Back to Mariposa

all shiny again...

It turned into a fairly lazy day all round on Saturday. The shop (Gold Rush Honda Yamaha of Sonora) had the bike until about 1230 and I have to say that they did a great job on the bike....they spent hours cleaning and polishing the thing and she looked good as new when I took her back.....was almost a shame to put her back on the road after their efforts.

So I headed out of Sonora with the sun and the bike shining and headed south back down highway 49. The road was good and I was just taking things easy with a new front tyre and new brake pads front and rear......the road was full or twists and turns which was good fun until I came round a bend to find an old guy in an SUV (a great big 4x4) on the wrong side of the road - essentially he couldn't be arsed to follow the road (in an S-bend )and just decided to go straight between 2 bends and so was on my side of the road - but thankfully I wasn't going very fast as I had just stopped to take a couple of pics.....another mile in either direction and I might have been making the choice between the front of his truck or over the edge into the valley!

I first thought that I must have reverted back to UK-mode and it was me that was on the wrong side of the road but I pretty quickly established that it wasn't my mistake and it was him that was on my side of the road. I stopped in the middle of the road...he passed me and slowed to a near-stop and then looking in his mirror he decided against allowing me to respond and sped off......man I was so ready to deck the bastard......he nearly killed me for the sake of 10 seconds!

heading down into the valley and back up the other side

the other side looking back at where I came from...

...and the road snaking its way up the valley


I made my way into Mariposa and decided to park up early. Went back to the place I stayed in a couple of nights ago and they couldn't be more helpful....the 2 guys on the desk after giving me a good deal on a room were both out looking at the bike and asking me questions about the trip.
I headed into town and was in the 49'er Bar before 1630 enjoying a bottle of Moosehead (canadian lager) and soon ended up talking to Kevin, Kaela and PJ (pauline).....we played a little pool, fed money into the jukebox and had a few laughs.....Kevin eventually disappeared after way too many beers.

Kaela and PJ stayed on a while and I even ended up talking to PJ's fiancee, Ted, on the phone. Best wishes to you guys for the wedding and married life to follow! It was about 1130 before I left the bar (Randy the owner tells me I handle my beer pretty well......after 10 or 12 Mooseheads!!!!) and I headed back to my hotel for the night.