As I told my cousin, Nadine Colberg Mottoros, who lives here in Sutter Creek with her husband John, the drive from Orland to Yuba City, Auburn, Placerville, and Sutter Creek was interesting and challenging. I ignored the Mapquest directions to use I-80 and US-50 to reach Placerville and got to see a bona fide mountain road, complete with turns marked with signs to "Slow to 15" -- during the afternoon commute home.
....
And State Route [SR] 49, know as the "Gold Country Highway or Road, did pass through Colma, the spot where John Marshall discovered traces of gold in a Sutter saw mill race in 1848. Here's more info on the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park.
When I got to Placerville I had to find a free WiFi to request directions from Placerville to Sutter Creek since mine had to be read backwards. It appears that most of the newer Safeway Stores have WiFi. Got a new route to my cousin's place in Sutter Creek and headed south on SR49. When I got to the outskirts of Sutter Creek I thought my problems were over.
Not so! Sutter Creek was jammed with parked cars and people standing on or strolling the sidewalks for their annual Christmas party. And to make matters worse, I wasn't driving a VW Beetle but rather a large Ford F-250 with a good-sized truck camper. And, as John Mottoros pointed out, the streets were designed for wagons -- not autos and larger pickups.
But the biggest problem was narrow streets with cars and trucks parked on both sides, reducing the 2 lanes to just barely 1 lane. In fact, on one narrow back-street a truck equally as large as mine had parked next to a telephone pole or something else and protruded further into the roadway than any other vehicles. I inched past him with my side-view mirror just clearing the top of his. However, my problems were not yet over, for the road ahead said "Dead End."
I finally got to a spot near a drop down to someone's small parking lot ahead and decided to to turn the camper-laden pickup around in a spot just right for turning a VW beetle around. While I did push some dead limbs which had been pruned off of some trees on the uphill side of the road, I was able, with a lot of inching back and forth, to turn around. Made it past the bottleneck formed by the large blue pickup and, after one more drag up and down Main Street where I had hoped to catch a policeman or fireman within earshot, I headed out of town.
Stopped at a convenience store on the northern end of Sutter Creek, but a phone call to Nadine's number got a Disconnected beep and message. Then went to a Day's End Motel and started to use the WiFi hotspot near the Check-In desk when the woman managing the registration desk came downstairs. After she looked in a map without success for Orinda Street and Allen Ranch Road, she found a phone number in the phone book and dialed it for me.
Nadine answered and agreed with John's suggestion that she would drive down and lead me back to their place -- for which I was thankful. [Amen!]
--
Today's Lessons: 1)Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong -- it will. And 2)have a backup such as a correct phone number even if the directions seem correct. (Both my cousin Nadine and the deskwomnan at the Day's Inn stated that Mapquest occasionally makes mistakes; for instance, there is no such street as Orinda in Sutter Creek to the best of their knowledges.)
Here are couple of links which might be of interest: brief Sutter Creek History and, if you have nickelodian piano, my cousin John's piano roll site, Johnny's Music Rolls.
Washed my bod yesterday before hitting the hay. Will wash my laundry tomorrow.
....
Not sure when I'll leave for an RV campground near Stockton; it depends in part upon the weather and weather forecast.
No comments:
Post a Comment