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| Treated like a brother |
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Knowing I would need a front tire, I had one shipped to Jeff's place in South Lake Tahoe right before leaving. I had hoped to get it mounted there. Unfortunately, it was 1 inch too small. And I learned that one of the two motorcycle shops in Tahoe had folded. The other one, Tahoe Custom Cycles, was run by a rough but friendly bunch of gentlemen who identified themselves as the Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. They claimed they could get me the exact brand, model and size of tire I needed by the next morning. On top of that, they offered to
match the online price I had received. I asked no further questions and paid them the money. With some emails and phone calls to my usual purveyor of tires in Tucson, the services of FedEx, and a Visa charge of $28, my "short" tire was on it's way back to the web-o-sphere. And I was finally on two wheels with the unexplored northeast corner of California before me. Woo-ha!
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| Place where the Donner Party snacked on their friends to make it through the winter |
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| California 49 heading northwest | |
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| Cajun breakfast at Ike's Quarter Cafe, Nevada, City, CA |
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| It's about time! |
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Nevada City, California saw a lot of gold in its heyday. And money brings business...of all kinds. Jeff showed me this monument buried in the weeds behind the parking lot of the historic National Hotel in Nevada City.
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| California 49 crossing the local swimming hole on the South Yuba River |
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| A "cinder cone" volcano | | | |
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Okay. Everybody who got an "A" in 6th grade geography, raise your hand. Have you ever heard of Lassen National Park? If you are not into geology, you may be as ignorant as I was about this fascinating place in northeastern California at the bottom of the Cascade Mountain chain of volcanoes. Besides having all four forms of volcanoes (you'll have to google it !), Lassen has some wonderful motorcycling roads as California 89 traverses its several passes.
Travelling north on California 89, Mt. Shasta becomes visible from over 100 miles away. One of seven "recognized" sacred mountains in the world, it does cast a spell on passers-by. A couple of Cliff bars and a chocolate milk at a crossroads, and I was ready for roadside sleeping in the Tahoe National Forest. But not until snapping a photo of this oddity from days gone by.
The next day, I discovered Weed, California. That's right...weed. This store is called
The Weed Shop.
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| Dinosaur tracks, McCloud, California |
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| Fortunately, I did not get here yesterday |
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Established in 1988 by a group of veterans, it displays a series of welded metal sculptures by Marine Corps Vietnam combat vet Dennis Smith. Poignant, emotional and tragic, this roadside park is a tribute to those who stepped forward with brave commitment or, for some, unfortunate gullibility, to serve when their government called. My years of working for the Veterans Affairs department have taught me to esteem those who risked all for their nation's interests as highly as I do those who have labored for peace in this world. This memorial is really a "goose bumps" experience and a wonderful reward to those who get off the interstate and find the real America.
