Not to mention Hwy 120 (Tioga Pass) - the views are dramatic, countered by the astoundingly dense drivers and traffic you will encounter, either precipitating from or perhaps vindicating the 'retarded' speed limits on Hwy 120 as it passes through Yosemite National Park. 

This Road Report picks up right out of the town of Markleeville, CA on Hwy 89. Markleeville is a tiny town in Alpine County, which has grown quite popular with the motor sports crowd and is a good option for a brunch or lunch stop while you transit to or from the destination passes (Monitor/Ebbetts). You never know what you will find in Markleeville, CA.

Couple Of Old Classic .. Cars.

Well.. actually, mostly just one. :)

I went for a ride this weekend, the V-Strom needed a new set of chain and sprockets. It's a 2006 V-Strom, and I bought it in Nov of 2013 as a companion bike to the FJR, which had been giving me some trouble in the latter part of 2013.  This V-Strom had mostly been a garage queen when it was living with it's previous owner. It barely had about 5000 miles on it when I bought it. A 7 year old bike with that little mileage obviously meant it mostly just sat in the garage a lot, so when I bought it I replaced all the fluids in the bike, put new tires on, new plugs, new filters, basically did ALL the requisite maintenance and tune-up except for the chain and sprockets. I have put another 8000 miles on it since then, but despite regular cleaning and oiling, the chain was getting in pretty bad shape and had just started spitting O-rings, which is a death knell for a chain, but understandable since this bike previously just sat around for so long. 

Long story short! I rode up to see my motorcycle guru in Fernley for some chain-work and took the slightly longer but much more fun way over Carson and Monitor passes. I am still looking through those pictures at the moment, and when they are ready - so will I be, to do another trilogy (hopefully) of 'Road Reports' in the Sierra mountains. 

Till then, I thought maybe you would like to take a look at some old classic cars that I found along the way in Markleeville, CA. This was on Mother's Day and a couple of them were out for a Mother's Day drive together.

First up was a pristine restored/maintained 1950s (I forget which year exactly) Hudson Hornet. This is the only picture I took of it, before I caught sight of the car that I fell in love with..

1950s Hudson Hornet.

Hike and Shoot - Lupine Fields of Folsom Lake (Not Motorcycling Content).

I recently joined some photographers' social clubs. One of them had a meet to explore and shoot pictures of the Lupine fields of Granite Bay State Park, besides Folsom Lake. 

The Lupines are in full bloom right now, although they are much diminished from previous years due to the severe drought we are currently enduring. 

Nevertheless, it was a fun photo shoot, made some new friends, also with some people who were out there exploring with their kids in tow, and they modeled for us, which was great! 

Since I have all the requisite model releases now, I am sharing the pictures here with you. I hope that you enjoy them! :)

A Walk in Fields of Purple.

Save A Horse, And Ride The Motorcycle.

There is always a good reason to go ride and to go take pictures, but sometimes the good reason is also for a good cause. 

All About Equine in El Dorado Hills held a fundraiser today, so I rode my own steel horse there to support them. It was open to the public to picnic, and wander the stalls, and look at the Horses and other farm animals that this animal rescue takes care of, and puts up for adoption. 

I was there as part of a photography group - which had organized a photo shoot for the benefit of this rescue organization. We had so called backstage access to the horses, so in addition to pitching in a few funds to keep the wheels turning at this rescue, we were also donating our pictures to them (in my case those that were any good, animals are hard to photograph), or the ones that the rescue might want to use. They have many good looking and some very friendly horses up for adoption. I didn't take a picture of every one of them. 

This rescue does not adopt out gnarly or ragged rescue horses, they rear them back to health (if need be), before the horses are put up for adoption. 

If you or your friends love horses, please feel free to help spread the word. There are animal rescue organizations which go belly up all the time - in fact All About Equine has even rescued horses from other rescues which had failed. 

Here is their info: All About Equine.

I am posting up some pictures, that I took this day. I was here for about 2 hours, talked to the volunteers, talked to the photographers, roamed the grounds etc, before stretching the legs of my steel (well, aluminum mostly) horse for the rest of the afternoon. 

Friends..

Looking through a new lens.

Spring is finally upon us. Even though it feels like it arrived in February, as we didn't really get a Winter season with all it's accompanying rain this year, in another week it will officially be the end of the rainy season in California and the beginning of the sunny season. 

As if on cue, I picked up a new Nikon last week, I have been wanting one for a few years now, watching and waiting for just the right one for me, and finally pulled the trigger last week on a Nikon. I could have waited till the end of the year for better deals this holiday season, might have even saved some money, but I couldn't fathom the thought of going through three more seasons before finally getting my hands on one. This certainly wasn't an impulsive instant gratification thing, I have been waiting a few years for this. 

I haven't had much time to get familiarized with the new equipment and lenses, just a couple of outings on a mostly rained out weekend, before work has separated me from my new love. 
Foolishly, I had jumped right into very shallow depth of field snaps - to mixed results. This camera is unforgiving of rookie mistakes, and a shallow depth of field requires you to nail the focus exactly where you want it to be. Yet here I was fiddling with AF areas and modes etc. as I played around, even throwing in focus and recompose into the fray. I didn't always succeed, actually mostly didn't, but maybe more practice will make perfect. 

What follows are a few examples of my goof ups, which I felt were decent enough to share. Here is to hoping that I get better, much better. That would be something! :)

Hopefully you would enjoy looking at these, even if they are nowhere near perfect!

A Rose at Villa Toscano, an Amador County Winery.