After weeks of rehearsing the Covid dance, the state began to open, albeit inconsistently and clumsily, not unlike Sean Spicer’s appearance on Dancing With the Stars.
shuffle right
Three, Four, Cha-Cha-Cha
After that Awkwardness, Let’s Seriously Get
“Once a journey is designed … a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” — John Steinbeck, “Travels with Charley”
While sheltering in place, plans for multi-day rides began to take shape. Once a journey is designed… a new factor enters and takes over… But with some communities open and other closed, we were hamstrung from traveling any great distance…. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. I doubt that’s what Steinbeck had in mind contemplating his roadtrip in Rocinante with his Poodle Charley, but I’ve tried to twist it to apply here. Just like Sean Spicer tried to, well, you be the judge…
If you’ve followed the blog, I’ve been trying to reprise several bicycle rides of the past now on a motorcycle, the Kawasexy Versys with my friend Pete. In this iteration, designs for a Coastal route up Hwy 1 to Oregon in the fall. Traversing the state, our return home intended to follow back roads through Eastern Oregon, Western Nevada, and Eastern California before the winter cold arrived closing mountain passes.
This plan was filed under, “Someday.” Also filed was the tour of the Basin and Range-Colorado Plateau transition in southeastern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and northwestern Arizona to the Mojave to examine the spectacular basin and range geology, the interesting hydromorphic character of the landscapes, the surprisingly robust ecological diversity, to camp, and to enjoy a beverage. Maybe two. Next Spring, perchance?
Since those aspirational journeys were shelved, Pete and I cobbled together an overnighter to Bridgeport to ameliorate our Covid-cancelled trip to the Mojave back in March while awaiting for Covid to be beaten back so that our aspirations could be realized. We were able to make this trip mid June, just as masking and social distancing were introduced and largely ignored.
An August prelude to the Oregon trip was designed to travel by moto through the foothills east of here, up into and through Kings and Sequoia National Parks, across the Sierra over Sherman Pass, and completing the circuit, to roll along the Owens Valley to either Tioga or Sonora Pass… However, A new factor enters and takes over... Fire! (See a previous 2018 post, Four Days, a Volcano, Redwoods, the Pacific, and Clear Air)
Hidden in the smoke, the coronavirus. More later. It’s time for the next stage of the Tour de France.
Sisyphus and Associates 