The Last U Turn Tour
by Tommie W. Whitener
The June tour left Earnie's Restaurant and Saloon in Isleton
promptly at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jun 29, 1996 led by Tour Captain,
Jonathan Jefferies, headed for Markleeville. Amid general good
cheer and comraderie, a beautiful Delta morning saw 12 BMW's and
one guest Honda start the trek.
After one false start and resulting U-turn, the group made its way
up Highway 12 and then 88 past Lake Cammanche and into Gold
Country. Judging from the number of alternate routes and turns off
the main highways, the route had obviously been well scouted and
planned. We stopped for lunch in Volcano, where the general
consensus seemed to be that the burgers at the Volcano general store
and restaurant were might tasty, indeed.
Continuing on up into the real mountains. the cool temperatures of
the 8,000' Carson Pass were a real blessing after the heat of the
valley. Snowy peaks, green meadows and rushing streams made the
views absolutely breathtaking, even if the occasional motorhome did
slow us down a bit.
The main body of the group arrived at the Grover Springs State
Park campground in the mid-afternoon to find our 9 campsites
scattered through the park and perhaps 30 early arriving club
members awaiting our arrival. A splinter group from the main tour
had split off to try their GS skills on the Mormon Immigrant Highway
and arrived a little later to regale the less hardy souls with tales of
narrow escape after dealing with all but non-existent roads, pot
holes the size of Georgia and other sundry and assorted challenges to
motorcycle survival.
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