2008!

Wow... January 1, 2008. Years fly by, or so it seems. I was just thinking yesterday about 1988 when I went to Yellowstone on the fires they had there. This year makes it 20 years ago. It seems like yesterday to me. Time is a funny thing. Does it flow like a river or is it just our imagination that makes it seem so? Who knows? I sure don't, I seem to know that much!

Well, today I believed the weather man this morning and expected it to warm up into the 40's. So I took my bike out to the valley and went for a bike ride. Big mistake. Wind chill has an added meaning when you are riding on an exposed bicycle in high 20's, low 30's temperatures. I only went for a few miles but they were anything but comfortable. In fact, I am still trying to warm up after that little excursion several hours ago. I now have a bone to pick with the Channel 4 weather guy. The highest my thermometer got today was 33°. That'll teach me.

I'm planning on a trip to the desert in a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to being able to ride my bike without getting frostbite. In fact, this trip down there is going to be more of a bike riding trip than any other I have taken down to Death Valley yet. My whole plan is to ride out some of the roads I haven't been on, and riding my bike on them seems like the best of both worlds. Ya gotta have a plan, that's my motto. (But you don't always have to stick to it, which is a new motto for me.)

Eating out

OK, you can't tell from these pictures but it warmed up considerably today. I took a walk up in the Susanville Ranch Park canyon trail. It was a little nippy in the deep shadows and the snow there was pretty dry and powdery but most of the time it was pleasant enough for a walk. I ate my lunch on a rock up near the top of the trail. I was walking along thinking that some people go out for lunch but they are talking about eating in a restaurant. For me eating out usually has a rocky component to it and a spot in the sun instead of a waitress and a booth by the window.

Still, it's better to be out even if it's a little cold and snowy.

Winter

First day of Winter... but it's felt like winter for some time now. The winter solstice, today, means it's the shortest daylight time of the year, and the longest night. Now the daylight hours get longer.

But today wasn't too bad so I went for a walk up the Bizz. The storm a couple of days ago dropped the snow but it wasn't deep enough to hinder walking. By looking at the close up snow picture you can see that the snow was not melting much today. I think it got into the mid 30's in the heat of the day. I saw a guy up there on cross country skis, which reminded me that I was going to try to get into that sport. The lack of snow so far this year hasn't been much of a reminder.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. At least now the weather is more "seasonable" since today is the first day of winter.

Now I have a plan to head back to the desert next month. I think I'm going to go down to Vegas and see my old friend Paul and hopefully get to visit Michelle too. Paul is the closest thing I have to a geek friend. He took me to Fry's when I visited him in 2005 and we were kind of like 2 kids in a candy store. This time I actually need a few things and even though I could easily buy them online, I want to see what they have, how much it costs, be able to pick it up and look at it... you know. Anyway, after that I want to spend a few touristy days in Death Valley and also my favorite... Saline. Oh yeah!

Ice flowers

This is the time of year that we get to see some interesting formations. As of yet this year we haven't had too much hoar frost. The local Indian name for that is pogonip. Now I might not have spelled it correctly but at least that's the way it's pronounced. Needless to say there's still enough moisture in the air at night to grow some interesting ice crystals. This morning when I got in my truck the windshield had an interesting coating of ice. So interesting in fact, that I felt it was picture worthy.

Had a long walk up the Bizz today and found some more interesting ice formations on one of the bridge railings. Winter is still one week away but I'd say it started early this year. As much as I love seeing the flowers in the spring, this time of year the only flowers that can be found around here are ice flowers. Ya Gotta love that!

Not winter yet!

I've been out walking up in the Susanville Ranch Park the last couple of days. Yesterday I took these 2 pictures, one of a sandwich... OK, the antler is what I was taking the picture of. It was a fairly recent shed. The sandwich is there for scale... duhhh.


The other picture kind of looked like a grave but after looking more closely at it, I concluded that somebody just lined those rocks up like that. At any rate, the temperature today and yesterday probably got into the mid 30's, but with the sunshine it didn't feel too bad. Still it's colder than the average temperature for the date... but what is that, huh? We have been keeping records for such a short time that average temperatures can't be all that much of a guide.

But it's still not winter yet.

Wishin'

I could be wishin' for being down in Saline again, but with the storm that came through here last night moving down there, the roads going into the valley must have gotten some snow on them. I'd just as soon not be sitting at the hot springs watching the snow fall on the mountains not knowing the status of the passes. Oh well, I'm home now but you never know when I'll be heading down there again... hopefully soon... once the roads are open.

In the mean time, the fish at Eagle Lake are getting some sore spots in their mouths from my jigs. I went yesterday, got rained on the whole time I was there but also caught one fish. I had several other bites but missed them. I want to go again in the next couple of days which effectively keeps me busy so I'm not wishing for being down in a warmer climate in You-Know-Where!

Brrrrr...

Man... got back from the desert on Saturday and I have to get used to the cold all over again. Not that it was all that hot down there, but it was warmer than it is up here.

I found a place to live down there so I took a picture of it. I still have to get the internet service connected, so I'm not moving in right away. Nice little spot, huh? Only gets up to 120° in the summertime. OK, so I'm not moving there but I can dream, can't I? Actually I never knew this cabin was here on my last trips to the valley, so I wanted to check it out. It was an 8.5 mile walk, round trip. Funny thing is, you can see this cabin from the hot springs if you know where to look and have some binoculars.


Although the weather was mostly pretty good as you can see in the pictures, a couple of evenings we had some clouds which made some quite spectacular sunsets.




A regular thing for me now is riding my bike across the valley and this last picture is the view I have on the way. I just love this view and have quite a few duplicate pictures of it as a result, all taken on different trips.




On the way down we came across an older couple coming back from Thanksgiving at the springs. They had a flat tire on a Toyota, but no handle for their jack or to let the spare down from the storage area. Of course I had the thing they needed so Cliff and I stopped and changed their tire for them. The flat tire was bald so no wonder it went flat. Flat tires are common on that road, but riding on a bald tire is really pushing the envelope. I put the other tire that they had on the vehicle, but that one had been patched and who knows if it would hold. I certainly would have hated being in their position, they still had a couple of hours of dirt road before getting to a paved one.

But the reason I brought it up is that I want to say that if you go out in the desert with questionable equipment, like bald tires and no jack handle, you are relying on putting someone out of their way to help you. For me, one of the last things I want to do is impact anybody else unless it is a true accidental breakdown. Some things are preventable if you take reasonable precautions. But then, after we left these folks we ran into another person who was broke down. Their problem was more severe.. a broken transmission line or hole in the pan where they lost all their transmission fluid. At least they had a small motorcycle and were getting ready to ride into town on it to get help.

My ride out on Saturday was totally uneventful, only passed one vehicle and he was still rolling. I had a great time down in that desert, and I'll be heading back soon... no doubt! More pictures at my Web Album.