Tiffany Ambling through America

[Tiffany]

Life gets quiet for a while and then WHAM something happens, last night, just as it got late I got a phone message from a fire fighter friend telling me to get out of my camp spot ASAP as there was a forest fire heading my way and less than five miles from me. She had checked on the infrared fire locator computer thing AND then checked my GPS SPOT locator.

that full story will come up soon, but rest assured folks, I listened to her and got out of there, everything was chucked into the top box and my tent half taken down and just strapped onto the back of Thelma any old how.

We live to see another day, unlike some of the unfortunate people at the fire she has just been fighting.

This was the sky as I headed past the mountain..I must admit, we don't usually see skies like that in England!

[crashkorolyk]

Originally Posted by Tiffany

Many thanks to everyone who came to the talk in Seattle, it was great to meet you and it was a lively evening. No heckling form the Canadians I was relieved to note!

I've moved on now as I need to get south east in a hurry - heads up for Texas as I'm heading your way. In the meantime, I had better get some more of my RR uploaded before I get further behind.

we enjoyed the talk too much to do that!,really enjoyed it,just got back from my trip through the interior,managed
to miss most of the rain,hope you did as well,safe journey tiff!

[Tiffany]

As I left the muddy puddle/reservoir, I took comfort from the "care package" that had thoughtfully been provided by my friends at Bear Lake.



Sorry, just found out the computer at the cafe will not allow me to download the pictures, so this will have to be done tomorrow. I'm in Las Animas, south east Colorado and it's bloody hot...107 degrees.

[houndawgg]

Originally Posted by Tiffany

I'm in Las Animas, south east Colorado and it's bloody hot...107 degrees.

If your going west of there and get a chance, go see the Sand Dunes National Park, your about 100 miles east of it.

[BELSTAFF]

As long as your in & around Las Amimas you should stop HAYDUKES shop"FATTEES" in Salida Colorado & say Hi to

Duke ------He's famous you know-----

[Tiffany]

Originally Posted by houndawgg

If your going west of there and get a chance, go see the Sand Dunes National Park, your about 100 miles east of it.

Hey Houndawgg, haven't heard from you in a while.
Unfortunately I've passed the Dunes- I did look longingly at them but with the temperature hovering at 107, I wasn't going to head into any sand! If I'd had an extra day to get to my destination, I would have definitely gone camping in the dunes,especially as it was almost full moon and would have been magical. I would have ridden in at sunset and leave early morning.
Sitting in the air con in Dodge City at the moment, using WiFi at a cafe before heading out into the heat, heading south.
Next time I'll got to the dunes.

[Tiffany]

Originally Posted by BELSTAFF

As long as your in & around Las Amimas you should stop HAYDUKES shop"FATTEES" in Salida Colorado & say Hi to

Duke ------He's famous you know-----

Sorry Belstaff, didn't see your message before I left town. The Duke reference goes over my head...

Now to get on with some blogging

[houndawgg]

Originally Posted by Tiffany

Hey Houndawgg, haven't heard from you in a while.
Next time I'll got to the dunes.

There's so many great places in Colorado, one will miss plenty, no matter how much time they have there. The dunes are kewl, but they are out there all on their own. If I remember correct, when you see them, they look like they're are a mile away, but are over 15 miles away.
Stay safe and enjoy

[Tiffany]

Possibly a sense of deja vue for those who read the earlier start to this bit of the RR above

As I left the muddy puddle/reservoir, I took comfort from the "care package" that had thoughtfully been provided by my friends at Bear Lake.



Food parcels from Yanks to Brits are an old tradition but still gratefully received. A bit squashed after a day in my tankbag but it still tasted good.

I finally made it to Lake Tahoe, it's a sort of Yank version of Lake Titicaca but with Taco Bell and McDonalds. I headed down onto the beach




and had a swim, chilly but nowhere near as cold as the sea in Cornwall, I did appear to be the only adult in the water. Then back into my sweltering bike gear, persuaded a surprised Russian tourist to take my photo




I have would have liked to stay by the lake and find somewhere to camp on the south side, but I didn't have time. I joined the traffic heading out of the moutains, oh the joy of filtering through the queues at the roadworks, as I went down to Auburn, got there just in time to find out that the pasty shops had closed for the day. I had no idea there were pasty shops in America, I'll have to save those for another visit.

My host in Auburn was Bigger Al- he was my ADV Secret Santa back in december and I'd tracked down he and his family to thank them for the lovely and thoughtful gifts. Thelma had her re-useable gaskets proudly on show.

thanks to Al and Holly for the hospitality, and for all the bike chat. Here is Al with his Airhead

[Bigger Al]

Originally Posted by Tiffany

My host in Auburn was Bigger Al- he was my ADV Secret Santa back in december and I'd tracked down he and his family to thank them for the lovely and thoughtful gifts. Thelma had her re-useable gaskets proudly on show.

thanks to Al and Holly for the hospitality, and for all the bike chat. Here is Al with his Airhead

It was both and honor and pleasure to have you as company, Tiffany. Sure wish that I'd known that you fancied pastries, as we have a couple of really good bakeries in town. Next time.

Safe travels!

[Tiffany]

The Bay area was as welcoming as ever.
I took to non-motorised two wheels, with a wild ride through the streets of downtown San Francisco on a borrowed push bike, wearing full bike gear except for my helmet.





these particular streets were fairly quiet, because guess where we were heading???





yep, a baseball game. actually I have been instructed that the correct terminology is Major League Ball Game

the streets were closed to allow for all the pedestrians, each corner carefully watched over by the entirely un-menacing presence of these funny vehicles



what I particularly liked about them was the slogan on the side



The SF Giants stadium has an amzing backdrop, gazing out at the water and all the ships.




However most people's attention/interest seemed more taken up by not the ball game but the food and drink opportunities
I weakened (any excuse to eat) and went in search of the local speciality which turned out to be garlic fries



I was with my friend Kevin and we settled down to eat the grease whilst he coached me in the rules, the jargon and all the funny stuff that happens during the game. I now feel quite at ease with the phrases "the bases are loaded" and "top of the 8th". No home runs but a good match as the Giants beat the Chicago Cubs. Someone asked where I had ridden from on my bike and I answered Chicago- which gave the impression that I was a hardcore Cubs fan.

The route home took us past some trams, I tried to grab a lift

[Tiffany]

Well folks, I just rolled into RockyDog's place last night, to be greeted by this



He assures me he tidied up and put stuff away in preparation for my visit.
I wonder what it looked like BEFORE he knew I was coming

[Tiffany]

This is Tom (whom some of you will know), he is one of the tallest people I know and happens to live on a boat with a low ceiling.


His boat is in Sausalito and so Tom took me out for a ride to show me the more scenic areas around Marin County. Tom was on his 1200GS, which I faled to get a picture of! We headed up Mount Tamalpais (I don't even attempt to pronounce that one). Lots of twisty roads and great veiws over the Pacific, inevitably, there was fog over the Golden Gate Bridge




The next day it was time to hit the road again, as Thelma and I headed north east, into some very pretty but very sparsely populated parts of California



Yep, that's right, a population of just 35



and that looks like it was pushing things a bit when I saw how few houses there were.

Up into the mountains where I camped and got a bit chilly, I had naively worn my shorts under my leather trousers assuming I would be in desert country, how wrong I was. That night as I lay in my tent trying to sleep, my knees were incredibly cold, I had lazily only taken my tank bag off Thelma and into the tent, which meant I didn't have my pannier to hand, I delved around inside the tank bag and the only clothing I could come up with was two pairs of clean knickers (female priorities in a woman's tank bag). I managed to wrap one around each knee and amazingly it worked, my knees warmed up and I fell asleep.

The morning brought more beautiful scenery



Seemingly devoid of traffic

[erockmapquest]

Originally Posted by Tiffany

the only clothing I could come up with was two pairs of clean knickers (female priorities in a woman's tank bag). I managed to wrap one around each knee and amazingly it worked, my knees warmed up and I fell asleep.

Result!

[SlowernOlder]

We headed up Mount Tamalpais (I don't even attempt to pronounce that one).

It's pronounced "Tam ul pi ass ....