General Sherman and others

Today we went to Sequoia National Park. It was incredible! The views were amazing and as varied as one can imagine. We saw rivers, waterfalls, desert flowers and giant redwoods. The most notable was called General Sherman. He is the largest (in cubic feet) of any tree in the world. I have seen them before, but not on a motorcycle. The ride up was unbelievable. We rode once again through the orange blossoms and fruit stands of California. We even got to see olive trees. On our way up, we saw lake and took pictures. There was a hawk that was flying around, as if it beckon us to follow him. I tried to take his picture, but he went away. When we left, he flew past us again. The irony is that when we were returning from the park, he once again, flew by as if to welcome back to the area.
The ride to the park was remarkable. If those that know me could see the road that we rode on, they would think I was lying. (I took pictures to prove it otherwise...) You see, I don't like curvy roads. But the road we took was beyond curvy. The Tail of the Dragon is more like a mouse when compared to this road. Suffice it to say, we did not count the number of switchbacks and the there were miles of curvy roads. But one lesson was learned. Jose can't do roads where there are several hundred (possibly thousand) feet drop offs with no guardrail. We were to go to Yosemite tomorrow and she just can't do it. And this is where it is. Both of us have agreed that we will not do something that will jeopardize our lives. The only way she was able to manage today was to follow behind me and watch. The height was so great, that we were able to travel almost 40 miles in neutral (we have great gas mileage figures this time!) We stayed overnight in a hotel and left all of our gear at the hotel, which was fortunate, because that ride would have been impossible with the gear. While in the park we got to see a young deer that appeared to be unfazed by our presence. The best part, was that each time I clicked the camera, it would look up at us. So the pictures should be great.
On the way down, I had one interesting experience. I parked the bike on a significant slope. Significant enough that I was unable to lift the bike off of the kickstand. So, I walked the bike down the hill to a level area. Jose was yelling “You can’t do that”, and there were at least 4 people there to help. But, I was able to do it. Thanks to a demonstration by someone called Skirt on how to pick a bike up (from a fall) and then from lessons I learned from my BRC class on how to walk a bike. It was pretty impressive to see someone my size, walk a 800 pound bike down a steep incline, then get on and ride away. Of course we had to stop later on level ground so that I could stop shaking! But it was still one of the best days I have had so far.
I will be posting pictures once I figure out how to do multi-uploads. Right now, we are limited to just one picture.