Yosemite Village

On May 24, I wrote that the night before I finished writing and went to the patio to buy a beer and discovered all the places to buy beer in the area had closed at 10 so I gave up and went to bed.

I woke three times – I was very preoccupied with getting up on time. I was so excited about visiting Yosemite. I got out of bed at 5:45.

We managed packing. The boys did their packing by themselves pretty well. We got pastries and I got a coffee before heading over to the bus station to sit where we knew the Yosemite Area Regional Transit System (YARTS) bus would show up. We saw the bus at an intersection nearby – the boys were very worried because the bus circled the block. However, it showed up at the stop as all of the information predicted. We were very relieved.

After we boarded, the bus stopped at Amtrak and a half an hour later we stopped at Kathy’s Junction before climbing into the foothills. We made Mariposa easily. The boys were playing Minecraft right as we entered the Merced Canyon and climbed to El Portal. I collected the iPads and then we watched the canyon walls as we entered Yosemite. As he knew how exciting the entrance can be, the driver had the children in the bus sit in front. Some other boy was sitting with us and everyone counted waterfalls (we saw seven).

When we got off the bus in Curry Village, we got a snack before walking to housekeeping and finding my older sister who had invited us to join her in her annual family trip. She invited us to walk to Yosemite Village. We went to the Welcome Center, Interpretive Center, Adams Museum and I took my brother in law to a coffee shop.

I took the boys on the bus back. When we got to Housekeeping, we got beverages and found the tent we were sharing with my niece and her beau.

 
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.

El Capitan Hotel

On May 23, 2024, I wrote that the night before I did my final check to see if I had packed three backpacks correctly. I did a bunch that night and I knew I was pushing it. I went to sleep pretty late.

I left at 10:30 on BART that morning. I was very fortunate because I missed a bus and my bikeshare bike was hard to manage with so many bags. I also had trouble finding a bikeshare dock. The whole thing made me very emotional.

My boys were looking for me when I arrived at Emeryville station. Their mom had a couple of extra bits for them to carry and that put me on edge because I had to repack. However, knowing I was on time for my train cooled my agitation. I bought coffee and a muffin. I let it go and I figured there was no use beefing with her. We boarded the San Joaquin train with the boys just fine and she took a picture of us.

Once we were comfortable I got better. I had my coffee and a cold brew from the fridge back home. I snapped a picture of the stop and took the boys to the café Car at Stockton for a hotdog. We settled in with iPads until Turlock. Then we packed and got off at Merced station. One of my boys absolutely hated the 11 block walk to El Capitan Hotel and I gave him too much flack for it.

When we checked in, I set them up in their bed with iPads and had a cup of coffee in the lobby. At 4:30 we walked over to investigate the Yosemite Area Regional Transit System office (aka YARTS) a block away. While I had looked at the schedule online and knew how easy it is to catch the bus there, I felt it was necessary to make doubly certain.

After that we ate at the hotel’s restaurant. I was happy with the beet salad. My boys ate most of their chicken tenders and grilled cheese. We then went for a walk to eat ice cream at Bob Hart Park and visit the park in front of the Merced county courthouse. We did pull-ups and other exercises along the par course there.

The boys enjoyed the walk. I told them some day they would ask about this trip and I’d say I didn’t remember. I also tried to run away, but they took my hand and held it really tightly and wouldn’t let go. I noted to them they were seven after all.

We walked back to the hotel via the UC Merced downtown campus and then entered through the back. Upstairs, we wound down alone together, and I kept reminding them to go to sleep. Finally, I was alone and got my stuff together to write and have a beer.

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.

I had gotten sick

In May 2024, I recounted the previous two months of my life because I had started a new notebook and also had a huge backlog because I had gotten sick and was not able to post.

In March and April 2024, I divided my time between my friends and family playing video games, fixing bikes and visiting museums like the MOMA. I attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade with my father. I visited Kings Beach via the train to Truckee along the American and Yuba canyons to go skiing.

I also did a lot of bike rides on my own and with friends: Fremont Bike Party, a muddy trip to the Diablo Foothills and another to Menlo Park. I took the bus to Menocino and explored the Laughlin range. When I returned from Menocino, I had a debilitating headache which really didn’t go away for about two weeks. I didn’t post that whole time and ended up spending a lot of time reconstructing what had transpired.

I had my kids on and off through the whole thing but they ended up spending more time with their mother. On the days that I did have them, they exhibited a fantastic level of maturity– feeding themselves and doing chores. However, they were acutely aware of my pain. At one point I even told them that I thought I was going to die to which one of them replied “we will always remember you.”

The pain started out in my head behind my left ear. I took some pain relievers but nothing really worked. I lay prone on my bed most of that Friday. I had had plans to take the boys to Marin that weekend but I broke the news to them that I couldn’t.

Later that weekend the headaches became concerning so I had a call with hospital staff. Unfortunately, they just prescribed some over the counter anti-inflammatories and made another in person appointment. As it was obvious relief was a few days off, I just set up a medicine schedule so that I could manage the pain.

During that week I did my chores and lay down a lot since the pain was too much at times. I had light dinners – like rice from the sushi place nearby, toast and applesauce. I had grilled cheese and tomato soup once.

I also had a friend come by to help out. My neighborhood is pretty entertaining so they were comfortable hanging out for a couple of days. As my situation improved we went to a restaurant.

We watched episodes of Sherlock Holmes.

When I was finally able to see my doctor, he said I was having cluster headaches and prescribed me a migraine drug which improved my situation immeasurably. He also ordered x-rays and a blood test for which I needed to fast. My head was way better by then, but my breathing had gotten worse.

By early May, I was back collaborating with coworkers via email working meetings from home. Only a few hours after I submitted a blood test and x ray, my doctor told me I likely had pneumonia. As the antibiotics started doing its work and I started feeling better, I decided to focus on my recovery – cut all the extras which didn’t leave me entirely satisfied.

I watched more Sherlock Holmes and returned to developing entries for my notebook to make up for not writing for nearly two weeks.

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.

Ridgewood Drive

On April 20, 2024 I wrote that the night before I stopped in at Shenachie Pub because they didn’t have a cover. They had a jam band playing and the clientele seemed nice. I rode back to the hotel home on my broken bike seat.

In the morning I sat with some boy scouts heading to a scouting event in the lobby at 8:30 eating the complimentary breakfast. I checked out at 10 and visited a few shops looking for used bikes before going to the hardware store. There I discovered the bike seats actually fit on my bike – they were just really cushiony. I installed the new seat across the street in front of Safeway making sure I did it correctly. While testing the bike out, I took pictures of some greenstone in someone’s front yard, which I had seen the previous time I had visited

After that I went to Brick House coffee. One of the baristas, who I had seen twice around town the night before, was out front. I asked him about his bike, a Giant. He told me about it and I learned that he had purchased his bike seat in Ukiah.

I had bagels and some coffee to go before riding to the fairgrounds where I refilled my water bottle. After that I rode zigzag on Commercial Street, Bray, Center Valley, Hill and Eastside Roads through the Willits’ Little Lakes Valley. I stopped to tighten my seat a few times and posted pictures to Twitter and reviewed maps. I got a picture of a red barn.

The climb up the first few switchbacks of Ridgewood Drive was particularly difficult so I took a rest where the road split. Then I chose the lower elevation route because the different branches on the map were named the same and went to the same destination. However, that route was poorer quality and eventually turned into a dirt road which petered out into a trail. I found some residential roads with potential but none were very well defined so I headed back.

Later I found out that branch was basically “Old Ridgewood Drive” and most of the connections had not been renewed. When I returned to Ridgewood Drive, which is paved to the top of the hill, the ride returned to being difficult with a lot of passing cars. When I crested, some locals gave me water. After a short rest I descended into the neighborhoods served by Lakewood Drive and Bear Canyon Roads.

The pavement ended as I passed the branch for Manzanita drive but the roads continued to be good. I arrived where Bear Canyon connected to Wild Iris but decided to go a bit further to look at the connection to Middle Road and found that that was where the “Old Ridgewood” stub would’ve connected had I had the time to go exploring. So I wasn’t too far off. I returned to

the intersection of Bear Canyon and Wild Iris and found a third road between Bear Canyon and Middle. It had no name but it had a sign pointing to Mariposa Creek Road. I followed it since it clearly had the most traffic based upon wheel tread and the automobiles passing by.

I didn’t have a lot of coverage for maps so I wasn’t able to verify any of my route. Also Open Street Map did not have information about it. However, Open Street Map called all of these roads “residential“ so I knew that I’d have to deal with peoples front yards and stuff. It was kind of a downy forest– rather nice. The road brought me essentially to the crest of the Laughlin Range and, while it was a crossroads, the path to the left was gated and the path straight across was just a fire break.

I decided that, despite the barriers and redirects, I had found Mariposa Creek Road. I the road to the right and it followed the crest. Accordingly, the map confirmed that this was indeed Mariposa Creek Road. I took a picture of the valley below the Laughlin Range. I shortly found a gated residential driveway. When I descended, I passed by a few houses, and then the road turned into a fire break.

Lacking any other option, I continued along the fire break and eventually connected to another fire break that came down from the spot along the crest from which I had just come. However, when I had crested, that firebreak did not seem to have a lot of potential being poorly marked. From that merger, the path descended precipitously and I ended up in thick brush – I even had to cross a few downed trees.

I eventually ended up at the Frey Winery above Tomki road. From there I started riding south past the towns of Mariposa Creek and Fisher Lake. At the intersection of East and West roads, I selected East Road into Redwood Valley.

Up to this point I had encountered no traffic going south from behind me, but I figured it was late in the day. However, once I got onto East Road there were quite a few drivers behind me and as I approached Highway 20 it got worse. I eventually took a right and entered Calpella, but I noticed that the one food place in town, a taco truck, had closed for the evening.

From there I headed south on State Street which is a terrible street. I went under the 101 and I ended up passing Clay. I had a salad and a soup at the Ukiah brewery. Then I rode State to my hotel.

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.

The Bus in Willits

On April 19, 2024, I wrote that the day before I had made a reservation for a room in Willits and an Amtrak bus ticket before going home and getting dinner. I was in bed at midnight.

I woke in the morning of the day that I wrote this at six and I left my apartment with my bike at seven. The staff at the Peet’s Van on Ness saw I was earlier than normal but I told them I was not gong to work.

I caught a 101 bus at 7:20 in Civic Center and some guy sat right next to me all over the Golden Gate Bridge. Thankfully he got off in San Rafael. I got off the bus in Petaluma and went to a café. I also checked out the bike path to Corona Road. There were rail crews working on the tracks out there. The path to Ely I noted was still not done.

I got more coffee and then waited at the bus stop – I was worried that the Amtrak bus driver would reject me and my bike. However, I was surprised to discover that he was happy to take my bike.

The trip to Ukiah was OK. I went to the Ross department store and Baskin Robbins ice cream shop before the bus headed out. When I got off the bus in Willits, I went to my hotel room on a set of dirt paths near the railroad tracks. That was nice.

I returned to the side of town near the Skunk Train to visit the brewery. Then I went to the hotel again. Unfortunately, the seat on my bike broke. I wrote that I was planning on exploring the town and getting a beer.

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.