if there’d been a biting wind off the water it might have seemed more akin to March but, uh-oh,

this was January; 74 degrees in Vacaville at 10:30 as I headed over the hill

with the usual stops; Heather Glen then

the outhouse on 89 between Truckee and Sierraville for lunch,

Sierra Valley to

Hallelujah Junction, most crowded I’ve ever seen it [crowds were behind me; probably playing

the Lotto or something but clogging up the pumps, too]. Doyle Road, below, terminating at the

Sand Pass Road which after Sand Pass [far distance, below] becomes the Smoke Creek Road…it was all much simpler back when it was CR 33 from Sutcliffe to 447…which arbitrarily [depending on who’s talking; Google, for instance] became Surprise Valley Road somewhere after Espil’s*

and so up to Wall Spring, five hours out of springtime Cali.

Linda pulled in soon after and we were in dust all that night and next day.

Chill, breezy sunny like March maybe…Inauguration Day and a sight

never seen across the desert which was the RR blowing drifted sand off the tracks; things

seemed to have cleaned up pretty well although it was still too cold to eat outside in the wind.

Towards the end of Thursday some weather seemed to be moving in;

well we’ll see…

*OOPS! Google in its infinite wisdom has now decided Surprise Valley Road runs all the way from Sutcliffe on the PLPT Reservation to a mile or so beyond us where it magically becomes the Smoke Creek Road for its last six miles to pavement at SR 447.  Stay tuned; the assessor, for instance, currently thinks we are on the Sand Pass Road, which no longer, like CR 33 [according to google], exists.