Upon leaving the "wide spot in the road" (Camp Nelson), I enjoyed a most wonderful downhill run of approximately 14 miles of extremely steep roadway ... but a roadway with gentle turns. Most wonderful. The road then flattened out, followed by a gentle 800' climb ... followed by another exhilarating downhill. Guess I should not get too exuberant as tomorrow I am facing a 5,000' climb. Yikes!!
Some good news ... doing some additional research, I have discovered that, indeed, there are two hiker/biker campgrounds at Yosemite (no reservations required) ... takes some of the worry out of my mind (other than that little voice in the back of my mind reminding me that I was, at best a "C" student, so any research I do is suspect). For this evening, I am at peace with this particular question.
Had an interesting "happening" this morning ... the kind of happening that makes bike touring enjoyable. While enjoying the initial 14 mile downhill ride, I was passed by a beautifully restored 1965(ish) pickup truck with a beautifully restored camper and trailer. My thoughts were immediately taken back to one of my favorite books, "Travels with Charley", by John Steinbeck. One of the great, in my humble opinion, conversations about "rambling about". Steinbeck had toured the U.S. in the early/mid 1960s in a pickup truck w/ camper. Most enjoyable read. Anyway, after having enjoyed the wonderful downhill and the remembrance of Steinbeck's writings, I came around a corner and the "beautifully restored truck and trailer" was stopped along side of the road. I stopped. The driver said hello and asked how I was doing (an American way of saying "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"). I said I really like his truck/camper/trailer (to which he nodded humbly), then I asked him if he had read "Travels with Charley" (Charley, by the way, was Steinbeck's dog). He said not only had he not read the book, but he had never heard of the book, nor Steinbeck. I wrote down the name of the book, and suggested he might enjoy reading the book. Will he read the book? Who knows? I certainly hope so.
Anyway, it was a great downhill ride, a great looking truck/camper/trailer, and a great read ("Travels with Charley" (speaking of Steinbeck, if you have not read Steinbeck's "East of Eden", do yourself a favor and do so)).
While riding across the 20 some miles of Yokohl Valley today, I came across this one and only sign in the adjacent photo ... interesting in that in all of the time riding through this area I had not seen one pedestrian, nor any other cyclist, and maybe 6 cars/trucks. But I do have to say that that sign seems to be working as none of those 6 vehicles buzzed me.
Amazing what downhills can do for a person ... feeling good once again.
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