{"id":101,"date":"2010-06-14T22:15:57","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T05:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rubschlager.com\/matt\/?p=101"},"modified":"2010-06-14T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2010-06-15T05:15:57","slug":"wandering-around-the-west-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wandering-around-the-west-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Wandering Around The West \u2013 Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today was much less disastrous, and much more treacherous. \u00a0We left Alturas after having a quick breakfast at the Best Western and headed south on US route 395. \u00a0I was glad to be back on the road, but I was quick to realize just what kind of hell I’d rolled into. \u00a0Straight roads for as far as the eye could see. \u00a0Slight turn, straight, slight turn, straight. \u00a0The morning was turning out to be dreadfully boring.<\/p>\n

But then Njord (the Norse god of wind) saw my plight and decided to help me out with a little excitement. \u00a0Somewhere around Termo, California, Njord decided to unleash his powers. \u00a0I’d estimate a sustained crosswind in the neighborhood of 5-10 MPH with bursts of 10-15 MPH. \u00a0Not the most pleasant thing when you’re traveling at least 65 MPH, and often times faster just to keep up with the other vehicles on the road. \u00a0Njord had his way with us until we pulled into our destination in Chico, California.<\/p>\n

While we were making our way through Standish, California, we remarked on the scent of hot wood. \u00a0It’s something that I remember as a kid when I’d burn wood with a magnifying glass out in the driveway in the summer. \u00a0I also used to have some lumber that had been under my Dad’s shed. \u00a0When he replaced it I used the old lumber to play with. \u00a0That old damp rotten wood had a very specific smell during the heat of the summer.<\/p>\n

After passing through Susanville, California, we picked up state route 36 where there were ample twisty roads to keep my attention and scenery to be seen. \u00a0Most of it was lost on me as I tried to keep pace with the vehicles around me, fight Njord in an epic battle of wills, and swerve around the rocks in the road. \u00a0All this effort, was only in preparation for the ultimate challenge.<\/p>\n

State route 32 was the real challenge. \u00a0Over fifty miles of twisty roads, along cliff faces, peaks, and valleys; all absolutely gorgeous. \u00a0If I hadn’t been being challenged by Njord, the California Department of Transportation with their 65 MPH speed limit, and the added weight of luggage, I probably would have enjoyed that stretch a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

Pulling into Chico we both would have let out an audible sigh of relief, but we weren’t out of our trial yet. \u00a0Not sure which Norse god to attribute this to, but about half way through route 32 someone turned on the blast furnace. \u00a0It had been hovering around 80-ish for most of the day, but then the furnace was turned up to eleven. \u00a0Coming over one of the crests the temperature shot up to 95 in less than a few miles. \u00a0It wasn’t too bad while we were moving, but once we made it into Chico and encountered the stop lights it was bad.<\/p>\n

It was made worse due to the fact that the GPS finally let us down. \u00a0The hotel we’re in is buried back behind a K-mart and it clearly didn’t know what to make of it, and so it had us going around in circles. \u00a0Finally, I had to kick in the old self navigation skills and figure out how to get back to it. \u00a0We were tantalizingly close the entire time, but someone had plopped a Grocery Outlet in the middle of the street that the GPS was telling me to drive down. \u00a0So I guess I do need to figure out how to update the software.<\/p>\n

We did venture out one last time before calling it a night. \u00a0Dinner was had at the most northerly Chipotle in California. \u00a0Add another one to the list!<\/p>\n

I’m going to try and get a quick run in tomorrow morning before heading out on the bike. \u00a0I have all my running gear out, so wish me luck<\/p>\n

Pictures from day 3<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was much less disastrous, and much more treacherous. \u00a0We left Alturas after having a quick breakfast at the Best Western and headed south on US route 395. \u00a0I was glad to be back on the road, but I was quick to realize just what kind of hell I’d rolled into. \u00a0Straight roads for as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motorcycle","category-ride-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubschlager.com\/matt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}