Ondu drive Kathe

So, Here I was, Bored to death in Boston and desperately wanted to go to 'some place good'.
Since July 4th was a holiday here, Independence Day. My friend and I decided to take 2 days off, make it a long weekend and go to 'some place good'.

We decided on Yosemite National Park as that 'some place good', for 3 days. The plan was to Drive to Yose, Hike there (if time + age permitted), Nature Watching and such other activities. Basically, exhaust ourselves and enjoy every moment of it!

We had to book a hotel room for the 2 days which was about 30mi from Yose since all the campsites were booked months in advance! Well, Everything was in place, I was supposed to drive for the whole trip which was my first "unsupervised" drive in US.

We decided against using ‘paper maps’ as an environment friendly gesture and partly because we had a GPS telling us where to go!

"Let’s go Hi-Tech maaan". You get the idea.

Day 1: The drive from LAX to Yose was uneventful - Freeways, Fast moving Cars and Desi Music. Yose was picture perfect with Gorgeous Sceneries, streams and water falls. After lots of ooh aahing about them, we then went back to our hotel. We also gathered some information for our planned next day's hike from the valley's information center, the suggestion we got was the hike to 'Nevada Falls'.

Day 2: Drive to Yose, Hike for about 10mi to the Nevada Fall. The trail we took was called as the ‘panorama trial’. The whole trial runs along the breathtaking Yose valley. The full view of the super cool Yose Valley from the Nevada falls was awesome.

We were on our way out of Yose to our and here's where something really interesting happened!
We were moving along happily, talking bull-c*ap and making fun of our previous selves.

Then the GPS lady says, "Turn Right in 0.1 miles". Fine, I move on and then make a Turn.

We see a very Narrow road in front of us, just enough for us to squeeze through!

"What the Heck", I say.

"Move on, Maga", my friend says.

Now, the road was tarred for about 0.3 miles and then all we see is the rugged unpaved road in front of us. There was a sign, which said, "This Road is not maintained during winters, Proceed at your own Risk".

We say, "Who are they trying to scare? We have seen worse back home" *Insert 'you dumb a**es' kind of Laughter*.

We Vroooomed at 10mph leaving a cloud of dust behind us.

We move about 2 mi and then I see our fuel indicator showing close to 'empty'.
According to the GPS, We were on a 'mountain road' and true to its name, it was a Mountain Road! It was crooked, narrow, loose soiled and very dusty. It was getting dark, we had no gas, no Mobile signal, No paved route, in the middle of a Forest, First time car rental.

Screwed, I guess is the right word.

We had the GPS saying 10 more miles to go.

"Fine. Let’s see! Floor it Bro," says my Friend.

I follow the GPS Lady's route for a short distance and suddenly she says - "Lost Satellite Reception".

"Fcuk"ed. We moan!

We felt totally lost! Moreover, unlike back in India there were absolutely no people in sight! After some marvelous choice of "words" towards the GPS lady and some towards the technology, we continued on the same route.

Still "Vroooming" at 10mph leaving a cloud of dust behind us!

After about 30mins of swearing and pale looking situations, which was like eternity, we spotted the highway! This was the happiest moment in our whole insipid lives or atleast that's how we felt at that moment!
(I think my friend's eyes were moist. It could have been dust too. I couldn’t tell. )

After all this, the GPS lady finally 'caught' a satellite and got back online. We were on our way!
But not before another "Turn Right in 0.2mi", we slowed down to check the route she was taking us to.
It had a "Forest Road" and another "Unpaved way" in it.

"Whoa, Maga, Silentagi Highwaynalle hogu" my friend says.

"Amen", I say.

We continue on the highway and finally we were there! Our destination! Enough adventure for the day!

The Route we took was - "Chowchilla Mountain Road", Near Yosemite towards Mariposa Town. If you ever go to Yosemite Park and want to try out something different, you know where to go! Sure, the road is dirty and narrow but the scenery is beautifully different.

One small suggestion, check your fuel tank!

Since we are 'adventurers' by nature, we took a similar road the next day too! No, not similar, the *same* route again! However, this time we were ready with a full tank and in broad daylight! Another adventure!

Well, you people had enough of bad grammar for today. More later!

We are not alone!

Yes!
When it comes to Traffic Sense/Lane discipline, we are not as 'unique' as we all would like to think.

Please welcome Egypt to our brotherhood!

Here's why!

Over all, the Egyptian system seems to function on three basic principles: Every
man for himself; when necessary, offer a little baksheesh (cash); and accept
that money and connections go first.

And this too!
This is exactly what happens in here, Isn't it?!

But people here say drivers’ lawless nature is not without a reason. These same
traffic police officers assigned to make traffic move are also ordered to make
traffic stop. They close the streets so Mr. Important does not have to tolerate
the indignity of traffic. That makes people mad.
That sense of injustice,
felt by the common man stuck for hours in deadlocked traffic, fuels disregard
for the law in general, people said.

From NYTimes