The thing I love most about this trip has been the unexpected nature of pretty much everything thats happened so far. Some of the events have been bad, crashing in Hungary, getting shaken down by local police in Thailand, getting sunburned in India, having my phone stolen in Australia spring to mind. But most of it has been amazingly good. Yesterday was one of the best. I had pretty ambitious plans to reach Los Angeles for Christmas but a combination of a change in a flight, taking an extra day in San Francisco and the bike having a mechanical failure outside Santa Cruz meant I was more than likely facing Christmas in a hostel somewhere. I got a message from Linda, a follower of this blog who lived in Sacramento, who invited me spend Christmas with her and friends in Sacramento. I took a short bus journey to San Jose and from there I grabbed a lift with her friends Bob and Jamie to the state capital. Christmas Eve consisted of dinner followed by a few drinks with her friends and some family. Someone suggested a karaoke bar and Linda, her sister Claire and her friend Jeremy headed out to let our hair down. On the way home we grabbed a taxi ride back to Jeremys with the most famous cabbie in Sacramento, Taxi Dave. If you have five minutes or are in need of a good laugh, google him. I spent Christmas Day with Lindas family in the most amazing house Ive ever set foot in with an amazing view of the hills, infinity pool and the comfiest couch in the world. The whole day was worlds away from the image of the small room I had imagined in a hostel somewhere. Back at Jeremys that evening the party that had been planned had failed to ignite but a quiet night playing cards around the kitchen table with a small group of half a dozen of his friends was a perfect antidote to the exertions of the previous evening. Friday morning, well early afternoon, started with the aroma of bacon and toast drifting through the house. After breakfast Linda suggested we go for a surprise spin and mentioned Lake Tahoe. Myself and Jeremy thought she was joking about Tahoe and hopped in the car. Tahoe was at least two hours away and with barely two hours sunshine left in the day it was completely impractical to go to see the view. The twenty four hours which followed the decision to hop in to the car was both the most disastrous and amazing idea of the trip so far. Firstly Lake Tahoe is located at over 7,000 feet (2,000m) above sea level and the settlement of South Lake Tahoe is located on both sides of the state line of California and Nevada. This means in practice that immediately after the state line all sorts of casinos, night clubs and other entertainment shape the skyline of the town. A quiet countryside town famous for snowsports, water sports and other activities becomes a mini Las Vegas within feet of the border. We joined Jamie and Bob for a drink as they were staying in the area with their family. After we left them at 10 pm the roads had started to freeze over the snow and we decided we couldnt go back across the mountain pass with its sheer cliff drop off to the side of the path. We decided to wait until day break to risk taking to the mountain roads. We ventured over to the dark, albeit the neon lit brightest, side of the town to try our luck at finding a room to kip in. None of the casino resorts had any availability and a quick internet search had a room available but at the premium of $480 dollars which was way outside our collective budgets. There was some cheaper options in nearby Carson and Reno but the snow and freezing weather vetoed those options. We decided to get some food and found a burger joint which did amazing burgers and we killed and hour or more there. With the temperature at -6 Celsius (20 Fahrenheit) sleeping in the car wasnt a realistic option. All our water bottles were frozen solid the following morning. As anyone who knows me well will be aware if played a bit of poker in my past and the prospect of sitting a poker table all night wouldnt be a new experience for me. It certainly beat freezing in sub zero conditions. Linda was getting very tired and herself and Jeremy decided to try an find a quite spot to get a cat nap before the drive back to Sacramento. Hours later at four oclock, Jeremy came back to the table just as the game was breaking up. On top of keeping warm, meeting some pretty interesting tourists and locals, I had made three hundred dollars profit. As we sat in Dennys and tucked into an amazing breakfast courtesy of some of the poker players of Harveys Casino. Jeremy and Linda retold the story of finding a quiet spot in a conference room in the casino across the road, getting rumbled by security, having a tete-a-tete and fleeing from the guards before being officially banned from establishment for life. As the day broke we went to the shore of the lake and watched the day start. The scenic location is absolutely stunning and I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in outdoor activities from skiing, snowboarding right through to hiking. The views continued all the way back to Jeremys although both myself and Linda slept most of the two hour drive home. After a proper nap and a bite to eat it was time to was back to the bike in Santa Cruz. Jamie and Bob had offered a lift back to Santa Cruz and from there I got the same bus back to Santa Cruz where I crashed on the floor in Dougs house once more.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:48:37 +0000
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