For the month of January I decided to attempt respectability and take a job. Yes. An everyday, wake up at 6:15, drive to work, get paid job. Granted, it isn’t permanent, but definitely a step in the right direction. This job has also allowed me to explore a new section of Northern California by bike. I’ve been working in San Andreas, and the riding here is unlike anywhere else. For starters, the area is mountainous, and the rollers are extreme. This also means that while sunset is officially at 5:15, the sun has dipped behind the mountains much sooner that that. Except for this interesting little road to nowhere caller Hawver. It starts out single lane and quickly becomes graded dirt. It winds through and around and down several large hills in the area. The best part of this road is after climbing to the top, I was higher than the hills to the west and the entire area was bathed in sunlight. It was breathtaking (cause of the climb and view 😉 and it was warm. This is in contrast to the other road I frequent in the area, called Pool Station. According to the map, that road will eventually connect with Highway 4, which leads to Stockton and beyond. I haven’t got that far yet, because of the light, though I did find the Copperopolis Fire Station. No, bike racer friends, the race was not in that area and the road was much better paved. I also saw what I believe to be a drug deal go down on this road. No I am not kidding. At the bottom of a descent near San Andreas, there is an abandoned mining site. Not Gold Rush era, though Calaveras was a prosperous mining town during this period, but a more recent mining operation that had been shut down. I was working on some threshold climbing and so passing by the same pull-out to the side of the road several times. The first time I passed there was a car parked and a woman sitting by herself. The second time I passed there was another car parked there, and a couple was looking at something on the original woman’s trunk. The third time I passed, all the cars were gone. What makes me so sure this was a drug deal? Mainly the isolated road. No one except crazy cyclists use that road and there is nothing nearby for miles. An innocuous meeting would take place in a public parking lot or somewhere where the attendees aren’t trying to avoid scrutiny. The bottom of a hill, on a deserted road, next to an old mining operation is shady. Hence:Drug Deal

 

The gold mining industry of the area is evident in the very county lines. Amador ends at the mokolumne river and calaveras begins. To the west, Amador ends at the consumers river and El Dorado county begins.
Though beautiful county, Calaveras does have a history of criminal activity. Just the other day I read a historical marker about an attempted stage robbery! A wagon carrying the payroll for  a local ranching company was shot at the two of the people riding in it were killed. Very dramatic. Deserving of a historical marker though? I don’t know.