Very interesting private collection gathered in a small museum in the middle of Mountain View, and that no one knows about since it's not really open to the public. The owner however does open his collection for occasional visits to a few select car clubs, and I was lucky enough to be part of one of those visits. Definitely has some unique vehicles, some one of a kind and that took 20 to 30 years of perseverance before he was able to acquire them:
I've been using solar lights for a bit over 10 years now, they are easier to install since they do not require garden wiring (and the original wired lights in the garden stopped working after yard work, or sometimes gophers. When that happens, it really sucks to dig out the yard to figure out what wire went bad). So yeah, solar lights have downsides, like:
they ship with too small batteries I replace as soon as I buy them
the solar panels are sometimes too small to properly recharge them except during full summer with short nights
the plastic can be cheap and fall apart after several years of sun (lots of plastic actually does disintegrate in the sun after a few years)
and then, this, the coating/cover on top of the cheap solar panels, also gets damaged by sun after a while (less than a year for a few I got)
Sometimes, I'm also a bit of an overachiever, and analyzed the actual lights in power draw vs amount of light coming out since all the specs online are a lie:
But despite the downsides, it gave me a chance to upgrade them over the year to better ones, including color changing ones which have somewhat held up so far:
Oh yeah, I also got firefly lights, and here is the end result:
Sadly, I have to write two years later (2024/12) that most firefly lights are shit and break after a year or less, from bad solar panels, or otherwise.
this year is definitely a good wet year. Xmas had big dumps, downed powerlines and closed roads, and as soon as I got home from France, there was enough of a dump that it was worth going for a quick trip. Carson Spur was closed, so I had to take 50 and while my original plan was to go to kirkwood, Ovidiu gave me intel on Heavenly that it was worth trying to go there instead and do some frontside runs (side country):
even early on a friday morning, chain control caused a 45mn traffic jam :(
well done guys for blocking traffic so much
snowplow escort that wasn't really necessary
I stayed on the Califonia side and managed to find parking close to the gondola to meet Ovidiu and Rick after confirming the Gondola had just opened (they parked on the nevada side which I generally avoid going to :) ):
several lifts no running yet, so the lines were long
back for more
nice views
Fire Break Runs:
For Day #2, I went to kirkwood, by then I had of course missed the fresh tracks from Day #1, but given the firebreak runs, that was not a big deal. Driving there was not a huge deal, but there was already a good line getting in the parking lot when I arrived:
my car has become a lot more chatty :)
lots of cars trying to get in
Despite the parking getting full quickly, the resort didn't feel too full. Snow coverage was excellent. Chamoix was not even a problem, anyone could go without even trying hard:
snow was still good and a few stashes here and there
given the few lifts running, we had mild lines
running the wall for the first time this season
the wall ridge opened and I was able to drop it the first time this season too
liftie humor :)
very windy on top
sunny at times
But with 60mph+ winds, being on the top of the mountain was painful. Once I went up cornice and wanted to ride the ridge to drop skier's right, but the wind was so strong and I was being pelleted by ice/snow in the face, so I aborted:
that's snow/ice being blown around
by dropping the wall, I was able to get to the snow cave, sheltered from the wind
lenticular cloud, showing the strong winds
After some good runs, I went home. Glad to get such good snow in January!
