Thursday Aug 28

Besides being Janeen's 60th birthday, it was a red letter day for us too. Once again, I learned that to cook you have to pay attention, particularly when you have a grill that keeps getting hotter the longer you supply it with propane. I'm probably not doing it right but so far that's what happens and thus my marvelous sour bread toast. Was sour bread, charcoal. I thought I would have time to hook up the Casita and be ready to take off as soon as I've had my coffee and quiet time.. The ambience of daybreak in a gorgeous forest with only the sounds of birds  and something chirping with the sunlight streaming between the trees is very conducive to just listening prayer. I always get some inspiration. I was thinking I really ought to learn geology and ecology so maybe I could be a forest ranger when I grow up.

We are headed back down to the Yosemite Village wishing I had eyes on the back of my head, a fully functional neck and a self driving car. Later in the day we did observe the aftermath of someone taking their eyes off the road for a few seconds as the whole front of the car was smashed in, the full windshield shattered and parts of a tree and bushes hanging on the bumper hopefully they survived but every car that went by the scene I am sure said a prayer of Thanksgiving for the beautiful highway construction with guard rails in some places, but certainly not all. There are so many magical spots with the sun shining through the trees that one had to stop on many of the pull offs, not only to let the impatient drivers behind me go ahead, but to have a few minutes to catch up on what I had missed while keeping my eyes on the road constantly thinking I will probably never be able to see this again.

Of course, the ultimate goal of everyone is to see a bear, but no bears yet just black stumps that get your hopes up. On two occasions I got to see mountain climbers through a telescope one provided by the park at a lookout that you could see ants climbing on h

Half Dome across the valley and on the way home we stopped to see El Capitan and we're grace to be in the presence of a Chinese entourage and of course they brought along spectacular binoculars and we're seeing two guys halfway up the sheer face of El Capitan ..Apparently people have made it to the top taking several days andnlived.. I can't imagine sleeping in some crevice and trying to roll over in your sleep.

I've decided that a trip to Yosemite would be a great sorority training because you can't wipe the smile off your face.

When we got to Yosemite Village lodge. I noted a sign that said  no trailers or RVs in the  parking lot which I apparently missed  last night. But further down I found a parking lot for the Yosemite Falls that had no such sign so I found a corner in the shade that didn't block anyone else and decided that it would have to do. Maybe I started something because when I got back, there were was another Casita and camper parked nearby. None of us got booted so apparently it wasn't a major sin.

I then decided it was time to break out the E -bike and see if I couldn't make it work since it was too hot to leave Sheba in the car and I wasn't much up for hiking without her. But bicycle paths allowed dogs, so let's give it a whirl. Well I fiddled around in the parking lot until I felt comfortable that I really could control the speed and stop the thing so the next test was how to deal with Sheba, running alongside on a leash, not chasing squirrels and knocking me off or getting tangled up in the tires or tripping people. Well, it was an art form to say the least, but we learned by just smacking her in the rear end a few times to stay out of the way of the wheel and so we set off on the bike trails and had a marvelous time going all the way up to the base of the Falls across bridges to the little chapel . At one of the viewing points of the incredible waterfall, which I heard later just two weeks ago was dry, but because of the torrential rain that we had sat through it apparently started up again so again our timing ( or Ah Sheet"s) was perfect, and the day was perfect, warm and sunny, but with a good breeze. A couple from Germany with two little boys were trying to get a selfie with getting the falls in the picture so I stopped and asked if I could help take their picture. Well that turned into a wonderful dog petting session for the boys. tyhey fell in love with Sheba and wanted her in their picture also so they now have a picture of a strange dog with their family below the falls in Yosemite and they, of course reciprocated taking our picture. We finally went on our separate ways. I took what looked like a path, but turned out to be a dead end down a slope and when I tried to stop on the slope, of course I fell over. At this point Sheba was in the little basket I had for her so we all tumbled into the bushes. The two little boys saw me fall apparently and came running over of course to make sure that Sheba was alright .No harm done, just another acknowledgment that the bike is too heavy on a slope. Just like on my motorcycle accident .Anyway, Sheba was a good sport. We got her back in her little basket and I think she was so tired that she was really grateful so stayed seated properly all the way home

On the way out of the park it's like a roller coaster who is almost rhythmic, turns often hairpin followed by another hairpin and some places they say the speed limit was 55 which is insane so so we were getting a bit seasick before the road finally straightened out .I never thought I could get tired of winding roads through forests and up-and-down hills, but a straight road was truly welcome where you could go 55 miles an hour safely. You finally got out of the park and on the way to and still about two hours away from the Sequoia so I found a church lot in a little town on the way, so pulled up and settled in for the night, exhausted but still smiling and feeling very privileged indeed.