The weather took a turn for the worse as we continued our northward journey, but not before we soaked in the scenic Remington Hot Springs on the Kern River, taking in some amazing backroads and history along the way, passing through the hamlet of Havilah, an old mining town and the original Kern County seat. As the storm rolled in the next morning and the cold rain started to loudly pelt the roof of our bus, we decided to spend a night in Bakersfield in the Walmart parking lot before heading up to China Peak ski area outside of Fresno. Why Bakersfield, you ask? Some of the best Basque food in the west can be found there at the Noriega Hotel, the oldest continuously operating Basque boarding house still in operation in the US. We were stuffed by the time we arrived at Walmart. As the storm cleared the next morning, we headed up to the Sierras around Huntington Lake for both China Peak downhill and Nordic ski touring. China Peak was a really mellow mountain resort, complete with happy, smiling lifties. We spent several nights at the Tamarack Sno-Park in our bus, touring on marked trails from that location. The weather was fantastic, with sunny skies and light winds, but unfortunately not for long. Several inches of snow had fallen and covered our bus the morning we left- with more on the way.
Once again, we ducked out of the high mountains and took in some beautiful backroad scenery, travelling from Prather towards Sonora, where we could shelter and visit with Kristen’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary Anne. After about 5 winding and rainy hours of backroad travel later, we arrived and were treated to a delicious dinner, a hot shower, a warm bed, and great company.
As the storm cleared the next morning, we resupplied and headed for the mountains yet again- this time for Bear Valley ski area on Highway 4. It was humbling to have the tempo of our lives and travels so dictated by the rhythm of Pacific storms dumping on the Sierras. It had snowed big this time… several feet in the Bear Valley area and as a result the skiing was absolutely incredible. Even more incredible was the deal we got… $27 each for two days of skiing as part of their March madness deal- just in line with our budget! And the nice folks at Bear Valley were cool with us parking our van in the lot and enjoying the view for the night.
After some incredible skiing we headed for another of our favorite Sierran hot springs, Grover, near Markleeville over Carson Pass. To our complete disappointment and despite calling ahead, they were closed, so we camped on the beautiful Carson River and enjoyed a down day. Continuing northward, we were happy to visit and stay with friends in Tahoe. Particularly nice was Molly’s baby shower, and visiting with some of our Reno friends as well. On occasion, when we pine for our previously sedentary life, we usually think of our incredible group of friends that was once so easily visited before we began traveling.
We made a trip over to Carson City to visit with Adam, Angela, and their two boys (thanks for the great dinner!) before heading to Reno and eventually to Kristen’s folks’ place in Meadow Valley. There we began preparations for the next leg of our travels… to the east coast and on to Europe. We were happy that we, including our hardworking bus Goldi, had made it through 2500 miles and 6 weeks through a range of weather conditions in a variety of terrain- mountains, desert, valley, etc. This bodes well for our planned Alaskan adventure this summer- STAY TUNED!!!
Thanks for your love and support everyone!
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