Markleeville was great, I had a delicious breakfast burrito with extra crispy bacon, plenty of coffee and wifi to catch up with the internoodle (TM Miss Sheldra).
Several Death Riders came by to chat us up while we sat outside on the veranda. The sun also came to visit. And I got cranky. That’s one of the things that I knew about myself, but really experienced on this trip. I HATE the heat. I know the trick of pouring water over my head, we did that in the South of France while drawrrring in the heat. I know the trick of a soaked hankie tied around my neck. I soaked myself over and over on this tour. But this is one of the reasons that I don’t want to live where I grew up (the South). I melt. Like a bad ass chocolate chip cookie, I MELT.
So I was getting hot waiting on the check, then my spirits started going south. We hit up the grocery and decided to head up 89 to Woodfords, then see how we were doing. Of course Zeke wanted to do Luther Pass, it was pretty much all he could talk about. So there we were again. Negotiating.
It was slow going on 89 for me. It was hot. I needed some shade. A rider came up and told us in our shady spot that we were almost at the last little summit before Woodfords, so we continued on. There is a store in Woodfords. There we ate two grilled cheese, 4 pickles, a V8 and filled our bottles.
I guess in my mind Luther Pass was somewhere waaaay past Woodfords. I found out soon enough that Woodfords is the base of the pass. We took a couple of shady stops on the way to Hope Vally RV resort, and stopped for the night. GREAT DECISION.
Hope Valley was a gem. We stopped first at the little store/restaurant/pie shop. This is where we met Leesa, who filled us full of lemonade, cookies, pie a la mode and oh yeah I got a beer for the campsite. Then we met Eric, who gave us the best site in the space.
What a gorgeous place! We had beautiful golden light, and the breeze was making the tree leaves flicker all over the place. Huge white rocks, a swimming hole, with rock walls surrounding. The place has great facilities as well. There’s even a fantastic restaurant 500ft down the road where we had a really nice dinner. We ate well that day, met some wonderful people and it was relaxing.
Day 3 Monitor —> Hope Valley RV resort
Day 4 Hope Valley —>Truckee
We set off early on Day 4. Zeke wanted to make it all the way to Truckee. He assured me that after Luther Pass, it was just bumps in the road, no serious elevations. Luther Pass was pretty, though we were on HWY 88/89 with a lot of fast moving traffic for a while. I don’t like that. It’s unnerving and stressful.
I should mention that if we had gone as far as Zeke wanted to go the night before, we would have pushed on to Tahoe, to stay in Emerald Bay.
Instead at the end of Luther Pass (89/89), we had second breakfast. Zeke chose well, he ordered huevos rancheros and there were cripsy chips and avocado and all sorts of goodness on the plate. I believe we were at the Meyers Downtown Cafe. The server was from Tennessee, he loved being outdoors, his sons were both world class skiers. He took very good care of us.
Day 4 was the day of bike paths. We had a path to Tahoe, then on and off paths from Tahoe to Truckee.
Zeke was right in that the elevation was mostly just sort of bumpish. Though again we hit the bumps at the hottest part of the day, up and over Emerald Bay, to Meeks Bay, then along to my favorite part the Truckee river bike path. We saw people rafting down the river all afternoon and it looked glorious. Oh almost forgot the best part of the day, popping my feet into Lake Tahoe!!
It was about a 70 mile day to Truckee. The last 10 miles or so we had a nice wide shoulder on 89, so we cranked it. The next part of the story involves a mechanical. All I can say is that I’m grateful that the mechanical did not cause a major accident.
Between Markleeville and Woodfords.
Delicious pie.
The maker of the pies, Leesa!
Hope Valley
Hope Valley
Last pass: DONE
Hot feet in cold Tahoe.
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