After two days in Yosemite (without cell phone, wifi, blog access, or Facebook, much to the consternation of family and friends) we bounced out of the campground at 6:55 am, ready to tackle the roads yet again. You see we had to go back down the Priest Grade (see prior post) that we went up two days earlier and reverse course over the 75 mile/2hour drive just to get to CA 49. But this was going to be worth it, because the aptly named route 49 is the road that travels 90+ miles through California Gold Rush Country, 49ers, placer claims, pan for gold and all that fun stuff. We admit, we checked out the AAA tour books to know where to stop first.....
And did not find any of it. Oh, we stopped at the first three places the books guided us to, only to be told the "museum was closed", the guide "cannot be reached", and "it's the beginning of the slow season". Really? Three days after Labor Day which had you all booked up and now you can't bother with the tourists? Well, OK, we'll just go to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, then. Which we did, to find the parking lot torn up and a school bus of bored teenagers sitting around under the trees waiting for...someone.
Here is the recreated Sutter's Mill
The day was not a total bust, however as we did find lots and lots and lots of GOLD. In the form of gold colored signs that warned us of
Steep grades of up to 13%
And winding roads
And they were not kidding today, again, either. This was the typical view for the 150 miles on which we averaged about 36 miles per hour. Really. When we were getting close to our destination, a song came on the radio. It was Sheryl Crow singing "Everyday is a Winding Road". Yes, we have discovered the Theme Song for this road trip, I do believe.
We are now happily camped in Auburn, CA on route 49. We have wifi, cell coverage, air conditioning, laundry facilities, a pool and a hot tub. And rose bushes out my window. I can handle that.
One final note: with all the sporadic contact ability, I am having to post where and when I can. Sometimes that means two or three posts on one day followed by silence for a couple of days. I apologize for that, but it is an adventure, right?