Day 6
Izzy woke up, and his brain said, “Mountain Biking will happen today!” Coincidentally, there is a huge road bike event in Markleeville called the Death Ride this weekend, and the street were infested with roadies.
We spent about 14 days trying to find a ride that was fun, relatively easy, and close. During this foray, Erin received a happy email offering her a job in a lab at the University of Arizona’s department of biophysics, woot! Erin proceeded to run around the tiny cabin we were staying in, she was very excited to be gainfully employed. She is looking forward to another year of playing with proteins. We celebrated by going on that mountain bike ride that took 14 days to plan.
The ride was a bit disconcerting at first. We were on a road with no shoulder for about 1.5 miles, then we came to the “trailhead” that was on the map. There was a road, behind a large fence, locked with a mean looking chain. The road appeared to be private, even though there were no signs indicating the status. We wondered around for quite awhile looking for the “entrance”. Finally some angler dude came walking down the road behind the fence. Izzy asked him what the trail was like up there, and he indicated it was easy.
We lifted our bikes over the fence and proceeded to bomb hills and hurtle over sweet jumps (Napoleon Dynamite Style)! Some of the terrain was pretty technical, and (Izzy says) Erin did quite well. At the end we came upon a large creek, where we put our feet in the water and hung out for awhile. We started skipping rocks and were having a blast. All of a sudden Izzy said, “Crap” and started looking around in the water. Erin saw a glint from the creek bottom, and watched Izzy retrieve his wedding ring. Izzy was thoroughly vituperated. Izzy needs a wedding ring that fits!
After we arrived back at Markleeville, we decided to get Steve (Izzy’s Dad) and go get some Ice Cream. Izzy is an Ice Cream Addict. Izzy was disappointed that they had no hot fudge, no whipped cream, and were serving only Dryer’s.
We then packed up and hit the road again. We intended to camp at some lake near Sacremento, we were very tired and getting frusterated, so we arrived at this KOA at 1am, which we are staying at, begrudginly. It has the loveliest view, of the highway.
From the KOA Krapground,
–Erin and Izzy