My friend Graham came over from the UK in May, I met him at LAX and we had a few days on Cajon Pass. As usual I was too busy shooting video to take many stills, but did manage a few. The new track is open, traffic seemed a bit down, but there was enough so that we didn't get bored. I was concerned over security, and I'd heard that the inside of Sullivan's Curve belonged to BNSF. However, there were signs near the crossing at Cajon that seemed to indicate that it was actually Forest Service property, so we went and had a look. Security was out and about over the pass, on the new double track, but I made sure the car was well away from the rails, and so were we, and we weren't bothered. Somebody in a pickup was racing around the inside of Sullivan's while we were up on the SP side, and somebody in a Jeep came along, crossed the SP track and sat on the retaining wall alongside the BNSF track, which I thought was perhaps a little foolish. The access road up at Summit is used by dirt bikes and ATV's, so I'm not sure what the trespass situation is there, I figured it was perhaps best not to find out!
After Cajon we set off for the Feather. Satnav and I disagreed, I would have gone down to I10 and up 5, satnav and Graham wanted me to go over Tehachapi and up through Sacramento that way, so since I really didn't think LA would be too much fun during the rush hour, I took their advice. Nothing moving over Tehachapi, but there was probably a good deal less traffic, so it all worked out well. On arrival at Oroville, we checked in to the hotel and then went exploring. After we got over the bridge at Pulga, the car felt odd, and it turned out that we had a flat. It's a royal pain getting the spare out from under the Trailblazer, so we were both filthy by the time it got done. On the way back we found an eastbound, and managed to get a glint shot at James. Dinner was at the brewpub in the Oroville depot, and very nice it was too. Next morning it was off to the tire store, where I had to buy a new tire, since mine had split. I think it was this day that I tripped getting over the crash barrier at the side of the road and landed, hard, on my face. Good thing my glasses are plastic, otherwise I might be blind in my right eye now. Knocked me out for a few seconds, and gave me a good road rash on the side of my face. Gave me a bit of a headache, too. My doctor says that one looses one's abilty to quickly regain balance after tripping as one gets older, had I been 30 years younger it would probably have just been a stumble.
It had been ten years since I was on the Feather the first time, and the trees have not stopped growing (surprise!). The shot at Keddie is going away, and there is some construction at Clio, which together with new growth is taking that shot away. Some of the shots in the canyon are going away too. Traffic counts are fairly low, but chasing is easy, and we had perfect weather, so we got enough footage for a nice program. After running around, we had a look at the museum in Portola, then set off for Sacramento, where I left Graham, he had a flight to LAX and on to London. Satnav had me take the central route down to Tehachapi and then to Victorville, I would, again, have gone down I5 to LA and on to I10. I spent the night in Banning, and was home by noon the next day.
