Thursday May 15, '14

I did get up early today--but not so much-- only 6:15.  I stuck my head under a shower of cool water, dressed, ate some peaches (canned), disconnected the water and electricity, packed everything into the storage bin, ran all my pre-flight checks, and decided to see if the GPS had a better route to Bishop than I had picked out.  It said its route would take 5.5 hours so I decided to trust it--it had been doing a good job of finding shortcuts I hadn't noticed.  I figured my route would take closer to eight hours.  We left Needles at 6:45 and headed NW on US 95.

We were in Nevada in very short order.  Wonderful ridges of rocks that looked like someone had gone at them with my Kitchenaid Mixer.  Strata going up, down, and scrambling around.  Three cheers for plate tectonics!   At one point I was driving through what I thought a sign said was Henderson.  But it was a big city that just kept going on and on.  Eventually I decided that it must be Las Vegas and was glad I had missed most of rush hour.

Back out into the desert, still on 95.  As we were going by the east side of Death Valley I saw a sign for the Alien Center.  Then a sign that said only "Brothel."

I couldn't bypass the aliens, so I pulled into the parking lot for the combination Alien\Area 51 store, Rocket Bill's restaurant, the Bunny Ranch, and a gas station.  All bases covered.  I figured I'd find some great alien Christmas stocking stuffers, but no such luck.  Here again, the tourist season is over!  I did get gas though.

I continued north to take Nevada 266 west toward Big Pine, a little south of Bishop on 395, the route that goes along the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range.  So far the roads had been great, and I was right on the predicted schedule.  Then we hit the California border, the road became California 168, and the road went to . . . hmmmm . . . heck.   No warning signs that you were on some devil's idea of a great rollercoaster ride.  The road became very narrow with extremely tight curves, up and down grades of 9%, and rock outcroppings that hung out into the roadway.  At one point the road went through a canyon with less than one lane's width.  And the canyon had curves so that you couldn't see oncoming traffic.  I just got a sign that said "One lane"  and then another that said "Yield to oncoming."  Right.

I averaged about 12 miles an hour through all of that fun stuff.  But I made it through, and was coming down unto the valley floor when a FedEx semi went by in the other direction.  The driver gave me a big grin and an energetic wave--and I'm thinking "you are a raving idiot!"

I got to Bishop 3 pm, it was 90 degrees, and I decided the heck with finding a good National Forest campground.  So I am at Highland RV Park just north of Bishop, right off 395.  This is the most expensive campground of the trip--$36.00, but last night was free on Coast to Coast points I had built up.  So it all comes out in the wash.

Myrtle is doing a weird thing, though.  I had filled the fresh water tank this morning expecting to be camping without  power or water.  When I attached to the water here and turned it on, water started flowing out of the cap on the fresh water holding tank.  The two systems must be connected somehow.  I read the book on the water pump and didn't find an explanation.  So I've turned off city water and am using what is in my onboard tank.  Another mystery.

I'm not sure where I'll be stopping tomorrow.  I want to spend some time at Mammoth, just to see how things have changed in the 20 years since I saw all of the active volcanic spots.  Maybe go up to Toulumne Meadows, or Mono Lake--not enough time, too many great places!  I'll let you all know tomorrow!