Mothers Day Magic

With the crazy weekend and Mother’s Day traffic of Yosemite, we gave up on finding parking and were back on the road again.  We chose a more scenic route vs going west to the major highways and went north on Hwy 49, the gold route.  Wow, what a ride that was!  Talk about steep and winding!!!  Hairpin turns, 13% grades and tiny towns meant long slow progress.  But the scenery was spectacular and we had no particular destination other than north so onward we went.

Being that it was Mother’s Day, I was in a bit of a funk when cell service didn’t allow more than a bite of conversation at a time with our mothers or kids and Rob decided I needed Thai food to lighten my spirits.  After about 5 hours of teeth clenched driving, we pulled into Placerville, CA to check out our dining choices. 

Low and behold, there was a tiny little thai place on the main drag that we bypassed at first but lured us in on second crossing.  The only other table was occupied by a friendly couple who we quickly became acquainted with.  The food was delicious but the conversation was even moreso and Erin and Marty invited us to park the RV in Marty’s driveway for the night. 

Marty spent most of his life as a river guide on the Colorado River (think Grand Canyon, y’all!) and was full of great stories.  Erin is a massage therapist who practices what she calls “mermaid massage” done with her feet while using a suspension system!  Man, I love creative, unusual people!!!

Marveling again at how fortuitous was our journey, we parked at a river access point for a hike while Erin and Marty visited her Mom for Mother’s Day. 


At the appointed time we headed to Marty’s but missed a turn and ended up on ANOTHER steep hill with MORE crazy turns and needing to turn our 30’ bus around with little to no access to do so!  With the help of a beer wielding driveway owner, we got ourselves turned around without any fatalities! 

Finally, attempting Marty’s driveway, we realized it would be best to head back to the river access parking lot.  Erin and Marty joined us when we got settled and we shared a beer and conversation well past midnight – our latest night yet on this crazy journey.

Waking this morning, Marty came by for a quick visit that lasted another couple hours and we shared more stories and life’s lessons before we needed to get moving.  And we’re on the road again and headed for a visit with sailing friends in Boise.  With the snowpack so high and the park campgrounds still closed we’ll be bypassing 3 previously intended national park visits.  I’m counting on back roads through California, Oregon and into Idaho to provide a story or two and on we go.