I went for breakfast this morning and got talking to the cook. Rather than mention the terrible porridge (oatmeal) he'd made me, I asked him about the local roads. I needed to get to the other side of Yosemite but the road I wanted to take (the Tioga Pass) was closed because of the snow storm. I asked him about the alternative routes to get across and he told me I'd need to go the really long way round (I had been warned about this so I always knew it was a possibility. Annoying nonetheless because it only closed a couple of days ago and, according to the lady at the entrance, is likely to reopen in a few days)
He starts to tell me about the towns I'll now be going through: Merced, Fresno, Bakersfield. He tells me how dangerous these towns are and that every time he goes there he takes his gun. In fact, last time he was there he came "this close" to killing a Mexican who was trying to steal his car stereo. Now, he's from Acapulco so I'm not sure if he's being racist or just descriptive. In any case, when I tell him that I don't have a gun to take (oh well!) he tells me "Oh, I have a gun in the kitchen - you want a gun?" Seriously?!?!? How do I find these people? Love it.
Oh - nearly forgot! He also told me about the relaxed attitude to crime in the area we were in - "Here the cops don't care - you can do drugs, nobody stop you. You want to do sex behind that tree? You can"
Yosemite
I nearly gave Yosemite a miss because I'd already been there and the road was closed and it was all a bit of a faff but I'm so glad I didn't. It is such a majestic place. When you get into the valley you are surrounded by huge mountains made of rock that loom over you, not threateningly but almost in a grandfatherly way. These rocks are SO big and SO old that it almost feels like coming home. Hmm. I guess I've said that a lot on this trip already. I do love California.
El Capitan
El Capitan is a vertical rock formation that is obviously irresistible to rock climbers all around the world. It can take several days to climb, so people have to sleep halfway up - scary! They also have to poop in a bag but apparently on the way up it's quite common to get weed on. Considering a lot of rock climbing involves putting your ropes etc in your mouth that's a little bit gross. I think I caught a couple of people - they are the tiny coloured dots in the second picture:
Back to San Jose
I decided to come back to my friends in San Jose - I was not that far from them and it seemed such a shame to head off away from them when I could come see them and it doesn't really take me that far out of my way. I missed them, I love it here and I don't know when I might be back
On the way back here I saw a huge change in the scenery - from snowy mountains to bright hot sunshine. I also came across a lot of big skies. I'm not sure if this is a common notion but I think you know what I mean - when you look ahead and the proportion of what you see ahead of you is 90/10 sky/ground.
Some random stuff
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| Bears shouldn't be driving! |
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| This is the actual Hollister the tracksuit bottoms are named after |
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| This strange creature by the road |
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| Loved this car - geniusly parked in disabled bay! |
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| "Click it or ticket" - I'd love to have been in the meeting where that was thought up!! Genius |
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