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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 18, 2009 - 11:34pm PT
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I am bivouacked in the lap of luxury - pool, gym, internet access, breakfast, the whole nine metres. It is warm (32 degrees), sunny (well, it was - now it's dark) and flat here, and I am looking forward to a few days R&R in the Valley, en route to Joshua Tree, where I should arrive on Thursday. The drive has been as dull as usual, but there were pretty snow-covered volcanoes to see, and some local stops of interest.
It's interesting that there is a substantial Sikh/Punjabi community here - much like Vancouver. Those I talk with almost all have cousins in B.C.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2009 - 11:45pm PT
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I just thought if there were any SuperTopians here, they might like a visitor for coffee on Sunday. I should be passing through Fresno on Thursday morning, too - I think there are one or two there.
Sure glad I have air conditioning, otherwise I'd be doing a Glinda.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 18, 2009 - 11:54pm PT
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40 minutes away the other direction - though I may have some interviews to do in the Bay area in September pre or post FaceLift, and may visit you or Ed or Bill Zed.
San Diego may, alas! be a bit too far this time. But thanks!
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Apr 18, 2009 - 11:58pm PT
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There used to be a good a good Afghan restaurant but it has shut down. Most valley towns have a large Indian and Pakistani population. My wife taught in Manteca for a few years. If you would have stopped in Lodi just north I could have hook you up with good beer or ethnic food.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:02am PT
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Have a pleasant drive. Looking forward to seeing you at Todd's on Saturday.
Rick
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:07am PT
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They never went to the moon.
No planes hit the towers.
In the desert the sun bakes your head ......
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luggi
Trad climber
Atwater, CA
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:10am PT
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Mighty Hiker...you have arrived in a place where just a few years ago there was a Spreckles sugar plant that turned sugar beets into sugar..very smelly process...therefore when one was driving down the road in that general direction...one that was aware of the plant would acknowledge the fact and state "would you kiss me where it smells" whoa....not being from around here I was at first startled...I soon acclimated myself to the local traditions. I hope this little snippet helps your stay in Manteca on your sojourn. Any-other useless information I can pass along just let me know.
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Mimi
climber
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:17am PT
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Have a stellar trip, Anders! Keep us posted!
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Mimi
climber
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:18am PT
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Werner, we need to talk...
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:19am PT
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And the desert flower is burning in the sun ......
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:23am PT
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Gezzz Anders, for a moment I thought you wrote Montego and I thought, "Lucky Dude, in Jamacia before he comes to Josh." Then I re read. Say, have ya ever been to Jamacia....cool place. See ya at the Tree, lord willing and the creek don't rise, of course. Lookin' forward, it will be a blast. Peace and Fun Travels, Lynne
Edit: ok, manteca, montego....I guess I was just wishin'. :D
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Apr 19, 2009 - 12:36am PT
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Anders - drop me a note if you are going to come through Santa Cruz.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 19, 2009 - 12:52am PT
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Ain't never been to Montego, though my parents were there, in 1953.
"In the desert the sun bakes your head"
WB speaks truth, or quotes from A Horse With No Name. I will visit and investigate.
Loki is staying at my father's, a big old house with much to keep her amused. They get along OK.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 19, 2009 - 01:16am PT
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geez, Anders, you should have said that you were coming...
...anyway, what are you plans? send me email or something...
I am cooling my jets before traveling around for the next three weekends but it I'd have known you were going to be in town...
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Apr 19, 2009 - 01:23am PT
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Ya, and if you take up Warblers invite you are welcome to stay here. We do have two little kiddos running around but you can stay in the RV way down on the property away from the house. We'll give you a big CA welcome....West Coast is the Best Coast. Peace to ya Anders !
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Gene
climber
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Apr 19, 2009 - 01:26am PT
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Anders,
Next time let us know when you're in the neighborhood. I'm 12 miles away, my family is on the East Coast this week, and my bro has a great brewpub in, you guessed it, downtown Manteca. Sorry I found this thread so late. Would have loved to treat you to dinner, a brew or two, and some conversation.
gm
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Apr 19, 2009 - 01:32am PT
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"I am bivouacked in the lap of luxury"
Manteca may be a lot like the lap of something, careful of the curly hairs!
;-)
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 19, 2009 - 02:15am PT
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EKaat warned me not to leave my car unattended. Does that mean I should sleep in it? I already did that last night - very cozy, the Matrix.
Sorry for the lack of advance notice - I just ended up here this afternoon, and decided to stay.
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ec
climber
ca
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Apr 19, 2009 - 10:46am PT
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Manteca means 'lard' in Spanish.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Apr 20, 2009 - 01:02pm PT
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I see you'll be passing through the Big Raisin on the way back. I'd love to buy you breakfast or lunch, if you care to stop.
John
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Apr 20, 2009 - 01:16pm PT
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Manteca - what you drive thru to get to the good stuff.
anyone seen radar speed traps along the two lane section on the East side of the freeway there? You can often pass people there on Sunday evenings coming back to the bay area, get around RVs, Boats, etc. but the speed limit is 35.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Apr 20, 2009 - 02:23pm PT
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Even before the sugar plant, the stink from the stockyards was formidable. I remember as a kid going to Sacramento in the late 1950's that proximity to Manteca meant the windows went up and the air conditioning went on, summer or winter.
John
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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Apr 20, 2009 - 05:28pm PT
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i'm with DMT,
Manteca has surely got to be stinkiest town in amerika. well, it surely was back when i lived amoung the bay aryans (late 80's into the 90's) and used to blow through there 20 times a year on my way to the valley (or more often the meadows, my personal fave).
~~~
i remember the rides home. all happy and refreshed down through the trees into Groveland, with a stop at the tuolumne river overlook for a great view and a pee. very pretty. then racing down the old priest grade at insane speeds. (luckily, i was imortal, just then -- that and my '72 volvo 144s had a rebuilt steering box, new polyurethane bushings, KYB's, and sticky pirellis). never attempt to drive up the old priest grade, for there may well be "immortals" coming the other way at the very edge of control(ish).
then soon into the rolling hills east of Oakdale. gorgeous country, often photographed. i hope they still are. then soon Oakdale proper, which was still mostly an actual old foothill town, then. my favorite sight was "Emil's Liquor & Ammo" store in the downtown switchbacks. now there's a marker of a _real_ town.
"Hey Emil, I need a box of Rem 158 grain .357 mag softpoints, a fifth of Bacardi, and these Dorittos here -- for i'm going climbing!")
that and the magnificent little bar at the fork in the road a couple miles west of town, Dos Almas (sadly it burned down many years ago).
~~~
but man, once you dropped out of Oakdale the central valley heat would really kick in, in season, and soon after the Manteca stink, in all seasons. and a '72 volvo 144s has everything one really needs... except air conditioning. all windows down, forever soaking my hair with water, and simply trying not to actually inhale until i hit the livermore grade.
that big stockyard in Manteca by the hwy on-ramp towards Tracy should have been a superfund site. or better still, a proper use of 'Plan R'. i didn't know about the sugar beet plant. but wouldn't that smell like rum? um, perhaps that was part of the problem... huh.
~~~
i haven't drivin via that route in a decade (i now come from the opposite direction). but i'd like to believe that Emil's Ammo & Liquor is still there, and that Oakdale is still the Pinedale of the outer central valley.
yet i've gleaned from Gertrude Stein that you can never go back. for you will never again find "there" there.
~~~
but fond memories -- except for the Manteca part.
^..^
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Apr 20, 2009 - 06:13pm PT
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Dude! You missed the Iron Door bar in Groveland! How could you?!
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2009 - 02:45pm PT
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Well, I survived my visit to Manteca. Got to the Valley Sunday morning, virtually unlimited space in Camp 4. (I couldn't believe it, even if it was cold and wet last week. Camp 4 is supposed to be full by mid-April.) Quiet, too - northside drive is closed from Camp 4 to El Cap bridge, so no traffic noise. Though the construction guys show up about 7:30 on weekday mornings. Visited Werner, did some aggressive hikes, relaxed, now in Yucca Valley for the TarParty.
Apparently weekend traffic in the Valley is a clusterF at the moment, with the northside closure, plus closure of southside drive from Sentinel bridge to Curry housekeeping. It was rather odd to be driving the 'wrong way' on some of the roads, but you have to hope they finish the work by the end of May.
I'm heading home Sunday, probably passing through the central valley that afternoon. Bakersfield north, not sure if on I5 or 99.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 25, 2009 - 01:56pm PT
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I forgot to mention the carload of giant ferocious bloodthirsty Canadian wolves which I let go in northern California. Although they might have felt more at home in LA.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Apr 25, 2009 - 07:08pm PT
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When you're down and out in Lard with canis lupus and it's springtime too...
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mazamarick
Trad climber
WA
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Apr 25, 2009 - 07:17pm PT
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North Cascades Hwy. opened last night, stop by and say hi on your way home. Go Canucks!
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Joe Monectose
Big Wall climber
Oakdale, CA
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Jul 22, 2009 - 09:31am PT
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How was your trip to boulder land?
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MH2
climber
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Jul 22, 2009 - 04:26pm PT
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Did you have to re-locate after testifying against the Banditos?
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 22, 2009 - 04:33pm PT
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I now have amnesia, am in a witness-protection program, am living in a country without an extradition treaty with Manteca, and take the fifth.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
way, WAY out there....(OMG)
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Jul 22, 2009 - 04:35pm PT
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You just put that fifth down , Mister!
Now back away, slowly.
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