Pit River Campground
We’ve arrived to Pit River Campground, a BLM site in Northern California, this spot is our home for the next two nights.
May 25
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Well Rested
I chose not to write anything yesterday as Kelly and I were strictly observing a proper day of nothing. Squeezed in between Lilly walks, we mostly did a lot of nothing … the highlight of the day being my lengthy afternoon nap. Unlike yesterday, our plan today called for a quick morning walk before prepping Mabel for her return home to Half Moon Bay. The campground we were staying at is located at the far southern end of the park. There are a number of trails scattered throughout the broader park itself and our plan this morning was to complete a four mile loop located at the far northern tip of the park boundary. As an added bonus, the trail is also situated atop the highpoint and offers a nice view of the surrounding areas.
Looking west over the town of San Martin
The trail starts at the Coyote Dam, built during 1935-36 as a WPA effort. Today, the dam overlooks the mostly recreational lake and is open to any pedestrian interested in walking along the topside.
Coyote Lake placard
Moving towards the trail – which starts off easy enough – we were greeted by the warning sign below:
Warning sign at the trailhead
We never did encounter any Mountain Lions or Babcats, but did see a lot of cows and a few wild turkeys.
Approaching the cows
A lone turkey
Anticipating hot temperatures and having read the trail lacked any significant shade, we got an early start. The absence of shade and very little breeze propelled hot temperatures, but Lilly didn’t seem to mind too much as there were numerous gopher holes to stick her nose into. As usual, she found nothing.
The rolling hillside
Lilly waiting for me
Following our hike, we had to hustle in order to pack-up the trailer in advance of the 1pm check-out. Sadly, our relaxing weekend was ending … it was time to go home and begin thinking about the looming workweek. Dang.
May 17
In Need Of A Day Off
In desperate need of a weekend get-away, Kelly and I left our base in Half Moon Bay last night, retreating about 70 miles to the south. Roughly 90 minutes later we arrived to Coyote Lake County Park about an hour after sundown, making our efforts to back into our site frustrating for us, but surely comical to others.
We’ve been here once before and made a mental note to keep this place on our shortlist of easy to access parks … especially since the area is very dog-friendly.
The timing of our escape was ideal, affording us the opportunity to watch stage-6 of the Tour of California – America’s largest and most prestigious bicycle race. This multi-day event kicked-off Monday in southern California and concludes Sunday in the northern wine country town of Santa Rosa.
Today’s individual time-trial – commonly referred to as ”The Race of Truth” was occurring near our campground so Kelly and I killed a few hours this afternoon watching the event. We rode our bikes to a particularly technical section of the course to view the action.
A BMC rider passes, followed by an NBC TV motorbike, team car, and race official
We saw some of the world’s top professional cyclists zipping through a downhill s-curve section of road at speeds pushing 30 MPH. The time trial is set-up such that riders race individually against the clock – in this case 19.9 miles, starting in reverse order of their overall standing in the general classification. We waited around to see the Maillot Jaune pass by, then hit the road ourselves, as I needed to complete a little RV maintenance project.
Overall leader, Tejay van Garderen (team BMC) wears the Yellow Jersey, closely followed by a parade of race officials
Last night as I was prepping the Airstream for travel, I noticed the electrical cord had experienced what appeared to be damage from a power surge. The impairment looked fairly significant and I was thankful for my beefy surge protector, which I always keep connected … “just in case”.
Damaged surge protector (left) and power cord (right)
Initially, my plan was to simply to buy a new cable, but when I saw the whopping Camping World $80 price tag I decided to explore other options. As it turns out, the solution was quite simple actually – remove the damaged prong head and replace it with a new one.
I’ve always been a bit leery of electrical projects, but I located a replacement part for only $18. Before talking myself into another course of action, I decided to go for it.
Having convinced myself that if things went horribly wrong and became a complete fiasco, I’d probably die quickly and without too much pain. With this sound logic in hand, I figured why not give it a try?
I proceeded to sever the damaged plug, prep the wiring, attach to the newly purchased plug, and put everything back together.
The damaged plug, whacked from the cord
All wires prepped and ready to proceed
All the wires ready to go
Repairs complete
<<Spoiler Alert>>
Obviously I didn’t die, as evidenced by me writing this posting.
In the end, the project was quite straightforward and embarrassingly simple. That said, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t take serious pause before plugging the newly repaired 30-amp cord into the generator.
Proud of my accomplishment, I embarked upon assisting Kelly with another project of no less importance – dinner.
Following our meal, Kelly and I took Lilly for a trail hike and I rewarded myself with a cold beer.
Hillside hike with views overlooking the town of Gilroy, CA
All in all, a great usage of our long overdue PTO day.
A Day At the Races
My buddy Tim is an amateur race car driver and today I went to watch him compete at the Leguna Seca Raceway. The track is located in Monterey, about 100 miles from my place in HMB and makes for a spectacular drive along the gorgeously famous Pacific Coast Highway. Under sunny blue skies, first thing this morning, I made my way to the track, anxious to view my first-ever raceway event.
Leguna Seca raceway map
Not entirely sure what to expect, I arrived to the track to find some serious gear. Tim takes his racing fairly seriously and I can only imagine what he spends in a year on this hobby of his, but surely, he’s outspent by orders of magnitude by many of the people here. For an amateur event, I was amazed by how many drivers brought along paid service crews, mechanics, and location spotters … I would never have anticipated this. Btw, Tim drives and races in the Formula Ford category.
Overlooking the Paddocks.
Upon arrival, Tim suggested that I spend some time at turns 8 & 8A … aka ‘the corkscrew’. Apparently, this turn is pretty famous in US track racing so I was eager to see the action first-hand. Essentially a downhill s-curve, this section of track is definitely an ideal location to view the action.
Tim entering ‘the corkscrew’
Negotiating the ‘corkscrew’
Tim manages a downhill section of track
Coming out of the corkscrew with good speed, drivers are quickly required to brake hard and maneuver through turn-9 before accelerating into the final stretches of the 2.238 mile course, but not before a subtle reminder of the raceway title sponsor.
Mazda everywhere
As it turns out, I spent most of my time viewing from turns 8, 9, 10, & 11 … essentially the back-half of the raceway, and also the most technical.
Tim, pushing hard towards the Start/Finish line
Atop pit-row, overlooking the Start/Finish line
Following the morning race, Tim had a few hours to kill before starting his second race of the day. In between, he cleaned and prepped his car, scoured over downloaded race data, and also critiqued his morning run by way of downloaded on-board video. He also served me lunch … he’s good like that.
One thing which really surprised me was the accessibility to everything. Granted, this was an amateur event, but as you can see from the iPhone video below (cars awaiting entry to the track), people are as close to the action as they want to be.
All in all, a really fun (and interesting) day at the track.
Tim’s mighty Honda engine
Wandering With Purpose 