Most slept well last night except for me . . . up at 3:00am and finally got out of bed wide awake at 4:00AM. Quiet time to journal, with coffee and chocolate chip cookies.

TommyH decided to try a new hairstyle for the ride. Here he waits for the mousse to dry on his Mohawk.

Amazing what things look like in the day time!

Here is the water protections system BillyB and used to protect the dwelling last night. It didn’t burn down!!!! You can see some of the accumulated ash on the deck.

Once everyone was up it was time to head into to town for breakfast. Here is the ‘outdoor’ post office that serves the local community. Must be a chore keeping it snow free in the winter!

. . . and speaking of heading into town . . . not the easiest thing to find in all the smoke!

Of course  . . . that didn’t stop us from finding the local restaurant.

Let the coffee flow!

Corned beef hash . . .

BillyB’s breakfast include the watermelon!

We stopped at The Back Country Outdoors shop where we had shipped our bikes and picked them up. Once back at the condo it was time for a little assembly and out for a 20 mile shakedown ride.

Try not to breathe!!!!!

This was a funny little shopping area we road by on the way out of town. Truckee meat market with Scraps, a dog deli right next door. Fun!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh . . . yeah!!!

We road out of town and around Donner Lake where there was a large memorial to the survivors of the winters of 1846 and 1846, when the pioneers traveling west had to overwinter because of deep snow.. The twenty two foot snow fall was the same height as the base of this monument.

The G’s ride . . .

We are thinking of getting one of these for the mbbt gang. Could use it at our cap City ride break we have at Lake Waubesa.

Everyone had a great shake down ride EXCEPT BillyB who had three or four mechanical problems and two flat ties. Including one where is tire below up the moment the mechanic put it up on the bike stand!

It turned out there was a thick blanket of smoke on the whole ride today and most of us experienced some discomfort breathing and to our throats. Adventure Cycling is monitoring the progress of the fire and may change the route if necessary.

The King Fire is burning in steep terrain in the South Fork of the American River Canyon and Silver Creek Canyon, north of the community of Pollock Pines. The fire nearly tripled in size making a run to the northeast yesterday of over 10 miles up the Rubicon Canyon towards Hell Hole Reservoir. Spot fires were observed up to 3 miles ahead of the fire front and have moved into Placer County. California Interagency Incident Management Team 5 is in Unified Command with CAL FIRE, Eldorado National Forest, and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.  

Go here to learn about the fire.

Soon it was time to head back, including the three mile climb back up the hill to our condo! A well deserved beer and cookie break ensued. We will be dining in tonight and half the group headed into town with the van for a shopping trip.

Oh . . . and they came home with provisions!!!

TommyH was on the veggie station . . .

. . . BillyB was on the salad station . . .

oh,  . . . .and the G had special presentation on the appetizers!!!!

Greg was our quality control officer keeping the fire extinguisher handy!!!

The boys were taking orders . . . medium rare, please . . . grilled to perfection!!!!

Let’s eat!!!

Yum . . . another glass of vino and time to turn in for the night. Tomorrow we ascend Donner pass!!!