Tuesday had to be
a better day, right? I had stopped at an
O’Reilly’s in Clearlake the previous evening and picked up some Gorilla Super
Glue to repair my boot but it has to cure for 24 hours so I was wearing my
street shoes today. They’re okay for
riding but no so great for tramping around after geocaches.
On the way out of
Clearlake I stopped at a shopping center, picked up a cache in the Walmart
parking lot and got breakfast at McDonald’s.
It was a nice morning and Hwy 29 heading south out of Clearlake is a
motorcyclist dream. It was twisty beyond
belief, heavily wooded and little traffic in the beginning.
 | |
| Lake Hennessey |
I picked up a
couple of caches for Napa
County. The second one was at a lake that reminded me
of the South. There were what looked
like miniature Live Oak trees with what looked like Spanish moss except upon
closer inspection was much finer.
It was now getting
much hotter with temperatures ranging from 104 to 108 degrees with considerable
road construction requiring waits in the heat.
I was making a lot of stops eventually picking up caches for a dozen
counties in this one day plus several DNF stops. I carry an insulated bladder in my tail bag
filled with ice water but I ran out late in the afternoon. That was really bad but perhaps worse was yet
to come.
 |
| Spanish moss? |
I pulled off on a
side road to get a cache along a field entrance that was graveled. I put my kick stand down and was getting off
my bike not realizing that it was on a slight forward slope. As I got off the
bike rolled forward collapsing the kick stand and down went the bike. I had installed crash bars so the bike wasn’t
damaged but the problem was getting it back up.
With my luggage I’m sure it weighed 500 pounds. I squatted and put my back against the bike
the way you’re supposed to lift it but I didn’t keep my back straight enough
and really hurt my already damaged back.
I learned too late a valuable lesson: Always put your bike in gear when
you park on uncertain terrain.
Approaching my
destination of Stockton, dying of thirst and
with an aching back, I still needed a cache for San Joaquin County. It was getting late and as I was heading west
into the sun it was so bad I had to steer with one hand and shade my eyes with
the other. I made a detour on the
outskirts of Stockton
and found the cache I needed only after an unsuccessful try for another one
foiled by road construction.
I finally arrived
at the Day’s Inn around 7:30 pm after 13 hours
on the road. It was a so-so place but
did have a lobby computer that allowed me to upload all the caches I had logged
to date that I worked at until they ran me out at 10:00 pm. Earlier I crossed the busy boulevard to a
McDonald’s and got their two cheeseburger deal keeping one for lunch the
following day. To be continued. M/W
1 comment:
Too bad I wasn't there to help lift the bike. After this day, I encouraged him to return home, but he wouldn't do it.
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