The humor is that I made several firm decisions throughout the day, see-sawing back and forth between pulling the plug on this ride or continuing on.
Stopped Saturday evening at a wide spot in the road (cafe/store/bar/motel) near Camp Nelson, CA ... thoroughly worn out from a very hard day of climbing (4,000') from a desert setting to pine forest. If you tap the adjacent picture (to enlarge), you might be able to see a small section of the highway (just to the right and a little up from the dying (brown) tree in the lower left). It is beautiful country up here, but I have discovered that when ascending at 3 to 4 mph, it is best if I stay focused on what is directly in front of me (usually the far edge of the road) ... if I look around, the bike usually veers to one side or the other.
Anyway, spent the day thinking and making decisions, only to re-think and re-decision ... multiple cycles. Filled the day with crosswords and reading a book that I had read sometime in the recent past. Felt good to not place my butt on the bike.
One of the points of "worry" is that I will most likely get to Yosemite National Park next Friday or Saturday ... Memorial Day weekend. Best I can tell, all of the campground spaces are typically reserved well in advance. I have read there is one campground set aside for hikers (bikers not mentioned), but the spaces are allocated first thing in the morning to those who have been lined up since 6:00 A.M. What to do?
My final decision is to head on to Lake Tahoe (about two weeks), then decide if I continue on or return to Tucson. This ride is much, much, much harder than I anticipated. Think climbing Mount Lemmon everyday ... with a fully loaded bike (90 pounds +/-).
But then as I ride this morning, I may well change my mind once more.
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