Curve Ahead

The road that leaves camp is steep, narrow, and twisted. Some of the turns are marked 10 mph, but even that's a bit fast. I did that road once at night, and darn near killed myself. Fortunately, it's not very long, and also fortunately, it wasn't night when I left camp on Saturday.

After about 2 or 3 miles, it joins with the main road that heads down to Foresthill and Auburn. This is still a mountain road with curves, but it's a much more heavily used road, and the curves are not as sharp. Only a few of the curves require slowing down below 50 mph. After about 30 minutes, the road crosses the Foresthill bridge, and heads into Auburn. Half way home!

For three miles, the way home heads west on I-80. Still downhill, still with curves, but hey, it's an interstate. At Newcastle, the way home takes me off I-80 and onto Hwy 193, which heads west toward Lincoln. Hwy 193 starts out with some steep curves, but as it moves toward Lincoln and the valley floor, the curves become less sharp, and eventually disappear altogether. From Lincoln, there's only about 15 miles left until home, and all the roads are as straight as the lines of longitude and latitude on the map.

It's strange that the roads are more twisty the closer you are to camp, and straighter the closer you are to home. In life, it's just the opposite. Things that seem twisted at home often get straightened out at camp. What was confusing is made clearer.

Needless to say, I'm home now. My wife is now taking her turn counseling at camp; she went up the day I came home (we met and had lunch in Auburn, then continued in opposite directions). This week, I'm left to ponder the preparations that need to be made before we head to General Assembly, in about ten days.

And tomorrow is Tristan's 4th birthday!