The "Heritage" Ride-Part II

The ride begins from Southern California and I ride North to The Bay Area.  Its always fun when I set out on a new journey.  I have met some pretty good people on the road and still stay in touch with most.  It wasn't any different this time around either.  I meet Neal and Steve at a gas station stop,  a couple of guys that are doing the 4 Corners.  They have ridden from Maine and are on they way up to Alaska.  I'm overly impressed.  We talk and they decide they want to see San Francisco on the way and they aren't sure which way to go.  I tell them I do and we are off.   After a nice little ride, I drop them off at their hotel, we wish each other a good ride and I head to my house.  What a great day of riding!

Neal & Steve

I take a day to map and figure out just where I want to go and how I want to do it.  I decide to take it in parts and pieces.  So I start it where my GGG Grandparents are buried...at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.  I ride to their grave site and pay my respects.  I feel good at their grave site and now I am content to start a ride for them. A journey to the first place they lived in California. Columbia, The Gold Country.


Having a “base point” of travel in the East Bay is perfect for this excursion. It is approximately 2 ½ hours travel north or east to what is known as The Gold Country in California. Columbia is the main destination for me. Having made a brief visit  previously, I was really eager to have more time to discover the surrounding area and work on getting some family information.


The rolling hills of California are incredible this time of year for a ride. The weather is perfect and the oak tree filled hills were surrounded with brown grasses holding on to its last bit of green. Livestock is out and the lakes are full to the brim with water. The beauty of traveling East instead of North from The Bay Area, is that it is only about an hour or so of freeway riding. The rest of the ride is through small farming towns and working cities from the past that still work today. Riding through the smells of the grass and livestock is not as bad as you would think. One of the reasons I love to ride is that I get all the senses…including smell. Completely open aired. The hills are interspersed with old barns and out buildings.  Agriculture is the primary income and that hasn’t changed since the Gold Rush. Windmills are seen here and there over the hills. When the ride takes you through Jamestown and Sonora, you come upon Columbia. A little city kept in its historic era…the 1850‘s.


Windmills Roadside On The Farms



Main Street of Columbia

The city of Columbia is frozen in the time zone of 1850's when gold mining was the main function of one’s life. Motor vehicles are not allowed to park in the historic part of the city. There is plenty of parking and everything is set up for a short walk and is very convenient so I park the bike. As I walk through town, I see a complete example of life as it was. Everything is there from gold mining exhibits, Saloons, a Blacksmith, Stagecoach rides, a Justice of the Peace Office and the old School House up the road a bit. The later two, are part of my life and is what I am interested in learning more of.

Discovering that my GGG Grandfather was the first Justice of The Peace in Columbia was exciting to say the least. As I walked down the streets, I imagined a Wyatt Earp kind of lifestyle. I was kind of hoping to hear some rip roaring stories… but didn’t. It was a thriving gold mining city, so obviously there had to be. He immigrated in from Maine in 1847 where he was a newspaper editor, and later had his wife join him in 1850. He was 28 years old and she was a 27 year old school teacher. There, they set up a lifestyle that would dictate the rest of their lives in California. He later became a Judge, a California State Senator, and the United States Receiver of Public Monies, along with founding organizations in this State… and it all started in Columbia.

I found little on my GGG Grandmother other than a small document of her teaching. In the museum, there is a mention on her and another person starting a school, as the territory now was growing in numbers and many families were settling in and near Columbia. So many, that Columbia was actually considered for the State’s Capital. I learned that my GGG Grandmother did not found the school house there, as I was led to believe through life. They moved before the school was built. I did, however, find out that she was the first woman school teacher , teaching in a room in a private home located by the Methodist Church. She went on to be the State Treasurer of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and one of the founders of what is now called the YWCA in California.  The town offers a great museum which covers a lot of Columbia history and the Bay Area.     

After enjoying the main portion of Columbia and having fun panning a little for gold (no luck), I get on the bike and take a short ride up the the school house. Its up on a hill and it's brick building is a sight to see. I have brought with me some of my GGG hair… a braid that was cut at the time of her death and saved in an envelope after all these years. I love it. I had previously tied a piece of it on the Oak tree in front of the school house… this time I buried a good part of it next to the corner stone. Her life was all about education, so leaving a piece of her by the school house just felt right.



Columbia School House



Great Great Great Grandma Chamberlain's Braid



The School Out House



Pooper Seats All In A Row With No Privacy

Walking around the city made me feel like I was really a part of their lives. An important piece of my heritage walked where I walked and I loved it. On top of everything I am enjoying my adventure into the past on my motorcycle, on my own time and in this beautiful part of California. Having taken care of business, it was time to go. I am happy with what I have learned. All I want to do now is ride and discover the area around where they lived and made their lives.

Down the sweeper roads of Hwy 49 is Jamestown, another thriving gold rush city in its time.  Most of the cities on Hwy 49 are historic and Jamestown proves no different.  It also is the only Harley Davidson dealership in that area. I bought my pin and made way to walk the street. A view to the past with all its old buildings now antique stores, restaurants, and saloons. It is a cute little town and I let my imagination take me away to the past viewing its present life.

Riding through town I see a sign, “Railtown“. This I have to check out, and I take a left hand turn and ride up the hill a few blocks. I’m enjoying the ride through old buildings and Victorians and finally end up at a railroad station that is now a State Historic Park birthed in 1897. I love  trains and still have a good train ride planned on my bucket list.  So when I heard it was still a working railroad I was a little too happy.  Yaaayyy bucket list.  It is also known as “The Movie Railroad," featured in various films such as High Noon and Petticoat Junction. I got a kick learning about that.  



Railtown Depot

I get a good tour of Railtown and decide its time to ride back up the hill and check into the hotel in Sonora.  The day has been good and on this part of the excursion I am ready for food and sleep. Its been a full one.

So, at this point, and already,  my “Heritage” ride has been successful in getting enough information to fill in the blanks.  So what to do now?!  Next Post... Yosemite...

Happy Riding Trailzzzzz
KT Did

My "Heritage" Ride Part I--Introduction To Why?

Is time really important in who we are? Or is it a sum total of past, present and future? Is it worth wading through crap to keep something you know you already have?

Most that know me personally know that when my mother past a few years ago, she left myself and my family without any physical belongings…on purpose. She was mentally ill through chemotherapy drugs and others influencing her to do so. After 40 years, she changed her Will to have her sister and brother-in-law be in charge of the sale of all my family’s belongings...an action my father’s family would have killed her for since most, if not all, was their family history…not hers. Yes, my parents accumulated items through the years, but that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking family history, and items that were handed down to my father for his grandchildren and so on.

The truth be told, the mother that I knew was a vindictive and jealous soul. Unfortunately that’s the truth. No way getting around that one. She was jealous and angry at my father’s side of the family for as long as I can remember. So, she decided to get back at my father’s side of the family, and her own children & grandchildren, by disposing of all family history via her new Will. My Aunt and Uncle walked her in to a mediocre lawyer‘s office where her new Will was drawn up…under the influence of chemo drugs and drugs for pain. Yep, she had the law on her side, but the lawyer's ethics stink. I have been around lawyers and Judges for the past 30 years, good and bad… and she stinks. So, why didn’t I fight?… keep reading.

My family is dysfunctional… we just don’t get along. The logistics of courts suits, costs, fees & traveling wasn’t worth it to me. I knew what was going on and I let it happen. I knew the next three moves before my Aunt and Uncle or anyone did. One day, I was sitting around thinking about what actually my mother was thinking. If I could answer that question, then maybe it would all make more sense to me. Then it came to me:  She was thinking:   “I can still control everyone if I demand everything be sold… then I know the kids will fight over it… spending all their money… then they won’t have one single dollar to live their lives” . Yep... that's the truth...once I realized this, I knew I had the upper hand for my life. So I threw my cards in and sat back and watched it play out.

In the midst of all this, Aunt & Uncle scheduled a couple of family gatherings at a hotel conference room & storage unit for us to gather. These places had the items that the auctioneer wouldn’t take. We were allowed to pick items… one by one… until all the items were gone.

Disgusting isn’t it? I will answer it this way:

Yes... is simple... you can figure that one out.
No… because, I was lucky enough to receive some of the documents and letters and photos of my father’s side of the family. The other good thing about it is, one of my other brothers, whom I am very close to, picked corresponding documents. That made it all good.
So, with all this being said, still, why am I writing this?

During the last couple of years I have been slowly going through items, tossing most, keeping some.
Filling in the blanks hasn't been easy, but with the clues that were left for me I have a lot of questions answered.  However, the need to have more questions answered was obsessive.  So I decided to take it on the road and see what I could find out... to try and answer those questions and fill in the blanks.

In the next couple of blog posts, I will be posting bits and pieces of my ride through the Gold Country of California where my Great Great Great Grandparents Chamberlain came to live and raise their family.

Welcome to my “Heritage” Ride.
 
Happy Heritage Trailzzzzz
KaTy Did

J & P Cycles $25 Gift Certificate Give Away

 Anyone interested in a $25 gift certificate to J & P Cycles? Here's your chance to get one.


As most know, J & P Cycles is the number one aftermarket motorcycle parts and accessories online store, and they have offered up a $25 gift certificate for me to give away in any way I want to. I know a few of you wrench on your own Harleys and they do have a huge department of aftermarket Harley parts. With more than 30 years of knowledge and close to 100,000 motorcycle parts you should be able to find something to get for your bike.

So here goes.

Rules:

1. First one to answer correctly on this blog as a comment wins.

2. If you are the winner, I will need you to e-mail me your name, address, phone number and e-mail so that I can forward that information on to J & P Cycles so that they can send you the gift certificate. Yes, it comes straight from them.

Here's the question:

Moe called Curley a bunch of names on The Three Stooges, which name did he call him the most? (Hint: It is motorcycle related).

Nyuk...Nyuk.... Nyukkk....

KaTy Did