Plan? What Plan? We don't need no steenking plan!

Another last minute call. My friend Rob, who's younger than me but retired from the fire department, has forgotten that some of us have to work for a living. "Can you get tomorrow off?", he asked. "We're putting together a ride to Bass Lake and Yosemite, leaving at 9:30 tomorrow morning." I immediately remembered my friend Dr. Bob in Hawaii who would often call and say, "Let's go flying. I'll meet you at the airport in 20 minutes." So I'm used to last-minute calls, and actually like them. Rob continued, "We're going to stay at a cabin at the lake, spend all day Saturday in the park, then ride home on Sunday."

Bass Lake is one of my favorite spots anywhere. I did the Grizzly Century bicycle ride around that lake my first year here. "Sounds great, Rob, but I've got two cross-country flights scheduled for tomorrow. I doubt if I can even leave early. Can I meet you at the lake tomorrow night?"

And so another great ride started. I tried to hurry the cross-country flights a bit, skipping the usual great lunch at Livermore. One of the trainees had coincidentally planned his route over the foothills of the Sierras and near Bass Lake, so I got a bit of a preview. You can't save all that much time by skipping lunch, so it was still after 3 when I left work. I hurried home, packed up the dog to put him in jail for the weekend, and drove away from the SPCA a little after 4. By 5 I was packed up and on the road up to Bass Lake for a great weekend.

When I got up there the group had just ordered their dinner at a Mexican restaurant. My bike was the 7th, 4 riders from the DA's office, and 4 from the CAP. One guy was both, the link between the two groups. Three riders brought along their wives. It was a really fun group. Three of the bikes were Harleys. I was pleased to upset the balance with the 4th Japanese bike. Turns out my late invite came because another fireman was called out on a huge wildfire (still raging today) on the way to Los Angeles. He would've been on a Harley.

After dinner we went over to the cabin where there were plenty of beds for everyone. We planned to depart at 7:30 the next morning so everyone went to bed pretty early.

When I lead rides, I set a departure time an hour before I really want to get started, because my companions run on Hawaii time. This is Caleefornia, though, and we started out only 15 minutes late, in a cool-mountain-lake 52 degrees. It was beautiful.


Getting ready for the ride to breakfast.



We rode into Oakhurst for a great breakfast then headed up the hill and into Yosemite National Park.



The weather couldn't have been any better. After the cool morning start, the maximum for the day was probably around 80.


Parked by the tunnel




Ten of us


Framed half dome


Millions have posed here


Yosemite Valley




On the road to Tuolumne Meadow


From Glacier Point

One of the wives took loads of pictures from her back seat. I told her it made me feel like I was riding in the "Tour Day France" as she photographed us on the move. She's putting her photos on a CD-ROM for everybody, so I'll post a few when I get them.