July 3, 2011

July 3, 2012 - Tuolumne Meadows We arrived in the campground last night about 8:30, just as it was getting dark. We found a campsite in A loop (our preference because we can pick up cell service from the Tuolumne Meadows Sierra High Camp) and cooked up a dinner of noodles, beans and Parmesian Cheese. Got up this morning late-8:15. I was awake at 5:45. Read my OEC manual on human anatomy and dosed until the potty forced the issue and rousted me from the warmth of the down quilt. This woke Sally and our day began. We took coffee cake we had purchased in Reno the previous afternoon to the “rangers in the box”. Ranger Brian, who we have talked with the past 3 summers gratefully took the cake. Two other Rangers were hanging out in the campground entrance station, so we met them and talked lifestyles for a while. Brian signed us up for 6 nights in A47 and we walked back to the van, cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and bread, then headed to the post office and store. I was hoping my new down coat was in and Sally was hankering for a Pepsi. The post master, a fun 35ish year old guy said it had not come in, but mail came at noon, so come back sometime after that to see if it came in. Sally was feeling a little punky, probably due to altitude sickness (the campground is at 8800’), but a little ibuprofen and caffeine fixed her up nicely. We stopped by the camping office to pay for our camping, then returned to the van to prepare for a short 2.5 mile hike to Elizabeth Lake. With lunch, sunscreen and other assorted junk in our pack we headed by toward the post office as it was past noon. The post master (seems weird to call him that because he is very laid back and super friendly in a Tuolumne Meadow style) said he saw it come by he needed a few minutes to sort the mail, so Sally found a likely PCT thru hiker and struck up a conversation that lasted 45 minutes covering all aspects of the PCT from Mexico to Tuolumne. 49 years old, laid off, former ski and climbing bum having the time of his life. We picked up some useful information and gave him our number to call as he approached White Pass so we could bring him a meal. Got my coat from the Post Office then headed back to camp to eat lunch before heading out as it was now 2:00. We ate, then hiked out of the campground to Elizabeth Lake. Sally, under the influence of exercise induced asthma fixing medicine had a great hike, being able to breath for the first time in many years. Back to the van about 5:30, bike ride to the store for beer, pop and tomatoes, then dinner of lentil tacos and applesauce. The rest of the evening was spent reading OEC chapters while Sally read park material getting ready for her new position in the park.

Ahhhh . . . Summer

We usually bolt out of Toledo within days of the end of school, heading for the Sierra and a summer of hiking and backpacking. But, this year we had to move Sally out of her classroom and take care of a zillion chores around the place. A couple little chores became big chores and delayed us further. One of those entailed Sally getting a job offer as a volunteer in the  "teacher to ranger" program with the National Park Service in Yosemite. This required her to retire from teaching and pack for four months in Yosemite.  The other delay was the van. In a flurry of over zealous preventative maintenance I decided to replace the master brake cylinder. The brakes had been less than perfect for years. Squishy pedal. Little action on the rear drums. Inability to lock up any of the wheels on dry pavement. So I bought new pads for the front discs, new shoes for the rear drums and a master cylinder to rule them all. Installed the shoes and pads, then bench bled the master cylinder and installed it. Right from the get go the master sounded really not right, creating a squeaking/squishing sound each time the brake pedal was depressed. The brakes worked, sort of. I tolerated it for a week tinkering with the system trying to correct whatever it was that I did wrong. I took it to Les Schwab and had them try to fix it. $54 later we decided the new master cylinder was bonkers. I placed a call to O'Reilleys and they agreed to honor their warranty and replace the replacement. Although Sally and I had hoped to leave for Yo in June, it was July 1 by the time I got the new master installed and working-perfectly. So at 7:30PM on Sunday July 1 we finally rolled out of Toledo. We made Canyonville in southern Oregon by the time neither of us could keep our eyes open any longer, so we pulled into the new rest area, popped the top up and fell asleep on the "loft" of the VW. Chuck