Why now, and why this particular trip? Why Hickeyfest of course!! A modest little indie rock festival along 101 in Leggett CA, on the patio of a roadside hamburger join called PegHouse, with camping right across 101 at the Standish-Hickey State Park Campground, nestled on the bluffs high above the scenic South Eel River.
It wouldn’t have occurred to me to go on my own, but Chad was super stoked, so I got stoked also! Turned out to be altogether rad, a perfect little nugget of rock star heaven. More on that later. The point here in the intro is that it starts Friday evening, and I want to take at least two days to get there, so last day I can leave is Wednesday.
I must see my Heart Doctor on Monday – lead time for appointments with busy, busy Dr Kedia is so long that I cannot really afford to punt it and reschedule. The short report on the visit is that I am too fat and don’t exercise enough, but all my various heart-related numbers are pretty good! … shockingly enough … And since I must be home Monday for that, I might as well stick around Tuesday, to watch my Golden State Warriors have a chance to close out the NBA Finals!!! That worked out awesomely! I would’ve DVR’d the game and seen it anyway eventually, but I was able to bask in the next four hours of interviews and celebrations and replays, over and over into the wee hours of the night. So satisfying …
Wednesday (Jun 17)
So today finally, is leaving day. Up at about noon (sadly, about average lately), hoof over to the Jungle for a coffee before I go, then finish up the usual preparations for closing down the condo for a couple of weeks – shower, shave, clean out fridge, turn up thermostat, clean toilet, clean kitchen (even a confirmed bachelor slob likes to return to a clean kitchen), order a sando and a salad for pickup from the deli, then BOOM! I’m on the road at a tidy 3:10 in the afternoon. Not everybody’s style I know, but it works for me.
Part of my traveling style is that if I am driving for > 2.5 hours, I have planned the day poorly, so 3:10 isn’t as depraved as it sounds. I-80 to Truckee, Route 89 north past Sierraville – I REALLY wanted to turn off and go to the hot springs, but not today, then Route 49 west through oh so picturesque Sierra City and Downieville to Rocky Rest CG on the enticing North Fork of the Yuba River.
WHUFU page for: Rocky Rest Campground
on the South Fork of the Yuba River. very crowded in August. There is an excellent, deep pool in the river right here. The river is shallow and kinda boring at the next campground west - Indian Valley. Sites 6,7,8 are the best, right on the bluff overlooking the river.
Best sites: 7 and 8 are on the river, 6 is best site and most private yet convenient to the bridge.
tonight:
They raised the prices since last time!
Most of the spots are taken, but the same not very desirable spot I got last time was free for tonight this time also. Not getting a real good vibe so far.
The campground is run by a concessionaire, so it has that run-down, "we don't spent money here unless we have to" feel I've come to expect in such places.
Also, at least some of my neighbors are kind of jerky. Some asshole just whipped out of here, spun out on the gravel, leaving a thick dust cloud hanging in the still air for the next few minutes. I think I wish I'd pressed on to the next, very close campground - Indian Valley.
I swam! It’s pretty buggy here, so my choices are to eat in the dark or close the van and turn on the lights. I choose the latter, so it’s a little stuffy, but bugless. Later I took the short walk back to the bridge to look at the stars in the pitch black, no moon darkness.
The neighbors are stlll weird. Maybe I’m just being cranky, their music is too loud, but at least it’s pretty good music, a couple of designer-drugged out City hipsters passed me on the bridge playing LCD Soundsystem, of which I am a complete fan-boy, so it could be way worse.
Didn’t get to sleep until 2:30-ish. No problems, it’s just that is my schedule nowadays. I slept nicely until I turned over around dawn and realized …. I FORGOT THE F—ING HICKEYFEST TICKETS!!! Oh fuck, I believe were my exact words to myself. Even though I’d had only 4-ish hours sleep, I couldn’t sleep any more, so I laid there a while, got up, walked back over to the river for a while, and with grim determination started very early on a much different day than I’d planned
Thursday
Looking back, I remembered to remember the tickets a few times, but never when I was at home, and for some reason, never with enough urgency to elevate it to a thing I MUST remember. Anyway, I waltzed right out of the house and 100 miles down the road without them. So … get up early today and drive 100 miles back to Reno – BIG sigh….
I took a different route back. Also, the route from Reno to Hickey will be quite a bit straighter than my previous plan, so it’s not all lost miles and time, but still this sucks pretty hard.
Got home noonish, the tickets were exactly where I picture them to be. I grabbed a couple of other things I’d forgotten (there’s always something…) and laid down on the sofa for a nice nap. I kinda knew that four hours sleep wasn’t going to get me through this long day, so the nap might as well happen on the comfort of my own sofa.
Left at 2:50, which oddly enough was a little earlier than I left yesterday. I’m weird.
The drive was really not that big a deal, in terms of normal – gettin places ‘cuz I gotta be at work on Monday – kind of trips that normal, not retired people do all the time. Five hours and 400 miles. But I’d already gone two hours and 100 miles as an appetizer, and besides I hold myself to a higher standard of leisure for my road trips.
Blast up I-80, past the annoying California Agriculture Checkpoint before Truckee just like yesterday (grrr!), blow past the 89 turnoff this time, all the way to the Route 20 turnoff. Nevada City, Grass Valley, Marysville, Yuba City, Colusa, Williams – I just blasted through all of them. Diesel in Colusa, then a stop at Granzella’s in Williams to acquire one more sando, eat some soup, and stock up on web pages for tonight.
Clear Lake was quite pretty and enticing in the late afternoon light, and I wish I had the leisure to stop and soak it up.
I got to my original destination, Lake Manzanita a little before sunset (6 hours and 335 miles), got my spot and settled in. Again I did not do the arcane check-in procedure. I am happy to pay someone if they come around or if they give me a non-insane procedure (such as that at every other campground I go to) but I ain’t calling no 800 number to give them my credit card. That is way too stupid to actually do.
WHUFU page for: Kyen Campground
On Lake Mendicino, a little closer to 101 than Bushay Campground where I've gone before.
Kyen is much more accessible, no three mile, 9-speed bump access road, but it's also much noisier and busier. Tonight I just want to park and crash, so it's working for me.
It's in a manzanita scrub forest that's very, very pretty. The shower has the insanely heavy flow you expect at a reservoir campground, but in an historic drought, maybe a little too much.
I again protest the arcane self-pay procedure by not doing it, and again I escape unscathed. I have a pleasant night and leave!
tonight:
On Lake Mendicino, a little closer to 101 than Bushay Campground where I've gone before.
Kyen is much more accessible, no three mile, 9-speed bump access road, but it's also much noisier and busier. Tonight I just want to park and crash, so it's working for me.
It's in a manzanita scrub forest that's very, very pretty. The shower has the insanely heavy flow you expect at a reservoir campground, but in an historic drought, maybe a little too much.
I again protest the arcane self-pay procedure by not doing it, and again I escape unscathed. I have a pleasant night and leave!