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Marble Mountains Loop In Search of the Sun August 27, 2005 |
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Lois and I decided it was time to investigate this mysterious glowing orb that people have been reporting as hanging in the sky. Therefore, along with Mike and Terry, (who happen to report seeing this phenomenon frequently) we decided to head east to Weaverville to see what all the fuss was about. After a short stop in Willow Creek to pick up Bill and his gorgeous '93 LE, we continued on to Weaverville where we meet several members, Mark and Lee, of the newly formed Redding Area Miatas for a run up State Route 3 to Callahan.
(And yes, there is a glowing yellow orb that hangs in the sky and it provides a wonderful commodity, HEAT!)
After introductions and the mutual admiration of everyone's cars, we all turned our front bumpers north and headed up SR 3 over Scott Mt. to Callahan.
After spending more time getting to know new friends, the Redding folks headed back east while the remaining three contemplated how to get back to the coast. As it turns out, there was road construction at the intersection of SR 3 and Forks of the Salmon Road, so we thought we would skirt around the work by taking a back road through Callahan to meet up with the Forks road several miles west. Seemed like a good idea but in reality it dumped us right in the middle of a one-way traffic control zone with pilot car. Fortunately, before we could even get settled under a shady spot, here comes the pilot car with several vehicles in tow going in our direction so off we followed. After several miles the pilot car pulled over and let us go. Unfortunately, the road was not in real good condition as it was still under construction.
Then
we find ourselves stopped at another one-way traffic zone, in the sun, having to wait for around 15 minutes before the next pilot car arrived to lead us through this section of road construction. This was bad enough but as it turned out, we ended up having to follow a street sweeper sweeping up all the dirt and dust sitting on the roadbed.
Unfortunately, this photo does not begin to do justice to the amount of dust that we all had to drive thru. To say the least, the insides and outsides of all of our cars were extremely filthy. All told, we figure that the construction zone lasted about 15 miles before we finally got back to good asphalt and could continue our pleasant journey through the Salmon River canyon.
Finally down the road a ways we found a nice shady spot to stop for lunch and enjoy the view of the River.
By the Way, we also found out that the yellow orb provides for very warm temperatures, as it was reported that at one point in our journey, it did reach 100 deg.
After lunch we did have one more interesting encounter before leaving the Salmon River canyon. Who says the miata doesn't have any horsepower!
And who are you calling a donkey!
Well, after maneuvering through a half dozen or so equines, we managed to reach SR 96 where we turned south back to Willow Creek. After a stop in Willow Creek to visit and grab a glass or two of very refreshing ice tea, Mike and Terry & Lois and Bill returned to the coast, and in the case of Lois and Bill, back to the fog.
All in all, it was a great trip of about 325 miles over some magnificent Miata roads, in spite of the construction zone, and meeting some new friends from the inland area. May there be many more.
