Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Cross-Country Skiing

On February 6 I woke up that morning my friend woke me with some noise in the back. I tried to help but it only got worse. I got up an hour later. She was making pancakes and the hostess was making coffee. I didn’t get any coffee until I had separated the laundry. However it was cold. Also I had to wait for the dryer so I settled into tidying and organizing for our trip home. A new guest arrived and the house was chaos. I managed to help our hostess and that was nice.

By 1030 I was shoveling outside again. My friend was critical of me about it. I got pretty far in the packing and she helped. In the meantime the others went cross-country skiing and dug their cars out.

Once I had finished packing we drove through the snow down the hills fine. I had gotten coffee and on the way to the valley’s towns and that was a quiet ride. There was traffic in Davis. I had a lot of trouble with the trucks. We went to the local roadside attraction after and had a pizza.

The drive to Oakland was OK but after taking the carpool I had a terrible time going over the bridge. When we arrived we unloaded like lightning and I dropped the car off at enterprise six minutes late. I walked home easily enough and spent 40 minutes unpacking and tossing recyclables.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

House in Soda Springs

On February 4 I wrote that the day before I was up at 7:30 and made a bunch of cereal. It was quiet in the kitchen at the house in Soda Springs. I warmed the oven in preparation for breadmaking and my hosts appreciated that when they got up they. They made delicious eggs and salmon and I made some eggs with a few leftovers.

By then there was so much noise in the living room. A number of people went to get cross country skis. My friend and I texted about what to bring when my dad drove her to the train after her class. I told her we needed a coffee grinder.

I held down the fort and we took turns digging our cars out. When everyone returned with the skis it was quiet time. I busied myself digging in the front. The other men in the house went skiing around 1 o’clock. They let us know at one point that the snow fall – it was a blizzard conditions – meant that there were no lines on the mountain.

For the next three hours the rest of us prepared to go cross country skiing. We quietly went out back. However, the snow was too much for us so we decided not to go. Later, my hostess and I left another guest at the house and returned the sleds to the lodge. However, we kept the skis just in case the weather improved.

By then it was nearing the end of my friend’s training back in the city. We had been texting all day. I called her when my hostess and I returned from the ski lodge. She told me that her class had gone late so she got a ride to the apartment. We discussed the absolute necessities.

Up to then the snow had been falling heavily. The cell reception was spotty and the roads were pretty bad. I only had a short minute to tell her that I was confident I could meet her in Auburn with the 4 x 4 when her train came in. Meanwhile, my host and his companion had returned from the mountain. I had been cleaning a space in the driveway.

My host had been offering to accompany me to Auburn. That was intimidating for me since I knew I could do it on my own. Hence, over the course of dinner I did what I could to say everything necessary for them to agree I was making the right decision to drive through a blizzard on my own.

I had to wind down my room when it was nearly time to go. My hostess showed up and told me she would finish up. I got in the car – which I had cleared off in anticipation – and took a couple of test bumps. The first one was to the road. I texted my Friends and family and then consulted the weather and my math. Then I went to Norden gas Station. By then I was confident of the ride.

It was interesting to do the same maneuvers on the freeway off ramp – steep grades and passing but at 35 miles an hour. It wasn’t new to me considering the day before but in this case traffic was really moving and the surface was nearly ice. I had a strong understanding of my location based upon offramp numbers. I also knew the rain would start at Baxter. When I got to emigrant gap the snow turned to sleet.

I made it to the gas station by 915. My friend had texted while I was fueling. On the way back I stopped at the grocery store to buy coffee. I shared story of my drive down she began to understand how crazy the drive would be. As we ascended to Soda Springs we saw that the road had drifts of snow and cars all over.

She took photos and as the drive continued we saw chain control, trucks stopped, spun out cars, a Caltrans helper truck and crazy giant snowplows. She let me know when our hostess texted and where we were on the map. We passed the Norden chalet, crossed the tracks and drove down our local street easily.

We did have to dig out the berm in front of the house. I also dug out my space before parking. My friend went up and had a glass of wine with our hostess. However, the whole house was mostly asleep so I made us a bed and texted my mom that we had arrived safely. We tried to go to bed but there was noise. We ended up sleeping at two.

Late in the morning of the day that I wrote this I made a meal and went to dig out the backyard for a few hours. The snow was about twelve feet deep and I noted that my friend had looked up at me from our room on the ground bottom floor. Eventually I dug out some stairs to the room. I noted that during that time one of the other guests had dug a tunnel to the back entrance to the house on the second floor .

Later I dug a trail using existing steps to the cars and slowly dug mine out. Then I went to drive across the street to another parking spot. I ended up getting stuck but thankfully the plow came by and I was able to get into my new parking spot. After that I had a beer and I noted that we had soup for dinner.

Afterwards we just wound down with a walk. By then everything had about two feet of snow all over it. I did a few things in the room and upstairs but mostly started writing. I had a hot toddy and ate Girl Scout cookies.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Passing Through Soda Springs

On February 2nd I wrote that that morning I was up at a normal time. I texted my departure to everyone. I grabbed a few things and packed up my rented four by four SUV and got ready to go to see friends in Soda Springs.

The bridge started OK but there was a collision at the island so it got slow. I drove through Vallejo to Fairfield. At Vacaville I got coffee and a pastry. My sister texted doom because of the weather and traffic reports. It was hard to organize the stuff but I managed to get out of town, on to Davis through light rain. A bit later I passed through Sacramento.

The landscape looked quiet until Auburn – very little rain. I stopped at Raley’s. In the store I was being really loud and was concerned about him messing up but I managed just fine. Later I got gas but had to go back to the store after receiving a text message.

At this point I was frustrated at the weather and my bad timing. However, I pushed on to Applegate where big trucks checked their tires and continued through Colfax where I saw a train on the tracks. I got nervous when I encountered chain control at Baxter but they waved me through.

From there I climbed to Yuba Gap and climbed into Cisco Grove. Visibility was OK but definitely impaired. At this point I was in the four by four mode and thought that I could trust it. It felt really strange to just click it on with the switch of a knob. I was driving slow to avoid trouble.

I was still nervous though. Cars started passing me near Kingvale but a bit later they slowed nearly to a halt because of a second chain control. I said thanks to the guy on the side of the road checking cars. Norden was interesting because the exit was easy. However, the way that the plough had serviced it made it hard to find where to drive – there was a bit of a lip in the berm.

As I was passing through Soda Springs I had to wait at the train crossing. I took a selfie. It was very exciting. Quietly waiting I’ve pointed at the different types of train cars. I braved the roads as I drove up into the residential areas but the car was great. I found that it was better to back into the driveway downhill after turning around.

I parked, my hostess helped unpack food and I shoveled a spot for myself and what I knew would be a second car. That was when the others returned from skiing. I was just about to go inside. I had to help them and it was not easy.

Dinner was served then and it was pretty loud. After this I wound down the room in which I had left all my bags. My hostess was there. When I was done I tidied and had some beers with the guests - mostly a couple of friends of the host and hostess. I did some writing and got ready for bed.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.