Day 5 Yosemite National Park

C.E. and I got up at 6:30 AM and got dressed. We packed up our stuff, loaded our Motors and cleaned the windshield. We returned to our room and watched the Weather Channel, waiting for 8:00 AM for the rest of the guy so that we could all have breakfast together. We all had breakfast and then headed back to our rooms. Chuck went to my room and uploaded the pictures to the web site. We all went to our Motors and left at 9:22 AM.

I lead the group and headed toward Yosemite National Park. It was nice and cool at 54 degrees and at 10:15 AM and after 35 miles, we arrived at the gate to the Park. The guard asked me if I had a pass and I told her that we all had passes. She instructed us all to go on through. Some of the guys were kind of upset that they didn't get to show their pass. We drove about 100 yards and I pulled into a rest area for a pit stop. We were there for a while and took some pictures of the immediate area and each other...no, not in the restroom! What are you thinking?

We toured the park, stopping at Bridalveil Fall. It was a spectacular waterfall and very high. We walked about 1,000 feet to the view area. It was uphill and we were winded by the time we arrived. The mist was very cool and by the time we walked away, we were wet! We took several pictures of the Falls and each other. When we left the Falls area, we rode a short distance and took a photo op with El Capitan. This is a mountain with an elevation of 7,569 feet, straight up! Jan told us that he has some friends who have scaled the face of El Capitan and it took them more than a day. They suspended themselves on the face and positioned themselves in sleeping bags. We all agree that we would NOT want to do this. We continued on and parked in the visitors parking lot and went to the Yosemite Park Store. We purchased some "stuff" and then had lunch next door to the store.

We returned to our Motors and headed west at 12:58 PM. We were going to go west for a distance and turn onto another road which would take us east. We were going to head toward Lake Tahoe. The other road, Tioga Pass, was closed for the winter. We continued westbound and exited the park. The road was awesome. We have been blessed with the roads that we have been traveling. The road on the park had many curves and hills...or should I say mountains! The scenery was breathtaking! I took several pictures while we travelled.

We stopped at 2:30 PM after riding 52 miles in a small town named Big Oak Flat, CA., just outside of the park. We stopped and got gas and...you guessed it, a pit stop. We bought some drinks in the store, chatted and looked over the map. Bruce needed to look at the map since he was next up to lead. We left at 33:02 PM.

We had decided that we were going to go to a small town named Placerville, CA. Bruce led us onto Highway 49 northbound. It was another great road. There were curves and hills and most of the time, no one was in front of us. At 4:04 PM and after riding 43 miles, we stopped in Angel Camp, CA. for a pit stop. We also took a short break and also shedded our jackets. It was 68 degrees. Jan also did a minor adjustment to his Motor. we left at 4:29 PM.

At 5:55 PM and after 61 miles, we arrived in Placerville at the Best Western. We entered the lobby and spoke with the clerk. We tried to "make a deal" on the price and the lowest she would go was $119 a night plus tax. I left the other guys in the lobby and returned to my Motor to check the Best Western book to check for another motel close by. Chuck and I found a Best Western in Auburn, CA and I called to get info on the motel. I spoke with the Manager, Kerry, and he gave me his best price for three rooms for $81 and change for each room. I asked him to hold three rooms and that we would be there in about 30 minutes. We were told that it was about 29 miles away. We left at 6:12 PM.

Bruce took the lead again and we went north on Highway 49. This road was narrow, curvy and hilly. It went through several communities and it was anther awesome ride. We were very grateful that Placerville didn't work out and that we went to Auburn. We arrived in Auburn at the Best Western at 7:07 PM and after 32 miles. We checked in and went to our rooms. We were able to park our Motors close to our rooms. We took our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. After we got to our rooms, we all made the necessary calls to our "bosses" to let them know where we were. We all got the response, "You're where?" There was a Sizzler close by so we walked to it and had dinner. After dinner we returned to the motel and all of us except C.E. went to the hot tub for about 30 minutes. We needed that!

Today we traveled a total of 235 miles. It wasn't much, but we were "in the saddle" for a long time. We traveled 235 miles, however, most of them were at 15, 20, 30 or 45 miles per hour. It's tough to make hairpin turns at more that 15 or 20 miles per hour, especially these hairpin turns! It was a great day. Tomorrow, we hope to get to the Lake Tahoe area. We will see, so, until tomorrow...