Day 35 - South Lake Tahoe to Walker, CA

58 miles, 4938 feet up

If we ride two passes on bikes that weigh 60-70 pounds, does it count as a "Death Ride?"

It certainly feels like it should!

Or... How slow can we ride without falling over?

We finished our bike trail riding at Meyers, where we rejoined Hwy 89 to ride over Luther pass on our way to Markleeville, where we planned on deciding whether to ride over Monitor pass.

We arrived in Markleeville about 11 in the morning, so we stopped in a cafe for something to eat... And decided to go for it.

Rose and Charley really warmed up to a guy sitting on a bench outside.

He seems innocent enough, but we better keep an eye on those two!

There was a wild fire here this summer.

Riding Monitor pass is one long climb! I've done it 5 times and was amazed at how much I'd forgotten... But then, my bike was at least 50 pounds lighter!

The views were great!

It was a long, slow ride up the hill.

Ouch!

We finally made it to the top!

Of course, Rose and Charley didn't break  a sweat!

Over the top, then a a speedy downhill to Hwy 395, where Hwy 89 ends.

We headed down 395, ready for the day's ride to be finished. We found a KOA near Walker, with a room for the night. The tent sights were next to the highway, on gravel... Not too appealing!

Day 34 - layover day in South Lake Tahoe!

Well, hey, we had a day of riding lazy bike trails yesterday!

Actually, we had a few errands to do and a chance to spend some time with Leilani and Mike.

I decided to buy an under layer for my bike jersey after a couple of chilly higher elevation mornings... I probably sent one to Lee Vining, which we will pick up in a couple days. More layers is OK!

My camping bowl cracked - talk about essential equipment! I found a collapsible dog bowl that I think will work great - it stores flat and is microwave worthy, in case I bring a microwave next time. Trudy had a couple items to pick up, which she found, so it was a successful shopping trip! We also had a nice lunch that wasn't peanut butter or jelly!

Later, we were included in a dinner party with Leilani and Mike. We went to an incredible cabin that overlooks Emerald Bay. We enjoyed a beautiful evening dinner on a deck overlooking the bay! Great company, great food in beautiful country - what a day off!

Day 33 - Truckee to South Lake Tahoe

50 miles - 2997 up

Our good friend, Richard Drace, drove up from Grass Valley to ride with us part of the day.

It turned into a "ride the trail" day, a refreshing change of pace after days on the highway! We rode from Tammie's neighborhood on a beautiful trail that follows the Truckee River, winds its way through the trees and had interpretive signs along the way.

I've never seen one of these signs before!

Later, we picked up another trail that we followed from Squaw Valley all the way to   Sugar Pine Point State Park.

He joined us for one of our gourmet roadside lunches... PB&J rolled up in a tortilla - it's OK to share our recipe...

Then, Rose and Charley wanted a better view of Lake Tahoe...

We got back on the trail / road to South Lake Tahoe to visit our friends, Leilani and Mike. Of course, we had to stop by Inspiration Point to show Emerald Bay to the Bears.

Here's a better view for you!

We finally made our way to Mike and Leilani's in the late afternoon and enjoyed a warm welcome, delicious dinner, shower and soft bed!

Day 32 - layover day in Truckee with Tammie

What an an excellent day... Catching up on laundry, recharging all the rechargeables, and hanging out with Tammie and her Rottweiler, Lieba!

Random notions... Routines and daily stuff.

Trudy and I have been traveling together for 33 days now... And it's wonderful!

Mind you, it's not like we're sitting side by side much of the time - when we're riding, we are within sight of each other.

It's very rare that we can ride side by side because of traffic. Even when we're close together, communication is tough because of wind noise, traffic and so on. If the person in front talks ahead, the person behind can't hear. My bike is kinda quick to respond, so if I try to turn around a little to holler back, pretty soon I'm headed off in another direction, which isn't very desirable!

So, we stop fairly often. We're not in a big hurry, after all...

We both know what needs to be done when we set up or break down camp, so we just do what we need to do.

Grocery shopping is pretty simple because what we buy has to be small, not melty, not need refrigeration, not require cooking more than 5 minutes, no microwave, not bruise, crunch or rot...

It helps if boiling water is the cooking method.

We usually eat fresh fruit within a day.

We have to wait until the end of the day for cold beer and chips... See above.

Salad is a sought after treat... See above.

Laundry is a nightly chore. We each have two sets of cycling clothes and two sets of street clothes. Believe me, the cycling clothes we wear for a day need to be cleaned... So, we take them in the shower, to the creek, use the campground spigot, go to a laundromat or, if we're lucky enough to be staying with friends, we throw everything possible into the laundry! Yes, hanging laundry is always part of our campground scene - welcome to our neighborhood!

Day 31 - Quincy to Truckee

74 miles, 5506 up

A pretty big day because we had quite a few miles to cover and a lot of climbing to do. We've ridden a couple others days with similar mileage, but not quite as much climbing.

Highway 89 has been pretty consistent - winding through trees, along rivers and across valleys. If anything, the terrain has a drier look as we wind our was south.

I've been trying to capture a photo each day that sort of represents where we are, but 89 sort of looks the same...

We stopped in Graeagle for a snack and Trudy met one of Charley and Roses relatives.

From Graeagle, we had a pretty long climb on our way to the Sierra Valley and Sierraville. The valley is flat and beautiful.

Well, I don't just stand there all the time!

We took a rest and refresh break in Sierraville, then headed up the last long climb to Truckee, where we're staying with our friend, Tammi, for a layover day.

Along the way, I stopped to take this photo of the Truckee River, which is barely moving.

Day 30 - Guernsey campground to Quincy

U65 miles, 2096 up, 3414 down 

It was a pretty cool night again because we had the elevation, trees and cold clear  night thing going again.

We were out on the road by 8:30ish, but wearing our down vests under our long sleeve jackets, hoping for a climb and / or sunny roads. It gradually warmed up and we were able to shed a few layers.

There is definitely a feel of early autumn up here at the higher elevations!

We rolled into Chester about 10:30 and stopped at the first diner with a crowded parking lot. We each had a hardy brunch,  then headed into town to re-supply and have a look around. 

We didn't head for Quincy until after noon, so we were a little concerned because we had almost 50 miles to cover and we've been averaging about 10 mph.

The stretch along Lake Almanor was pretty flat, so we covered it faster than we expected. The lake is really low. It was hard to get a vantage point to show it because it's mostly hidden by trees along the road...

This is the "spillway"

There's a dam on the far right, out of the picture.

The road turned downhill as we followed the riverbed, so we covered some miles in a short time.

We did have some climbing to do to get to Quincy, but were still feeling fairly fresh when we arrived.

We stopped to pick up a beer and chips to celebrate the day... It's getting to be a tradition.

Our maps said there was camping at the fairgrounds, so we asked someone how to get there. It turned out that there were two events taking place (a team roping event and a Christian rock music festival), so the gates were open.

We happened to go into the team roping gate and asked about camping. The man we met told us we were welcome to set up anywhere we wanted.

We checked out camping in between, but the Christian rock on one side and Country Western music  on the other was a bit too much!

We got to watch team roping for a while and learn a little about it.

Teams came mainly from California, Nevada and Oregon but we met someone from Oklahoma, too.

Very nice folks! We kidded them that we were going to compete on our bikes and they told us pickup trucks were invented to carry all the stuff we have on our bikes.

Here's our camping spot...