I’ve got this big map of California thumb-tacked to our bedroom wall. Every time we drive somewhere we trace out the roads on the map in red ink. It’s an exciting moment for the both of us, and we’re always giggling and smiling as we draw in our latest adventure.

In the last six months we’ve been on highways 99, 80, 50, 88, 4, 108, 120, 580, 680, 880, 89, 32, 5, and 205 together. We’ve been to Truckee, Yosemite, Chico, Yuba City, San Francisco, Fresno, Hayward, Minden, Carson City, Reno, Sacramento, and countless other places.

We’ve driven the entire lengths of highways 4 and 88. We’ve driven 99 from Chico to Fresno, 80 from San Francisco to Reno, 120 from Manteca to Tuolumne Meadows, and 50 from Stateline to Sacramento.

And this is just the beginning. One day I’d like to see this old map tattered and torn and completely filled with spider webs of red ink, all over California and Nevada and Oregon.

So anway.

It’s Sunday October 28th. I’m starting a new shift and we won’t have the same days off anymore. What should we do on our last day off together?

I know! Let’s drive the entire length of highway 4 today for no reason! Well, other than to have a new adventure and put some new red ink on our map =)

The original plan was to drive up highway 88 so we could look at the Aspen tree groves just past Kirkwood. But we’ve been up that road before. Let’s do something different. Let’s go somewhere we haven’t been before.

Spur of the moment, the decision was made. We drove all the way up highway 4, through Copperopolis and Murphys and Arnold and Bear Valley and Mosquito Lake, up and over Ebbetts Pass, down the eastern side of the Sierras through Hermit Valley until we got to highway 89. Then it was 89 through Markleeville to 88, then we went east on 88 until we got to Minden. Up and over 207 to Stateline. Then it was all the way down highway 50 to Sacramento, 5 to Stockton, and finally 4 to home.

The entire trip was about 400 miles. That’s about 9 hours in the car. We stopped for lunch at Showshoe Brewery in Arnold, many times in the high country to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the scenery, once for ice cream in Markleeville, and coffee in South Lake Tahoe. I finally got sleepy half way down highway 50 and Yum had to drive the rest of the way home.

Whew! What a nice trip.

Highway 4 is my new favorite road in California. Above Bear Valley the road gets very narrow, steep, and winding. There are less people and less traffic. The going is very slow. At this point it no longer feels like a highway. The road is well-maintained, but it is clearly meant for cars. Some of the larger RVs wouldn’t make it.

It’s beautiful up there. Absolutely beautiful. Peace. Solitude. Alpine lakes scattered along the road, and even more within hiking distance. Plenty of places to camp and fish and hike and just… be. Pine trees and oak trees and aspen trees and dogwood trees and cottonwood trees and just… ahhh… Rugged terrain. Jagged, rocky, high mountain peaks. There was even a little snow.

I wish we had gotten out of the Jeep to take more pictures, but the sun was setting fast and we still wanted to try to see those Aspens on highway 88. But alas, we wouldn’t make it.

Oh well. We’ll be back. And highway 4 will be waiting for us.

Some pics here!