2010 July 4th:
Mark:
Happy Fourth of July!
This morning started very well and we were up and getting ready in a relaxed fashion. The temperature was well into the 80’s by the time we left at around 9am.
When we left Merced California we got on Highway 99 and headed south. We got off at Fresno California and we were a little spooked at how deserted the town was. We only saw a handful of people and even less cars. It was so much like ghost town we experienced a “Twilight Zone” moment. Where were all the people?
We rode through town quickly since there wasn’t any traffic and then toward the mountains. When we reached a town called Centerville, we stop at a fruit stand and ate some fruit. I had a couple of apricots, a nectarine and a plum. The nectarine wasn’t very ripe but the other fruit was great.
We got back on the highway and not too far down the road the GPS told us to turn. I wasn’t very sure about the road but we followed it anyway. As it turned out, it was a pleasant diversion from the standard highway routine. No traffic and a really winding road that probably was the original highway up to the park. We were headed to Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park. The road led us back to the highway and before too long we were in the park
Our first stop after the entrance gate was Grant’s Tree. This tree was well over 2000 years old and extremely large. We took the little hike around this area and we were appalled by the complete and utter disrespect of so many individuals that were taking this little walk through the trees. There was a fence around the trail so that no one would get too close to the trees and upset their environment. We saw a whole family (about 15 people) way off the trail sitting on a stump and eating a picnic lunch. This upset me to the point where I just had to tell a ranger. Later Niko and I were down in the parking lot eating our lunch of sorts and this guy jumps the fence and runs down into this grove of trees and says “hey take my picture”. I had to yell at the guy, and he was so blatant in his disrespect that he just said to me that “there aren’t any signs”. So I just turned around and yelled across the parking lot for the ranger to come over. The ranger made it very clear to the guy that he was not to cross the fence. He didn’t mouth off to the ranger.
There were so many different languages being spoken that it was a little confusing with all of the different nationalities of people visiting the park. All of the people that were being disrespectful to the park and the trees that I saw were of Middle Eastern dissent. All of the other people in the park were showing reverence to the park and what they were seeing.
We rode down to the end of the road, which was a dead end, and saw the Kings River and the canyon. This was a most beautiful area and the water in the river was all white because it was so rough. You would not what to take a raft down that.
When we neared the end of the road, we stopped at the sign for a picture and Niko tells me that the battery in the video camera has been dead since the beginning of the canyon. He went to change the battery and he could not find the camera case. This is when he realized that the case was left in the hotel room from last night back in Merced.
We finished riding the rest of the way to the end of the road and then turned around for the journey back. We stopped several times for pictures and then rode out of the park. When we reached our turning point where we were to head toward Yosemite, we stopped and I had Niko call the hotel to see if they had found this camera bag. The lady told Niko that they wouldn’t know until tomorrow.
We decided to head back to Fresno because we needed fuel and then we decide to ride back to Merced and see if they had found the camera bag. The lady at the desk told us that she wouldn’t know anything until 10am tomorrow. We decided to stay the night and do some laundry and go swimming. After the laundry was finished we walked down the street and found some dinner to eat. We came back to the hotel and worked on the blog. We only saw a few fireworks during our walk.
We did a lot of riding today with 295 miles. We are both very tired and we are ready for bed. Thanks for reading. Good Night.

Niko:
Today dad decided to not eat breakfast and just have beef jerky. I had cheerios, a piece of toast, juice, a berry horn, and a chunk of dad’s beef jerky for protein. We dressed in heat gear and I wore the mesh version of my jacket.
We took off and got on the freeway to Fresno and drove down the empty town. It was literally a ghost town with only a couple of people and a handful of cars around on the streets. All of the stores were closed, too. We quickly passed Fresno and rode on down the road.
As we started to get a bit tired, we pulled into the fruit stand at Centerville and had some fruit. I had a plum and a peach, though I’d say the plum was much better. So ripe it just made a “squish” noise and dribbled juice everywhere.
We hopped back on and kept going up the road to Sequoia national park. We turned into the gate, paid, and rolled on to Grant Village. We meandered around, but soon moved on to see the tree. As we pulled into the lot, I noticed many Nationalities were represented here, but predominately Indian.
As we walked around the trees up to General Grant tree, I couldn’t help but think that there were no reference points to the size of the trunks, for there were fences around the paths. Some people were etching names into fallen logs, and walls of the cabin on the path. We just shook our heads and walked on.
We got back to the parking lot and told a ranger about the general disrespect going on, and she told us others had mentioned it and that she’d check it out. Not even five minutes later, an Indian man had jumped over the fence and was standing by the trees. Dad told him to get out of the fenced area and he argued that he didn’t know he did anything wrong.
We hollered at a ranger across the lot and she walked over. The man quickly tried to leave, but the ranger caught him and asked him why he crossed the fence, and told him not to walk off the path or there’d be worse consequences.
I felt ashamed to be a part of this group of tourists, or even to be associated with the average human, and found myself wishing that none of these parks were so easily accessible to better preserve them.
We moved on to Kings Canyon and rode the twisted road all the way to “End Road.” And only six miles from the end did I notice that I had left the camera’s bag at the motel in Merced CA, when I tried to change the battery at the base of the canyon. My back had also begun to seriously ache, and I was beginning to feel pretty crappy after all the stuff happening today. We rode back up the mountain and into Sequoia to head back towards Fresno.
On the way out of Sequoia National Park, we saw another example of why I wish there were no roads up to the park, an RV going 20 mph below the speed limit and refusing to pull off the road into a designated “slow vehicle turn off” lane.
We were behind that RV for close to 30 minutes and when we finally had an opportunity to use the oncoming lane to pass; dad almost took his mirror off. We passed Centerville and pulled over so I could call Days Inn and check on the camera bag. The lady told me that she wouldn’t know until 10:00 tomorrow when the maids come back in.
We decided to head back to Merced to check ourselves, and stopped in Fresno for gas. The GPS said there was a Chevron gas station on a certain corner, but it was Shell. We never buy Shell so we searched for a better place for gas. Off we went, back to Merced, taking the freeway.
It took longer than I recalled getting back, but it might’ve just been me. We found out that the maid’s lock a room that they store all lost items in, so we decided to stay here again. We started laundry and jumped in the ice-cold pool to take the edge off of the +90° weather.
After our laundry was done, we decided to find dinner and walk out to see what our choice was. We found only a Burger King and a Mc Donald’s available. I have boycotted Mc Donald’s, and Burger King was supporting Eclipse of the Twilight Saga. Tough decision, but I went with Burger King because I’d rather support a good company with bad partners than a bad company with no partners.
To add insult to injury, I couldn’t find my phone after we got back from dinner. I walked back out to Burger King even though they closed. I knocked on the window and mimed that I may have left my phone there. They mimed that they’d look, but found nothing.
On my way back I saw it on the ground and was happy I didn’t lose that forever. That’d been tragic. Anyway, it’s one in the morning here, so goodnight!