Cool It

Waxing Crescent Moon

Last night I got out of my tiny tent to pee (in the wee hours) in the great outdoors just at the right time (the night time is the right time) to see the Milky Way stretching from one end of the sky to the other. I had forgotten just how wondrous that is. I wished I could pee forever under the starry starry sky. Tonight, wherever you are, go pee in the yard and look up. You might see it, too.

While I'm at it, I need to put in a plug for the Hawk's Nest RV Park in Tionesta, CA. It's clean, it's quiet, they have cute little cabins, they have pull-thru sites with hook-ups for RVs, they have space for tents, bushes for peeing, and hot showers you don't have to drop a fistful of quarters into to get clean. The park is under new ownership and will soon have a nice little store onsite with goodies and appropriate doodads. I like it!

Facing 90+ degree temps and the prospect of dry camping at Howard's Gulch tonight (how good could it be to camp in a gulch with no water?), I applied the critical rule of flexibility to today's plan. I didn't HAVE to camp or cramp up in a gulch. Not at all. I could Plan B this thing if I simply allowed it. Just about the time I was allowing it, I was offered a ride around the problem area by Tionesta Michelle, the manager of the Hawk's Nest. All I had to do was pay her for the gas.

Well, I only had a little cashola on hand on account of being out in the boonies and all, so a little Googlie surfin' was done and I learned there was an ATM at the Red Barn gas station in Bieber (not that Bieber!) forty-four miles away. Bingo. The Bieber Motel was where I had Plan A'd to be on Monday anyway. Look! It has a hoop! Does your $$$$$ Hilton Garden Suite have a hoop? Ha! I didn't think so!

So Michelle took me and my gear there on a road I didn't know about this morning, saving me time, muscle cramps, death by tweakers hiding in gulches, and who knows what else. Thank you, Michelle!

Another pretty good reason to Plan B was that I was almost out of food. Plus and also, I was jonesing for a little self-improvement, some cultural education as it were. So I walked around Bieber and found the Big Valley Market and Clara Bieber Memorial Park, home of the Museum/Library and a swimming pool, right across the street from Big Valley High. I was checking every box on my checklist in a matter of minutes. Bieber is not very big (not that Bieber, he's HUGE!).

Inside the Museum/Library was Vicki, a cordial, knowledge-slinging wiz-woman with whom conversation was easy and productive. For a small town, they have an impressive collection. That was fun!

From Vicki, I learned a little bit about how to get information about the Pit River tribes who originally inhabited the land I'll be riding across next. Bieber (not that Bieber!) sits right next to the Pit River.

After today, I'm smarter, I have some vittles for sustenance, and I can continue my ridiculously slow little adventure tomorrow.

Peace, Love, and Luck,
Jim