Day 34. "This Jeep Keeps a Rollin..."

Saturday February 11, 2023

My plan for the day is to blog at the hotel here in Reno for a bit. Shower. Find a coffee shop nearby and blog a bit more. Its not like thats all I do - I mean it does take time to write, edit and load pics but going to the coffee shops gives me a chance to taste the villages as well. A little walking around and breathing in the space near the shops and talking with peoples.

I enjoy it actually.

My next stop will be in California, a town called Folsom. Yup that’s the spot. The jail, Johnny Cash...Folsom Prison Blues...thats the place! There's actually a bike path here named for good 'ol Johnny too. Maybe I'll ride it just to see if it "keeps a rollin' on down to San Antone" : )

But I also have a another friend there that I felt lucky to have come across my path in the early part of her FAA career also. What was great about being involved in training at a facility such as ours was being able to get to know the new people as they rolled in. I really enjoyed preparing training materials, getting to know them and playing whatever part I could in molding their minds towards an Air Traffic maturity. What also intrigued me was the absolutely stunning minds that did come through. Yes , there are some that didn't quite cut the mustard (wait should we dig into that phrase? Cut the mustard? I really like mustard too but I've never cut it. Never had to I guess? Is mustard even sliceable!? Well maybe once I added honey to it trying to make my own honey mustard dressing. That's kind of cutting the mustard with honey right? It wasn't very good though...to much honey I think. Not enough mustard. I didn't cut the mustard good enough...ha! that's it!). but for the most part we attract a breed that has sharp wit and fast moving minds. Some too fast lol. Mix that with - not necessarily a ‘controlling’ personality (but sometimes) - but definitely one that is not afraid to take total charge, make decisions and then, the most important quality, quickly ascertain a misjudgment or tweaking that decision and moving on without dwelling in the past. Syreeta had and still has all those traits. A young - let me get in there so I can figure this out - kind of attitude. She's always had similar passions as me too, like wakeboarding and cycling which made it easy to chat about things outside of work.

So I went to her as a resource of course! I asked her if she knew of places to stay nearby like camping or good trail rides and when she gets her teeth into something look out lol! I was blasted with hotel links, bike rides in the area and camp sites - just so good, so thorough, and she knows exactly what I was looking for spot on. So this gave me an itinerary, or an outline is probably a better word, of sorts as I drove towards the famous prison town. I took the more scenic route along the east side of Lake Tahoe and passed through the super cool ski village there also. It was hustling being a weekend and I didn't see much need to stop at all. I grabbed a little snack and made a pit stop but kept moving. Syreeta had mentioned a town called Placerville as having a neat little main street so I headed for there next.

So many hours it seems behind this wheel that by the time I got to Placerville the sun was setting and so were my energy levels. I stopped briefly but didn't spend to long there. With still a bit more driving to do, checking in, unloading gear and stuff I still had a couple of hours of things to get done.

So I blasted on to downtown 'old' or 'historic' Folsom. Pretty cool! They close the main drag, called Sutter St. to vehicular traffic on weekends so that people can freely cross the street into all the shops and restaurants as they wish. It definitely makes for a more intimate feel. The town was a little busy but not as much as I thought it should or could be? Neat little gift shops, a taco joint, ice cream and chocolate shop, nice looking steak house, a great mix of everything actually. I parked and walked around a bit and thought about stopping into a place for a beer but I think I might've fallen asleep at the bar lol. So I figure I'm going to be in town for a few days I'll be sure to grab one soon.

I grabbed a room at the Fairfield Inn and Sweets! OK no sweets but definitely suites. Kinda woulda preferred sweets actually since I'm gettin' hungry. Gorgeous room and super comfy bed.

My plan was to meet up with Syreeta around noon tomorrow for either a bike ride or she mentioned a climbing center nearby. You know one of those rock climbing, zip lining, rope ladder walking kinda places? One of those. California style probably which means it ain't no walk-in-the-park I'm sure. Sounds fun. Leaning towards that one : )

Plus it'll give us time to chat and laugh at each other.

Looking forward to meeting up with her and hopefully her kids too! I met them years back when I made my way through California including a retreat down near San Diego. I'm sure I'll see them again and they're in those growing years so I'm sure they've sprouted some!

Crazy - even for a duck - how time flies!

Inside

Tired from the road miles for sure. Its got me a little worn out mentally and emotionally sometimes. All good - just need to hunker down in one spot for a bit and ground myself.

Also have thoughts of a special day tomorrow and glad I'll be able to spend it with a friend!

Outside

Every town seems to have a personality. Just like meeting someone for the first time we kind of get a vibe for what they are like, it's the same with towns I find. Cool street closure, kind of a city-mixed-class vibe going on, western store front feel, open, friendly, not unsafe...shop owners/workers are friendly or stand-off ish (in some towns all the shop owners are off the hook friendly or just the opposite - amazing actually) qualifiers like that. Other times it's just a feeling that's harder to quantify. But a personality just the same.

Upside

Having a travel agent (Syreeta lol) shoot me all kinds of ideas to do for the next couple of days. I haven't really planned any of my rides or camps or anything ahead of time. Somewhere, someone, something will point me in a direction and I go that way most times...

So good. Thank ya Seniorweeta!

downside

Missing some friends and family for sure..!

My birthday is tomorrow and I have a daughter itching to give me a present and share a "beverage" with me lol. So good huh!? Love ya Sunshine...

It's hard to call it a downside when you have that waiting for you...but just missing them is all.

Then there's my biking buddies also lol. Miss you guys too! Remember when Dwayne did a photo shoot with me on my jeep? I posted a cool photo of me sitting on the jeep that he doctored up to make me look good lol?

Well some of the Liberty Riders back home decided to have a photo shoot of their own lol...'av a look -