2 Weeks to Celebrate 25 Years

For the last 5 years I've been pondering how best to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I was picturing a month off…but what to do with it? Ride to the Dakar Rally? Fly to Iceland and ride/soak/explore? Newfoundland to the West Coast on dirt? I felt the special occasion needed an equally epic adventure for a proper celebration, but in the end it didn't happen that way. For various and assorted reasons, we've not been able to ride much in the last few years. Part of the reason we've stayed close to home this past year is the impending purchase of a 2nd home for our retirement We opted to save our money and our precious time off so that we can enjoy our 2nd home when the purchase goes through…hopefully soon before I die of old age…and we decided on a 2-week camp-and-ride trip up in the northeastern corner of California.

Loaded up and ready for take-off..



Our circuitous route out of the bay area took us through this little town that bears the name of my late father. I took the photo, wishing I could share it with him. I know he'd have gotten a kick out of it…


Our loose plan was to make it up into the Lassen NF sort of north of Chico. We headed up Cohasset Ridge and then took off on some dirt headed north…


The road looked like a pretty decent thoroughfare on the map, but on the ground it did not look like it got much use at all…


Nothing was marked, huge months-old wash-outs which merited some sort of sign or sandwich board or at least a cone, a ribbon in a tree, or something. There were locked gates everywhere with no signs or explanations on them…it was like we were in no-man's-land. We did a lot of turning around, riding in circles, and head-scratching. And it was hot! Screw this. We backtracked towards Paradise, intent on finding somewhere to camp, but got turned around due to a wildfire. Ok…thankfully our marriage has run a little smoother in the last 25 years than this ride!



We ended up at the Ponderosa Motel in Paradise, a sweet little place we'd stayed at on prior rides, and it was a most enjoyable evening! Rum and cokes in the pool, and Italian food delivered…how's that for adventure?



I must have been too sober when looking at the maps earlier in the day. After a few rum and cokes it became crystal clear that we had been running alongside the border of the Ishi Wilderness! D'oh! I'm blaming it on being out of practice.


The next morning we headed up the hill through Stirling City and Inskip, Butte Meadows, and down into Soda Springs. We meandered quite a bit and ended up in the town of Mineral. Found Forest Road 17, a wonderful slice of lovely dirtiness, and headed north…






This little guy was quite curious about our lunch of Italian leftovers…










Found this lovely spring coming right out of the side of the hill while looking for a spot to camp…



Hard to see, but there is crystal clear water pouring out of the dirt! It was cold and sweet...



Came upon a beautiful meadow full of little flowers and birds, and thought to ourselves, "Yeah, this will do…"



Spent the rest of the day doing this…




We had some company…


The meadow was full of tiny little flowers that don't show up in the overall photo…



We'd been riding pretty rocky terrain all day, but when it came time to build a fire ring all I could find were these tiny little rocks!



We settled in for a nice dinner, and then slept hard til sunrise…



I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance for the fairly deceptive title of this ride report. The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men...


To be continued…


StillMarriedChick

Pardon my French but fuck yeah!!!!!!!

Congrats to you and Eric on 25 years of success! I'm looking forward to being taking another epic Woodschick adventure thread.

This looks like another AWESOME READ!!!! Congrats to you two.

Awesome! Congrats on 25 yrs!

Great fun in my "neck of the woods"! You were on (somewhat) Ponderosa Way that eventually drops down to Deer Creek after you get thru the mess on Cohasset Ridge. Did you pass the tv/radio repeater that was on the left/North side of the road? Too bad you didn't find the trail, this is one of my favorite rides, takes you right next to the Ishi Wilderness and very close to where they found Ishi! Maybe a good route to hit on the way to Ceaderville....

two wheel tramp said:

Pardon my French but fuck yeah!!!!!!!

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Merci!

OaklandF4i said:

Congrats to you and Eric on 25 years of success! I'm looking forward to being taking another epic Woodschick adventure thread.

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Thank you, CJ! Staying married to Eric is the easiest thing I've had to do in the last 25 years. Eric? Well, probably not so much The guy is a living breathing motherf'ing saint!

Cafe Racer said:

This looks like another AWESOME READ!!!! Congrats to you two.

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Thanks, Cafe Racer! And big congrats on your new KTM
Looking forward to a ride report from you, too!

DTM74 said:

Awesome! Congrats on 25 yrs!

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Thank you! I'm certainly the luckiest gal I know


I'd be doing another post right now but I'm pretty lit (I've had no alcohol in 3 weeks ) so it's going to have to wait til tomorrow


TipsyChick

oobus said:

Great fun in my "neck of the woods"! You were on (somewhat) Ponderosa Way that eventually drops down to Deer Creek after you get thru the mess on Cohasset Ridge. Did you pass the tv/radio repeater that was on the left/North side of the road? Too bad you didn't find the trail, this is one of my favorite rides, takes you right next to the Ishi Wilderness and very close to where they found Ishi! Maybe a good route to hit on the way to Ceaderville....

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That's exactly where we were! We looked for-f'ing-ever for the trail but we just kept getting met with closed gates, dead ends and wiped-out roads! The winter was pretty brutal, and it certainly showed in the conditions out there. We might have been able to find our way on the 610's but it was a little more difficult on the big bikes, for sure. Maybe we just need a guide next time




LostChick

Grats *Chick

So, is the fire ring supposed to be simply symbolic, or functional? Just curious.

berth said:

Grats *Chick

So, is the fire ring supposed to be simply symbolic, or functional? Just curious.

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Well, the fire ring is actually made out of dirt. Hard to see in the photos I posted but the walls of the ring are about 6" high. I just put the little rocks on top for fun



PyroChick

Congrats Woodschick, on achieving a quarter century of wedded bliss. Half way to the Golden one!

I too really enjoy your RR's and am looking forward to the continuation of this one!

Glad to see ya "Back in the saddle again"!

m0t0_ryder said:

Congrats Woodschick, on achieving a quarter century of wedded bliss. Half way to the Golden one!

I too really enjoy your RR's and am looking forward to the continuation of this one!

Glad to see ya "Back in the saddle again"!

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Thanks, `ryder! I'm pretty sure we'll make it to 50 years if Eric doesn't get tired of my crap and boot me to the curb It does feel good to be doing another ride report, although I wouldn't get too excited about the remainder of this one. Like I said, the title is a little (ok…a lot) deceptive…


LyingChick

But.. I was expecting an opus detailing two awesome weeks.

I might need to cry.

Love that loaded Husquette! Congratulations on the blissful ever after. I'm sure there's a riding and lasting love BARFism in there somewhere.

We cruised out of our beautiful meadow camp and headed north towards Burney. Stopped into the Safeway there and reprovisioned (ice, rum, cokes, maybe some food) before heading north on a pretty dirt lane towards Lake Britton. At some point we exited Lassen NF and ended up in Shasta-Trinity NF. We took a tiny detour through the town site of Ponderosa…quite bizarre! Looked like it was on private land, like maybe an old mining claim or something. We didn't take any photos, as we left in a hurry! We rode east across the Giant Crater Lava Flow. I really dropped the ball in this section. It was such a neat place to ride, but I just didn't take very many photos of it. We will be back again at some point, though, and I'll make up for it!






We were looking for water, of course, and spotted a few lakes strewn about the Whitehorse Mountains on the other side of the lava flow. The road looked pretty straightforward so we headed up into the mountains, leaving the hot valley behind. Man…what an exercise in futility that was! Nothing but deep silt everywhere, meaning my camera never came out of its cozy little Pelican case, roads closed due to logging…kind of like the Bermuda Triangle of the forest! We screwed around up there for hours, never finding any water (am I losing my touch??) and both of us falling down several times in the deep and heavy silt and ruts. Ugh! We made a mental note to go back up there on the 610's at a later date and kick its ass good and proper!

Back down to the lava flow and northward, we found ourselves at a little lake just south of Medicine Lake. Nobody there, still some sunshine left, even some chairs by the fire ring for us!


We broke out the still icy cold rum and cokes, set up camp, and took a swim in the surprisingly warm lake to wash the dust off…


That night around the campfire, we decided to stay put at this lake for another day so that we could relax and swim and enjoy this beautiful little slice of heaven. We also wanted to explore the immediate area a little more without all the gear on the bikes. It was a good thought, it really was.

Started the day off with a wonderful walk. It was still spring at this elevation!



We decided to leave my bike in camp so that it would not look unattended, and we took off 2-up on the 950 for some exploration. This area definitely deserves a return visit!



No trespassing on your public lands…




Lots of wonderful deep pumicey power-robbing (and gas guzzling, apparently) stuff out here…



Unfortunately lots of this stuff, too. It'll be easier to go around all this stuff on the 610's next time…



You can see our tracks in the pumice after we turned around…



Now in the Modoc NF, we goofed around in the Glass Mountain Geologic Area before heading east into Tionesta for fuel. We'd stopped there awhile back on a multi-day ride and were able to purchase fuel and food at the cool little compound there. We were running low and would need more fuel in order to get back to camp. Hmm…


The gates were closed to the entire compound and everything looked closed down. Huge bummer! This is what it looked like last time we were here…




Guess I should've expected a little bit of unreliability when I saw this sign on the door…



Eric seemed to think there was fuel available in Canby to the south. I did not. We'd been through that abandoned little burg before and there was never anything there. He was so insistent, though, that I just quit protesting after stating my position several times. Another reason we've lasted 25 years, I guess...

Needless to say, we ran out of fuel before getting to Canby. We've traveled all over the western states in areas much more remote than this and have always managed to NOT get ourselves in this position! One of the downsides to being on one bike, I guess. Anyway, a few minutes after pulling over an unlikely pair of bikes blew by us, and then returned. A Ninja 250, rider in full race leathers, and an FJ1300 ridden by a newby in jeans and flashy textile jacket. They had started in Salem and were on their way to a trials event in Utah. The Ninja rider happily gave us enough fuel to get to Canby, even though he, too, was skeptical about the availability of fuel there, and then they were on their way. We got to Canby and Eric was looking around like he had no idea where we were. That's because he was thinking about a different town entirely!
I will give him this, though…there actually was a gas station in town, and this was it…


Another reason we've been able to stay married 25 years is my ability to not say "I told you so!" even though I'm pretty sure I danced around those actual words and said the exact same thing in an entirely different way. He was thinking about Adin, which was about 30 miles away! We were also almost 30 miles away from Alturas…completely unreachable with the fumes we had left in the tank. We walked to the Cal-Fire station and asked them for fuel but they couldn't/wouldn't help us out. They did give us bottles of water, though, even though we didn't really need any. Standing there deciding what to do, we saw a quad pull into a driveway down the road. Eric went to ask him about fuel and he was a very helpful young man. He gave Eric a phone number and said "Call my grandfather. He will help you." Sure enough, the man answered, showed up on the highway a few minutes later, and took us back down to the aforementioned driveway and gave us a few gallons of gas from his tanks. He was the elder statesman of the ISOT community there in town. I'd seen the building but had no idea what they were all about. Turns out In Search Of Truth is a religious offshoot community that started in Santa Cruz in the 60's. I've got some very strong opinions about big organized religion, but this man was kind and generous, and he asked for nothing in return. I even asked what ISOT was, which was the perfect opportunity for him to preach and proselytize, but he didn't do any of that. He shook our hands, reluctantly accepted a $20 bill, and wished us a fantastic ride. We filled up in Alturas, and replenished our ice and cocktail fix in's. I took the opportunity to call Summer Lake Hot Springs on the off-chance that the Ranch House would be available the following day. It was! Woo-hoo! Booked it and made a hasty beeline back to camp. It had been a long day!

We found a spring on the way back to camp and decided to walk back to it in the morning…



We walked to the sunny side of the lake to enjoy the day's last rays. I used to be a lap swimmer and I would swim from Robert Crown Beach out to Bay Farm Island a few times a week year round. Eric asked if I thought I could swim across our tiny little calm lake. I snorted and answered "Of course!" He made some smart alecky remarks about me being older, not swimming much anymore, blah blah blah, thereby assuring that I would, indeed, be swimming across the lake. I swallowed the last bit of my cocktail and proceeded to shut him up and impress him at the same time…


Never underestimate a drunken and prideful mermaid, no matter how old she is…



The 2 towels draped over the awesome dugout chairs were a wedding gift, and we've been dragging them around the country for 25 years. I remember opening them and thinking "Hmm…beach towels. Ok…" but they turned out to be the best and most useful wedding gift we received!







ContentChick

two wheel tramp said:

But.. I was expecting an opus detailing two awesome weeks.

I might need to cry.

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Sorry, sweetheart. I was certainly expecting 2 awesome weeks as well. You would not be the only one crying, either

bikewanker said:

Love that loaded Husquette! Congratulations on the blissful ever after. I'm sure there's a riding and lasting love BARFism in there somewhere.

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Thanks, bikewanker!
I certainly feel lucky for the bliss I've been blessed with!



LuckyChick

I'm liking what I am seeing so far, MermaidChick. NorCal is so f'ing dreamy!

WoodsChick said:

The 2 towels draped over the awesome dugout chairs were a wedding gift, and we've been dragging them around the country for 25 years. I remember opening them and thinking "Hmm…beach towels. Ok…" but they turned out to be the best and most useful wedding gift we received!

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And still so stylish.

Good thread so far AnniversaryChick! Great pics.

We took off on a little exploratory ride before breaking camp. This forest is covered in flowers!


ATGSTT…



Found this lovely fella up in a tree above the springs…



We followed this little rill through the meadow…


It was coming from up the hill at the north end of the meadow…



It was a full-on rushing spring at the top…


The entire meadow was carpeted in purple and my favorite blue Forget-Me-Nots…



We packed up camp and headed north towards Oregon, which took us through Lava Beds National Monument. We had another day before our stay at Summer Lake so we were planning on heading east and then north through the Fremont NF...






4 days in, and this was the last photo we took on our trip...



We dropped down into the town of Merrill for fuel and ice. It was ungodly hot! We hit the grocery store, then the little burger place in town. After ordering we sat down and fired up the phones. We each had numerous messages from our cat sitter. Texts, emails, voicemails, FB messages… "Call me as soon as you can, doesn't matter when." Oh no…

He had shown up the night before at 8:30pm. Our front door was wide open and the cats were gone. He called the cops, and then tried to get hold of us. He cleaned out our safe and took all the car and bike keys with him, just in case they decided to come back and spend more time and effort. He got our big boy Atlas in but couldn't find our little girl Mae.

We finished our burgers, turned around and headed home. We strafed some back roads out to 5, and then bombed straight home, stopping for fuel and water twice. It was hot and trafficky and awful and full of dread. Not what we had planned on at all. We made it from Merrill to Oakland in 6 hours flat, not bad for a weekday and all that that entails. We got back just as darkness was falling, and we were able to find Mae, which was the most important thing, but we came home to a trashed house and freaked-out kitties.

This door is almost 100 years old, original to the house. I guess these fuckers figured all the diamonds and rubies must have been in there due to the locked door…



The whole house looked like this, pretty much. They even trashed my map drawers, the fuckers!!





They couldn't get into the safe, or even move it, but it was obvious that they tried. They had to have been in the house for quite some time, as they went through everything. All my shoeboxes were off the shelves, the hutch in the dining room, my armoire, closets, nightstands…everything. Luckily I learned from the first time we got broken into a few years back and everything that was worth anything to me (except for my sense of security and safety and peace of mind in my own home) was locked up in our huge safe. Cameras, jewelry, laptop, guns, documents, old family photos and letters…everything. All that was missing was our new 55" TV (which I'm assuming is why the door was left wide open) and a mason jar of change that was sitting on top of the safe. I was more upset about my ruined original door than I was about the TV, but most of all we were just really upset about the violation of our personal space and the dangerous situation our kitties were put in.

We spent the rest of our anniversary vacation replacing the door and damaged wall, installing motion sensor lights, upgrading our window locks, researching security cameras/companies, eyeing each and every person that walked down our street with suspicion, etc. I'm hoping by the time our 26th anniversary rolls around we'll be hanging out in our cabin in the woods watching the creek roll by and making more plans for our future…


This creek is running on solid granite, by the way. The same slab the house is sitting on, I'm guessing...



Sorry for the bummer ride report, folks, but this has been my life the last year or so Sooo hoping 2018 is a better year all the way around! arty




WoodsChick

... tweaker thieves ...


... 25 years!
... retirement cabin on a creek!
... days like this:

WoodsChick said:

Came upon a beautiful meadow full of little flowers and birds, and thought to ourselves, "Yeah, this will do…"

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... safe kitties, good cat sitters, big safes ...

... thanks for the affecting ride report ...
here’s to another 25 years ... arty

(loved the ISOT grandfather ... )