The Windmill Posts

My day so far. Left the mountain lodge, which was really nice but had no laundry facilities. Rather than take the advice of both GPS (one in car and one on phone) I turned right instead of left. Both GPS units began a campaign to convince me what I was doing was wrong and would lead to no good. You know how eventually the GPS comes around and maps your route instead? It took them a long time to capitulate. I had to go back into the park (still nobody at the gate, no entrance fee) but that allowed me to take a picture of this cool rock tunnel right after you would normally pay:

The deviation in course was me going back into the park and taking a right turn, thus sending us over another southbound pass with all sorts of great twisties on it. This would be the Wawona road out of the park. The twisties were moderately gentle with a bit of excitement sprinkled in there, but with more traffic than would be fun. The scenery was amazing, in the microseconds that I could look away from the road. I couldn’t see to the bottom of the valley. Seriously far down there. The open side of the road was extremely close to the edge, and given the depth of the valley you couldn’t get a sense of how far down you would plummet to your death. It’s always funner when your stomach does flips!

I also learned the under car clearance on my MINI is about a millimeter shorter than a giant pinecone is when laying on the road. No issues, just a cheery noise.

From there things got a little boring. The first major city was Fresno, and it was a little early but I stopped for lunch. I had a hankering for a hot dog. You know, a fresh pink hot dog in a bun that’s soft and delicious. My hankering was misplaced. I did get a chili dog, and it was 3/4 pretty good, then 1/8 not as much, then 1/8 not finished. The picture on the left isn’t maybe a great representation, but it certainly looked like that. The Pepsi was good. I hate Pepsi. And on the right you get a sense of Fresno.

From Fresno we had a giant highway with trucks and other vehicles on it, but moving fairly quickly. Delano was halfway, and we hit 81 degrees! Then Bakersfield, which I can only represent by saying their Starbucks was wonderful as usual.

From Bakersfield I followed diminishing roads from the interstate to the state roads, then the pass. My stop for today is at Lake Isabella, a reservoir. Sequoia and Redwood groves are located in this region, and I just thought a big lake and big trees would mean this would all be forests and touristy lodges. Nope. It’s brown hills, a reservoir, and kinda that’s it. I’m only here a night, and this will be another good night to catch up on sleep.

The twisties on the way up though? Ohmygod. Proper twisties, nice sharp drop off, and enough tight curves that make you rethink your life decisions but still retain enough sanity not to just slam on the brakes. Which would be phenomenally bad. I was cruising these corners with glee – not too fast, but fast enough that it was on the edge of unwise. No squealing tires thanks to my new set of tires I got before the trip. But turns in which you get a core workout from holding the wheel with a death grip, clenching, and pushing your left foot hard to the floor of the car.

And then I looked in my rear view mirror.It was a while (of course) Mercedes SUV that I saw coming out of Starbucks, and has been with me ever since. Except, I’m in my MINI driving like a madman around these turns, sure that I’m being dangerously reckless. Torn between suicidal ideation and a fear of dying on the rocks a thousand feet below. And here is a soccer mom in a Mercedes SUV keeping up with me enough that I felt I should pull over and let her pass. Like it was nothing. She was just driving along. On the phone, I’m sure. Complaining about the yokel from Minnesota who’s slowing her down. I pulled over and let her pass. That was the last I saw of her.

I see it as her being a rockstar driver and me leading the way for her. Not me being a slow rookie and she’s a rockstar driver. I mean, I’ve done twisties for literal hours on this trip. I think I’m doing them well.

Hotel room is actually nice – remodeled recently. It’s an old motel that they incorrectly call a hotel. To check in the doorbell is broken, so a sign told me to call a number and they’ll come let you in. They couldn’t find my reservation because it was done online, and they didn’t look like their system was integrated with the online system. Because it involved pen and paper. Luckily she found the info, and I got room #1. I think that’s how many guests they have tonight. I asked about the dining room and she said, with a lot of pauses, that this being Wednesday, and because of the season, it doesn’t get too busy. My room key.. yes, a physical key, was really tricky getting into the lock, but it did eventually. When you close the bathroom door it scrapes on the floor. We expect these things from an old motel. If I get a ghost tonight I’m giving them a 5 star review.

The Trip logistics session #1:

I mean to explain my setup and processes, but don’t want to bore anyone. So those people should skip forward. Today’s session is about the boot. Normally we would say trunk but that seems misleading in the case of a MINI. Everything is MINI in a MINI. So I call it a boot. It fits my suitcase and my CPAP travel bag. Those go in and out regularly. If I’m stopped and have the top down I may squeeze my laptop having backpack in there too, but it’s intimate.

Below the luggage layer are three sections. On the left is a cute little Target rope coil basket that fits my car stuff: MINI vacuum, cloths, cleaning products. Directly beneath the suitcase is where the bottled water goes when I have a lot of it. Right now I’m running low, so that space is filled with a laundry bag filled with laundry. I would ask the hotel folks if they have laundry facilities, but I don’t want to make a big thing of it. Tomorrow I’m staying in one of the least hospitable places on the planet, but in one of the most hospitable places on this trip. They’re likely to have a laundry solution. Failing that, I’m sure a (spoiler!) Las Vegas hotel would hand wash it, fold it, and wrap it up in paper for me for a mere $300. Bargain.

On the right we have two gallons of water. Those don’t get used unless I’m in the middle of, say, Texas, and I’m dying of thirst. To prove that the boot is not completely full, you can see space above the water bottles, to the right of the suitcase. Wide Open. Could probably get a whole other MINI in there!

Deets

• License Plates: None, but I thought I saw an Alaska, turned out to be Montana
• States: CA
• Departed: 7:54 am PDT, 51 degrees
• Original ETA 12:12 pm PDT
• Arrival: 2:20 pm PDT
• Warmest: 81° at Delaney Delano
• Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy, pleasant, cool in the mountains
• Budget: Food below, Hotel below
• Food: Chili Dog, dinner TBD
• Music: Underworld, the complete playlist

Observations

• I wear my VNS magnetic ring on my right pinky finger, usually. It allows for more stealthful waving over my VNS. I have learned that the point on both of my hands which contacts the steering wheel most, and quite strongly, is the base of the right pinky finger. So it goes on the left when I drive. Just another one of the fascinating details of my drive..
• Mountains are pretty.
• So many white vehicles. Is it because of the heat? (opposite of black, the sun soaker)
• My uninformed opinion of the central valley based on half a day spent there: Flat, but with these weird mesa looking things. Lots of orchards, lots of casinos, and many instances of random or unknown vegetation al alone in a field.
• Fresno tried to disguise a cell tower as apine tree, except it’s the tallest thing for miles, and looks like a cell tower that was disguised as a pine tree.
• My uninformed opinon of Fresno based on half an hour spent there: Few parks, vibe is concrete in the hot sun, jack in box, and auto repair places. Like if you wanted LA but on a smaller budget.

Pictures

Not a lot today, everything was in the post! Expecting much, much more tomorrow.