Kings Canyon National Park

2 October 2011

My dear friend Chris Todd came down from Groveland to spend the day and bid me farewell. We drove into Kings Canyon National Park and on the way back our route retraced my path of the previous day but in the opposite direction. It was nice to see Cris again and share the time marveling at the worlds largest living creatures and most dramatic rocks.

Americana for the day: the motorcycle salute – this is a cultural thing, where when you see an approaching motorcycle, when you are about a hundred meters apart, you extend your left arm out at about a 45 degree angle and if you are really cool you also extend just your left index finger as well. The approaching biker does the same and you have acknowledged your brotherhood (or sisterhood, or brother/sister hood) of the two wheeled traveler. This works well in North America where you drive on the right side of the road, but fails miserably in places like New Zealand where we drive on the left side. The problem for left side of the road riders is that your right hand is committed to the throttle which is always on the right side, regardless of which side of the road you drive on, and your left hand is on the outside, pointing away from approaching riders. Anyway, here in North America, a whole world of angst grows from this salute. Sometimes you salute and don't get a response which can evoke either a sense of rejection or indignation. Or sometimes your attention is focused on your side of the road and you only see the salute from the oncoming biker at the last moment and by the time you respond they are already past, in which case the roles are reversed and you feel guilty because you have made the other biker suffer the rejection or indignation. Then there is the issue of timing – if you salute too early you seem to be too eager and if you salute too late you may not give the oncoming rider time to respond. Then there is the case when there is a convoy of bikes approaching – do you salute them all or just the first or just the last or what? Then there are the bikes that have a pillion passenger, in which case it seems that the responsibility for saluting is on their shoulders and not the controlling rider. I reckon Woody Allen could do a whole movie on this. :-)

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/108481211284683809830/USA20113?authkey=Gv1sRgCInJ3fTt3fO0Mg