the TS101 group at Sundial Bridge

Yesterday I instructed a Traffic Skills 101 course in Redding, California, along with Pete Hollingsworth and Peter Massoletti, who are from Chico. We had nine participants including the course host Sara Sundquist, Safe Route to School Coordinator for Healthy Shasta. On Friday I rode around downtown Redding, laying out the road skills portion of the course. I stayed with Anne and Jeff Thomas who are part of the Redding cycling community, which is strong and passionate. Saturday we had good weather for the course, almost a spring day. After the morning classroom and schoolyard parking lot drills, we rode to Grilla Bites for lunch, then around and around through various intersection with left turns, straights, and right turns, all while occupying the lane. Then we rode to Sundial Bridge, for the road experiences along the way and just for the fun of it.

More photos from the course on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/allisondan/sets/72157629093315689/, including some of bike facilities in Redding from the day before.

I used to live in Redding and Whiskeytown in the 1970′s and it was interesting to see how it has changed. There are some great new bike facilities, the Sundial Bridge, the Sacramento River Trail, the Downtown to Dana multi-use trail across the river, the Cypress Street Bridge with new bike lanes. But there is also a lot more traffic, as Redding has grown tremendously during the time. The mountains are still close on the horizon: Lassen, Shasta, and Shasta Bally, and I remember them fondly.

On Friday I also visited my friends Bob and Carol Grom who live in Redding. I’ve not seen them in about 10 years. Bob and I took a walk in the Clover Creek open space near their house, and then we all had a light lunch and talked for quite  a while. Bob is working on rehabilitating an interesting classic recumbent bike.

I got to Redding on Amtrak, got around on my Brompton folding bike, caught a ride back to Chico with Pete and Peter, and caught Amtrak back to Sacramento. And slept most of today!

Saturday dawned clear. We went on a walk through the park and out to all the points, watching the amazing storm surf. In the afternoon we went to the town of Mendocino, in search of dinner ingredients such as bread, and just wandered around enjoying the town. Steffani honeymooned in Mendocino long ago and was remembering. Jane arrived Saturday afternoon, and everyone contributed to a delicious and varied dinner. We ended with a hot tub on the bluff above the ocean.

Sunday was rainy again, and some of us headed back to town for hot soup and warm sandwiches before going our separate ways.

More photos on PicasaWeb at https://picasaweb.google.com/116687105851998007887/MendocinoWeekend.

Joe Herbst with Sassy & Ellie

On the day after Christmas, Joe Herbst and I did our annual (more or less) horse ride out in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This year we rode in the Bowl of Fire, off the North Shore Road. Driving up Callville Wash, which was not possible last year with the washed our road and deep mud, we parked the trailer and unloaded Sassy, Ellie, and Ruby. We then headed further up the wash and over a nearly invisible saddle to the back side of the Bowl of Fire, then headed west behind the bluffs, and wound down through a narrow wash and back to the truck. The weather was perfect, a brilliant blue sky of the sort I never see in Sacramento where I now live.

Joe and I have been friends for 48 years or so, starting out hiking, backpacking and climbing with Howard Booth. We lost touch for a while as we both went off to do different things, but have reconnected for about the last 10 years, and immensely enjoy our time together. Our biggest adventure was a 2007 week-long series of rides in the Escalante Canyons of Utah, but we’ve been doing at least one trip a year (last year, in the same area).

After the ride, we went out to dinner with Joe’s wife Pam, which was the first time I’d gotten to spend much time with Pam.

Photos on Picasa at https://picasaweb.google.com/116687105851998007887/BowlOfFire20111226.

With my irregular posting, I miss a lot of things, which I often think I’ll go back and pick up later, but don’t. Recently, my life included seeing friends Ann Pitchford, Jeff vanEe, Howard Booth and Ursula Wilson, Mike Pearson, Mark Vranesh, and Norma Biggar, all long-standing Las Vegas area friends. I spent Christmas with my mom, sister, nieces, and grandniece. Earlier in December I attended the Gaskell Ball and one day of the Dickens Fair, and spent time with Michael Charnofsky. I saw several movies over the month, out at theaters which is rare for me. By far my favorite was Hugo.

Howard and Ursula in Bridge Spring Canyon

I went out for a wonderful mid-day hike with Howard Booth and Ursula Wilson, in the Nelson area southeast of Boulder City. Though I’d hiked a little in the area, and had often gone there for spring wildflower displays, I’d never been to the area we went, Bridge Spring Canyon and Oak Creek Canyon. Bridge Spring Canyon of course has a bridge, a natural rock arch over a waterway (bridges span waterways, arches don’t), a seep below, and quite a lot of oaks (Quercus turbinella). We then went over a ridge and into Oak Creek Canyon, which has no creek except after rains, and only scattered oaks in damp or shady areas. I forget when I’m away from the desert how much I enjoy being out in the clean air with distant views and wonderful close-in details. Though I thought I might go back to Sacramento early, this hike reminded me that I won’t give up any days in the desert. Thanks, as always, to Howard for these days out.

Photos on Picasa at https://picasaweb.google.com/116687105851998007887/BridgeSpringCanyon20111221.

Sacramento trees have been spectacular with fall color. As my first fall here, I’m not sure if it brighter, but it is certainly bright, and is probably later than usual, with a few trees now bare but many in their full glory.

I’ve been going to Davis to see movies at the Varsity Theatre this fall. I like old theatres, and in fact try to avoid modern multiplexes, so my theatres are the Tower and Crest in Sacramento, the Varsity in Davis, and others when I travel. Recently I’ve seen The Way and Martha Marcy May Marlene. I’m exploring the bike facilities of Davis and also using up left over Amtrak tickets.

I spent Wednesday with Steffani, and Thanksgiving day with Lea and her friends, as well as her household of dogs and cats. Quite enjoyable!

Of course I’m dancing, last night I Sacramento, last Saturday in Auburn where I’ve not danced in years, and last Friday in Davis where I’ve never danced before. In Auburn a few of us went for yogurt at break, and last night four of us went to Desert Diner after. I really enjoy this and have been disappointed that this social practice that was so common when I started dancing has faded away in most places.

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Five Bromptons – more than I’ve even seen in Sac. A sixth joined later.

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Location:Sacramento,United States

Though I ride every day, commuting, this was longest ride I’ve done in a while, and I was tired! I’m gradually working my way down the river, and eventually will ride all the way to the Golden Gate. The bridges are markers: Tower, Freeport, Courtland, Walnut Grove. So far.

I really enjoy riding the levee roads with the river to one side and farmland to the other. Though the roads are narrow and have more traffic than I’d like, it is beautiful.

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I live in mid-town Sacramento, and I’m very much enjoying being here. There is so much to do: live music, community theatre, coffee shops that have quality bulk teas, restaurants, bars, museums, young people, streets lined with beautiful mature trees, fairly bike-friendly streets and drivers, the American and Sacramento rivers close by. If my income level were higher, I’d get to enjoy more of some of these opportunities, but I’ve decided that half-time work is about the right amount for me, and I’m learning how to survive and thrive on it.

My apartment is on the third floor, up at the crown level of many of the trees, so as I stand on my porch, I feel somewhat like I’m living in a forest.

Living in one place and working in another doesn’t fit my ideal of what people should do, and I wonder about it. But I realized that with a public transit system that starts shutting down at 8:00 and is completely shut down by 10:00 in the evening, I would be more socially and culturally isolated in Citrus Heights than I was in Carson City. As has been said of many places, “there is no there there.” Suburbs where most of the people leave every morning to work in a completely different place and return home at night too tired, from work and driving, to do much, do not create social and cultural opportunities. So, for now, I’ve chosen to be where the opportunities are, not where I work. I get to work every day on a combination of light rail, buses, and biking. At the end of the day, I try to ride at least a little of the American River Parkway bike trail on my way back home.

Today I rode bike trail from home to the beginning at Discovery Park (the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers), and east to Folsom 32 miles, where I had a beer and ice cream cone (not together!), and took the light rail back home. The light rail station is three blocks from home.

I miss several friends from Carson City, and very much miss being so close to the Sierra Nevada. One can see the Sierra from Sacramento only on clear days, and they are much further away. But I’m happy to be where I am. It is much noisier here, with the busy streets and night life, but that is a reasonable trade off for living in a place where so much happens.

I am using Facebook a bit more than before. I don’t really keep up with either, but some is better than none.

sacred circle dance camp

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