(In which we get on the road)

As we decided to travel in the US again this year, we set off at the end of May, full of plans to visit Colorado, Nevada, California, and perhaps, Oregon, before returning via Canada.  Enough said!  Some of that worked, most of it did not, but we had a great trip anyway!

We started out a bit late, at the end of May, due to some commitments in Arlington and headed west. Our first two nights stays were courtesy of Harvest Hosts and we enjoyed sampling the wine at Christian W. Klay Winery http://www.cwklaywinery.com/wines/and Ravens Glenn Winery https://ravensglenn.com/.  We also paid a visit to the Fort Necessity National Battlefield https://www.nps.gov/fone/index.htm. 

As a friend of ours put it, there is not much there!  But we enjoyed our visit to the reconstruction of the site and to the excellent visitor center, and we chatted with several of the rangers who came to see our “strange” camper.

Next up was a visit to friends in Columbus, Ohio. We then continued our trip west with a night at the Tuscan Hills Winery https://www.effinghamwinery.com/.  And on into Kansas which can be such a big state to cross!  The fan in the bathroom died at this point, which was annoying as we use two fans to keep the camper as cool as possible for Blue, our cat.  So we went to a Camping World, found one last fan on their shelves and bought it quickly!  We then spent a couple of nights at the Kansas City East/Oak Grove KOA where Fred spent an entire day removing one fan and installing the new one.  Murphy was, as usual, alive and well, but was vanquished in the end!

After this trauma, we gave ourselves a break and camped for two nights at the Kanopolis State Park in Marquette, Kansas.  Our campsite had a beautiful view of the reservoir and sunsets looking across it. 

We enjoyed some bicycling in the park, especially the ride across the dam.  As we headed out, we also visited Mushroom Rock State Park.  Just up the road but, unfortunately, too far to bicycle.  This is a very low-key park with some amazing rocks that look like, well, mushrooms!  Quite fun. 

Still enroute for Colorado, we set off again and were horrified to discover a window had been sucked out of the camper by a tractor trailer which cut in close while on the interstate.  We can only suppose that we had not latched it correctly.  A trip to a wonderful and helpful ACE hardware store in Colby, Kansas (https://www.acehardware.com/store-details/17353) produced a sheet of plexiglass to fill the hole until we can obtain a new pane.  (Three months later we think we have found a vendor in the UK and we await shipment, we hope!! Further update – the windows arrived in time for Christmas.)  So, minus an important window for cross ventilation, we continued onwards.  (Months later we realized that we should have swapped the good window from the passenger side, where the door limits its opening, and put the plexiglass in its place! Duh!)

As we approached Colorado Springs, we spotted the Paint Mines Interpretive Park on the map and, as lunch time loomed, we decided to stop and explore.  (https://www.visitcos.com/things-to-do/outdoors/parks-trails/paint-mines-park/) It proved to be an amazing place, a little like the Painted Desert National Park in miniature, but with stronger colors and various trails to explore throughout.  A great find.  Lunch was good, too.

We were staying in Manitou Springs at a Boondockers Welcome site. (Boondockers Welcome has been acquired by Harvest Hosts. https://harvesthosts.com/) It is in Crystal Park, a gated community, up a steep and winding mountain road with incredible views toward Colorado Springs.  It actually rivaled roads we had driven in the Andes, only there you must use your horn on the blind corners.  This was not encouraged here!

Back in the 1930’s you they ran touring cars up the road which was so narrow that they used a turntable to turn the cars for the descent.  But we made it up the mountain and met our wonderful hosts and settled in.  We were already feeling the effects of a warm summer when in downtown Manitou Springs but found it delightfully cool at our 8,000-foot-high camping spot.

We had already booked seats on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway and once we sorted out the logistics of where to park the camper and where to take the shuttle, we spent an enjoyable, bright and sunny day on the mountain.  

We also visited the Garden of the Gods, with its interesting rock formations.  A special treat was a concert by the Peak Horn Ensemble and Woodland Park Wind Symphony, to which we were invited by our hosts, one of whom was playing French horn in the concert.  A wonderful evening which made our stay even more memorable.  A tour at the Cave of the Winds completed this visit to Manitou Springs and then we headed to Leadville for the Tiger Rally.

We always enjoy Leadville and this time was no exception.  We camped in the diverse camping area just outside Leadville, where the cell phone reception is great(!) and then met friends in town for lunch one day before heading to Camp Hale. Some will recognize Rick and Kathy Howe, (http://www.travelin-tortuga.com/Travelin-Tortuga/index.html) and Ron and Ton Corbin. (https://travelintiger.com/) It is always fun to meet up with old friends who share our silly passion for travel.

We were prepared for the weather to be chilly but to our surprise, it was warmer than we expected in Leadville and much warmer in Camp Hale.  No coats or hats need apply; t-shirts were the order of the day.  We enjoyed meeting old friends and current Tiger owners and hearing their news.  Fred led a couple of discussion groups on batteries and how to manage them.  Then it was time to head out.

Important new photo news. Through the magic of the new editor from WordPress, you can see the full size images simply by clicking on the image in the blog. Cool!

We had been notified that our new refrigerator was en route to the Turners in Nevada so we did rather shorten our planned time in southern Idaho.  It was time to get our new refrigerator installed and we had an invitation to attend a steak fry at the local Volunteer Fire Department in Wellington, NV.  How could we say “no”?

We had previously visited and admired the north of Idaho and its incredible scenery but as we entered Idaho from southwestern Montana we found the scenery totally different.

Our first stop was the Craters of the Moon National Monument and its totally lunar looking landscape.  We had heard that the campground filled up each day despite its bleakness and we made a point of getting there in time to get a space, before we set out on foot for the visitor center to orient ourselves. 

It was just as well that we walked from the campground as the parking was impossible for bigger vehicles.  Regular cars had taken all the RV spots.  (GRRRR!) After the usual movie, which we always enjoy, we set out to drive the loop with its various scenic view points.  We climbed the Inferno Cone, a large cinder cone.

When you get to the top you keep expecting to find a crater – but there is none. The cinder cone was built up of cinders blown in from three little vents to the west. One of which now has ice in it. (See image, above.)

We hiked out to view the bigger lava tubes at Indian Tunnel, but did not enter any as we did not have a permit. 

We continued south and decided we needed to visit at least one real waterfall before leaving the mountains, so we set off for the Soshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho.  On line research produced horror stories from drivers of long RV’s about the dangers of the narrow winding road to access the falls.  We had no problems, especially after driving in the Andes, and really enjoyed our visit.  The falls are controlled as needed for irrigation and other uses and can be quite dry, but they were flowing splendidly during our visit.

We then set off for Nevada as temperatures climbed.  We began looking for campgrounds that advertised shade and bringing the Blue Cat up front into the air-conditioned cab during the afternoon as the camper was just too hot for him.

Safely back in Nevada, the fridge installation was an interesting experience, as yet again, the skylight had to be removed for access. We used a neighbor’s hoist to remove the old fridge and install the new one. The Blue Cat was distraught when his camper left to go next door without him!  He ended up underneath Robinson Fuso, the Turners old camper, which he obviously felt was familiar territory! He came running when the 917 returned.

After another enjoyable stay, including the aforementioned steak dinner, we headed east on Route 50, again, this time on our way home.  We planned a leisurely wander, not a mad dash, and began with a visit to the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Historic Park.  The wonderful book “Traveling America’s Loneliest Road” (https://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Americas-Loneliest-Road-Geologic/dp/1888035056) is full of intriguing side trips from Route 50 and this time we actually had the time to take some.

We turned down a side road until we came to a magnesia mining complex at Gabbs, Nevada. (https://www.premiermagnesia.com/)

From there we wound our way over the mountains and across the valley to the Berlin-Ichthyosaur park. (http://parks.nv.gov/parks/berlin-ichthyosaur)

Denise really enjoyed seeing the ichthyosaur fossils on display.  The shelter had been built over where the bones had been discovered and showed them in the ground, as found, and not rearranged to make a complete skeleton. Over 40 skeletons had been discovered there but many were not in good condition or were incomplete.   

The site of the Berlin Mine ghost town is fascinating.

We then headed to Ely for the required Chinese meal. May not meet purist standards, but we enjoyed it, as usual. We took on diesel and were starting to head out of town when we saw a sign for the Success Loop, a 30 mile off road loop which begins after the Cave Lake State Park near Ely and ends five miles north of the town of McGill on Route 93.  Hmmmm. Sounds like our kind of road!

The views were spectacular, especially as we approached the Success Summit, with the Schell Creek Range in the background. 

After passing a flock of sheep with their shepherd, we camped in the mountains, off of one of the side trails. The night was delightfully cool as we were at about 8,000 feet. 

We had now spent two months at between five and ten thousand feet and really noticed the heat as we dropped below that to return home.

The next morning, we dropped back into Ely for a cappuccino at the combination coffee and flower shop, then got back on Route 50 to take the Osceola trail and enjoy lunch at the top of the pass. A future camping site!

We flew past the Capitol Reef, but this time did not go up to the “Temples.”

Denise wanted to see some ruins so we were planning to go to Cortez to the Hovenweep National Monument but after a night spent in the Natural Bridge National Park campsite, we got sidetracked by some ruins in Mule Canyon.  We were looking for a ruin known as the “House on Fire.” In actual fact, despite extensive internet research, we were not able to find them.  We finally followed one set of directions and hiked to find a couple of houses on a ledge with spectacular views but gave up on the rest! 

With temperatures near 100F, we decided to leave Hovenweep for a future visit and continued east and stayed in Durango, at the campsite astride the Silverton railway line. Always fun to see the trains. (http://www.unitedcampgrounddurango.com/)

Fred was thrilled to drive the Wolf Creek Pass over the Rockies (he likes the song) and as usual the scenery was spectacular, though a lot less snowy than our previous crossing at the Monarch Pass. 

We made a quick trip to Taos, New Mexico, hoping for Indian Fry Bread, but in vain.  However we did a little shopping and enjoyed some New Mexican food for lunch.  (http://taoseno.com/) Who knew that the gentleman running a jewelry store on the corner of the main tourist square would be a Palestinian from Jerusalem? Sadly, or fortunately, perhaps, we were not in the market for jewelry.

We later discovered that friends from our days in Cuba are living in Santa Fe, and had we known, we would have kept going for a visit.  Next trip!

We camped at Raton Pass which Fred found interesting, especially as they were having visits from bears and were refusing to accept tent campers.  Blue was kept on his leash when outside!

The Appalachians were much less spectacular than the Rockies but we enjoyed our journey home through them.  It is good to be home again!

Our first stop in Montana was at the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where Custer was defeated by Indians from the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes.  We, of course, arrived at Saturday noon along with lots of other people but we were able to find a parking space tucked in with the other RV’s. So we had lunch and then set out to walk to the Memorial at the site of Custer’s final stand. 

We also walked to the Indian Memorial, a modern and moving site with comments from all the different tribes and a spectacular sculpture. It is hard to imagine a more evocative image.

It was interesting to see the white remembrance stones dotted around the hillsides.  These represented the Cavalry dead.  Interesting information, more than half of the 7th Cavalry troops were foreign born, representing about thirty nations.

The Indian dead were represented by brown remembrance stones. There are not many of these as the victorious Sioux and others removed their dead and wounded from the field immediately. We drove from the site of the final stand to the Reno/Benteen defensive site and dutifully read all the signs along the road.

Note: From this point we are using a new image hosting system. If there is a link below an image you may click it to see the image in a range of different sizes.

Books have been written about the battle, but Fred would opine that Custer was not quite the vainglorious idiot as portrayed in modern movies. That said, he made a huge mistake and it cost him his life and half of his command. He was worried that the Sioux would try to escape – he didn’t realize that they had the strength to actually attack.

His deputies took casualties, but, after getting caught in the open against superior forces, they actually managed to do it by the book and retreated to high ground where they held off repeated attacks for over a day. In the zeal to portray Custer as a hero, back in the day, Reno had his career ended. Read the Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn#Controversies

Our next stop was Great Falls where we discovered and stayed in an amazing KOA campsite.  The incredible landscaping made this the Taj Mahal of KOA’s. We had a pleasant shady spot and enjoyed a campground fireworks display in honor of Canada Day!  Adding in free pancakes for breakfast and a great ice-cream bar, we decided to stay a second night as the day’s adventures had lasted longer than expected!  Though fireworks were lacking the second night! https://koa.com/campgrounds/great-falls/

Our first visit in Great Falls was to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and we enjoyed it very much.  The Interpretive Center is located on the Missouri River and there is a delightful river walk and some pioneer activities taking place there.  We walked down along the River Walk to see the Giant Spring, one of the largest springs that Lewis and Clark documented on their trip. The whole complex is well worth a visit.  (https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/museum/lewis-and-clark-national-historic-trail-interpretive-center.html) Inside the center, the displays follow the rivers taken by the group and their timeline, so we progressed through their journey, learning of their successes and challenges.  And, of course, there was a film, this time by Ken Burns, which was well worth watching.  Because of waterfalls they actually had to portage their canoes 18 miles around five large waterfalls, so it was easy to look at the area and imagine their problems. 

Our other visit in Great Falls was to the Malstrom Air Force Base to visit the Museum there.  (https://www.malmstrom.af.mil/About-Us/Malmstrom-Museum/) Once we were cleared to visit by the Visitor Center, we made our way to the museum passing by a selection of planes on display.  The museum itself was fascinating.  It explained the mission of the base which was to maintain and keep in constant readiness a number of Minuteman missiles.  Two excellent films explained how this was achieved.  There were also examples of various pieces of missile and control consoles.  The Museum Director was an enthusiastic source of lots of information. And we learned that we had actually seen the relocation of a missile on previous day’s drive towards Great Falls; we had thought it was simply the National Guard. Interesting aside, the museum had a map of the route that Lewis and Clarke took across what is now the air base. (Sorry, no pictures taken on base.)

While everybody knows about the mighty Mississippi River and can probably even remember how to spell it, the Missouri is a bit overlooked. Pity, because it is a huge river, a major tributary of the Mississippi, and, of course, the focus of Jefferson’s dreams of a river route to the Pacific Ocean. As lamented previously, the Lewis and Clarke Expedition is too little taught in US schools. We have joyed retracing the routes in this and previous trips – freely admitting, that we started doing this after stumbling over Lewis and Clarke sites in our own, total ignorance. Upriver from Great Falls, the Missouri passes through an impressive valley, dubbed the “Gates of the Mountains” by Clarke. So naturally, we had to pay a visit. It was pouring rain when we arrived and boarded the boat, but over the course of the visit, the sun came out and, by the time we finished, the boat was in full sunlight.

The tour actually starts upriver, goes downriver, and then returns. But Clarke was coming from the portage at Great Falls, so his first view was of the “Gates” themselves.

From Great Falls we moved on to Deer Lodge.  July 4 was approaching and we decided we wanted to be in a small town to see a celebration.  Denise also wanted to visit the National Park Service Grant-Kohrs Ranch Historical Site in Deer Lodge.  (https://www.nps.gov/grko/index.htm) This site preserves the ranch, founded by Johnny Grant and then bought by Conrad Kohrs, one of the great cattle barons of the 1800’s.  The ranch originally grew when Grant, who spoke only French and a number of Indian languages, had the brilliant idea of exchanging worn out, stressed cattle from the wagon trains for his well fed, thriving animals.  He exchanged one of his for two of the others.  Needless to say, his herds grew as he fattened up the new cattle and then traded them for even more cattle.

Conrad Kohrs was a German immigrant and we were fascinated by his very decorated Victorian house, not at all what we expected from a frontier home.  It could have been a historical site in Boston or New York. Sadly, such is the fear of people not being able to shut off their flashes, that no photography is allowed inside the house.

The ranch is still functioning and gives wonderful insights into the history of and current methods of ranching, explaining how the bad winter of 1868 changed cattle ranching.  The tremendous loss of animals after a summer drought and vicious winter, led to the realization that winter feed was needed to maintain the herds.

We enjoyed cowboy coffee from the chuck wagon and we chatted to a guitarist/luthier (!) from Pennsylvania who was singing original cowboy songs. 

It was very pleasant visit.

The July 4 celebration in town took place inside the Old Prison compound and took the form of a pig roast and pot luck.  We were somewhat amazed that a town could be small enough to hold a pot luck that everyone could attend!  We dutifully stopped at the supermarket in town and purchased makings for a pasta salad for our pot luck contribution.  As we are still using the ARB electric cooler, we were unable to refrigerate anything large.  Armed with the salad and insect repellent against the vicious mosquitoes, we set off for the celebration.  It was fun, there was live music for the first part and then we ate dinner. 

The pig was excellent!  By this point we were cold,  so we retired to the camper for a coffee and some warmth before returning for the fireworks.  When it is still light at 10.15 PM, showing fireworks gets very late!  But the firework display was fantastic.  It lasted about 20 minutes and was even more amazing as it was one of at least four displays, all at the same time.

As we had received notification that our new fridge was being delivered, we began heading south back to Nevada.  We did make a couple of stops en route.  The first was to Bannack State Park.  We had originally stopped at Nevada City, hoping to ride the Alder Gulch narrow gauge railway to Virginia City.  We discovered it was not running on the day we arrived and Nevada City, a rebuilt town, looked rather like a tourist trap.  So the authentic ghost town at Bannack State Park looked more like something we would enjoy, plus there was a campsite there.  (http://bannack.org) So, off we went. 

The campsite was lovely and we ended up staying two nights.  We walked over to the “town” and had a most interesting and enjoyable visit.  We purchased the information and self guided tour book for $2.00 which proved to be most worthwhile.  It contained lots of information about life in the mining town and how hard it was.

And then we headed for Idaho.  

The BNSF railroad runs massive coal trains from Wyoming to electrical plants in the south. We were used to big trains, but this empty train heading north was one of the longest we have ever seen.

Entering Wyoming we spent our first night at an amazing campground at the Vedauwoo Recreation Area.  It is an area full of huge boulders and cliffs and is a very popular climbing site.  It reminded us of an area south of Jos in Nigeria, that we had camped in during our trip across the Sahara. (https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/Rocky_Mountain/VedauwooRecAreaPoleMtn/index.shtml)

Compare with: https://pbase.com/diplostrat/image/103065105

Denise admires the rocks.

Can you find the climbers?

Free climbing to get the belay lines to the top.

Makes your fingers hurt just to look at it.

Stacked rocks

We then headed north to Casper through some lovely green country (obviously lots of rain here also!) where we saw lots of pronghorn deer grazing in the meadows with the cattle.  And there were lots of cattle!  Courtesy of the Harvest Hosts website  we found Historic Trails West, who offered free camping for the night if we joined one of their covered Conestoga wagon expeditions along the Oregon Trail.  (https://www.historictrailswest.com)

This sounded like tons of fun, and is just the sort of silly thing we enjoy, so we signed up for a wagon ride/pioneer dinner.  And it WAS tons of fun!  The driver included explanations of the Trail and background into the lives of those heading west.  Most fascinating was how to get the two Percheron horses (not authentic from the time but practical) and the wagonload of people safely down a steep part of the trail.  Not to mention getting them up it again on the return.  Our meal was excellent, especially the cherry cobbler!

Rain closing in.

Camped on the Oregon Trail

Denise holds the Percherons.

Percherons

Climbing the grade.

We spent a pleasant night up on the bluff surrounded by pronghorn deer and stayed warm and dry while the wind howled and the rain fell!  We have been experiencing lots of afternoon storms in Colorado and in Wyoming and some of them are quite violent.

The driver of our Conestoga wagon told us about the annual National Collegiate Rodeo Championship taking place in Casper at that time, so we decided to delay a day to attend the semi finals.  We had no idea that Western universities had rodeo teams and competed against each other for money and prizes.  We thoroughly enjoyed our first rodeo and watched with awe the bronco riding, the steer riding, and all the other events.  The skill of the riders and their horses is incredible. Fred, on the other hand, was most impressed that the majority of the broncos, steers, and even goats, made an immediate bee line for the exit chute as soon as their event was over. There were, of course, “shaggers” to catch and direct the animals, but in most cases it simply wasn’t  necessary, the animals knew when their event was over and left of their own accord. It may have been our first rodeo, but it was clearly not theirs.

We also visited the Fort Caspar fort and museum.  The site had long been used by traders, emigrants, and settlers. Over the years various trading posts, military installations, fords, ferries, and a bridge were built there.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Caspar)

Dedicated to Ella Hudson – Log cabin art.

Officer’s quarters

Enlisted quarters

Bridge replica.

Replica of one of Brigham Young’s rafts.

Frontier Bumble Bee

Still in Oregon Trail mode, we headed south to visit Independence Rock.  This rock was a gathering point and market for those heading west. Lots of names were carved on it by the settlers and it was known as the goal to be reached by July 4, so as to avoid the greater likelihood of winter snows in the mountains as they progressed to Oregon.  We did not find many clear inscriptions probably as we did not climb the rock itself. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Rock_(Wyoming)) We also went to look at Devil’s Gate, a cleft in the mountain that the settlers had noted and visited on their route west. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Gate_(Wyoming)) We were not able to get closer than the overlook. From Independence Rock, the emigrants began an easy, one hundred mile climb to South Pass, a remarkably low and wide pass in the Rocky Mountains. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pass_(Wyoming)) Looking back at Lewis and Clark, and others, the South Pass was a kind of Shangri-La for European Americans trying to travel west. And by making it easy to cross the Rocky Mountains, the South Pass helped spell the death knell for the Plains Indian nations.

Independence Rock, looking east

Lost inscription.

Devil’s Gate to the west.

Looking east towards Casper

Denise enjoys the Rock.

The Devil’s Gate from the west.

New and improved panorama! Now even wider!

While on this jaunt, we realized that our refrigerator was not working well, again! So we turned it off, restarted it and prayed it would get its act together. We camped for the night beside the North Platte River in one of the BLM fishing camps, Chalk Bluffs.

The next morning our refrigerator (the one that was replaced last year in Maine) was really dead. So we returned to our campground in Casper with the aim of getting it looked at. The campground, the Casper East RV park (http://caspereastrvpark.com), welcomed us back and recommended a local RV repair shop. The shop, however However, told us to go away until August so we decided on Plan B. We ordered an ARB 50 quart plug in unit from Amazon and a new refrigerator,  a Nova Kool this time, the same as we had in the Tiger. We no longer trust the Thetford Norcold.  Meanwhile Denise borrowed a cooler from the camp owner which she will return when we return on Thursday to pick up our ARB. We did mention that the RV park was wonderful?

After Overland EXPO, we wanted to go somewhere to shoot pictures of the 917 in action. Bad weather put paid to plans to return to the Valley of the Gods, so we headed west, across Death Valley to California.

Along the way we stopped for the obligatory photo on old Route 66,

We did not spend any time in Death Valley; we merely popped through the 20 Mule Team Canyon, but that said, it is spectacular.

The grades into the valley test your exhaust brake to the maximum! Oh, and the views are amazing. But with an 18,000 lb. vehicle, the road commands a lot of attention.

A grade of almost 10%. Note the road continuing across the valley.

In May the temperature in the valley is not bad, but you can imagine what it is in high summer!

The heavy rains this Spring have turned the desert green.

Denise finds her Joshua Tree.

Blooming cactus

Climbing out the the valley, we camped at an abandoned work site, known as “The Slabs.” (The old foundation slabs make nice level campstites!)

Once into California, we turned north on US 395. We had never heard of Route 395 which runs along the Sierra Nevada, but we very much enjoyed driving it.  We are not alone – it even has a Facebook group.

Our first stop was the Alabama Hills. The Hills have been Hollywood’s secret weapon since the 1930’s. You want the Hindu Kush (“Gunga Din”), the Lone Ranger’s massacre site, Afghanistan (“Iron Man”), a burned villa (“Gladiator”), or simply spectacular scenery for westerns, great and not so great? The Alabama Hills provide it all in an area about two by five miles. We drove around the rocks a bit (proving that the swing away rear bumper would swing!) and then settled in for the night.

No, we are not in the Hindu Kush.

The next day dawned grey and dismal, but we still drove under Gunga Din’s bridge, almost by accident. (Sadly, Annie, the elephant, was no longer there.) This is a great video: https://vimeo.com/8561946

The bridge spanned from the concrete in the foreground to the rock on the other side of the truck. The “yawning chasm” was a matte shot. You are standing where Annie the elephant stood when she shook the bridge.

We left the Alabama Hills and headed into Lone Pine to visit the Film History Museum.  This was most interesting with everything from cars used in the era to memorabilia and posters from different movies.  Fred especially liked the old movie camera car, used to film racing cowboys and crashing wagons.

The town of Lone Pine has what may be the most beautiful McDonald’s in the world. (We went to the espresso bar, not as scenic, but better coffee.)

All of the scenery on Route 395 was incredible, though we could have wished for better weather – rain, clouds and even snow were our constant companions. 

Then it was time for a visit to a most moving and sad location, Manzanar, National Historic Site. One of the Japanese Internment Camps, established after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it housed about 120,000 ethnic Japanese of which 60% were US citizens. They, for the most part, lost everything; homes, businesses, and even pets were abandoned at short notice. Allowed to carry, only a suitcase, they were forced into the windy, dusty high desert environment.  Parts of the camp have been reconstructed and interviews with former residents tell their stories. A very sad and shameful part of our history.

Museum exhibits.

Watchtower – an especially ominous image.

The internees built the gate house – note the pagoda like styling.

Monument to those who died at Manzanar.

Foundations and restored buildings.

As we continued our drive north, we stopped at the Laws Train Museum and Historical Site, a collection of old houses and memorabilia from the late 1800’s and one of the last narrow gauge engines and cars from west of the Rockies.  The Laws Depot from 1883 is there.  Other than the falling rain, it was pleasant.

Narrow gauge train.

Depot

Couplers

Rabbit conductor.

Gasoline Station.

Heading north still, we decided to see the Obsidian Dome, a volcanic feature amongst a number of volcanic calderas, cones and lava flows.  As the road climbed, the rain turned to snow and we found ourselves in deep drifts.  Of course we managed to get stuck as we were not expecting this and were not even in 4×4.  (Yes, we should have been).  This posed a bit of a problem – we had sand ladders and “Go Treds” but no shovel. (Don’t even say it!) We successfully extricated ourselves using the rear winch. For the first time in our lives, Mr. “I-don’t-need-no-stinkin-winch” was saved by a winch. (Yes, we did have a nice new tree strap.) Actually, the truth is that Denise ran the winch while Fred drove.

Denise, a beautiful wench, or is it winch?

Once out, the snow was falling, so we decided to stay put and camped beside the drift!!  Next morning we had a dusting of snow on us but the sun was shining!  We had not seen it in so long!

Our final stop on 395 before heading into Nevada was at the Mono Lake, known for its tufas.  Mono Lake is a salt lake, which forms tufas, strange spires and knobs, when fresh water springs containing calcium bubble up through the lake water and combine with the carbonate-rich waters of the lake. 

We started at the Visitor Center and then retraced our steps to the South Tufa area where a footpath led down to the lake and close encounters with both dry and wet tufa.  There are no fish in the lake only briny shrimp, which are a favored source of food for several migrating birds.  There are also alkali flies which are a food source.  There were a few birds around but we did not visit in the main migration season.

Mono Lake

Tufas

Denise and Tufas

Tourists playing in the Tufas

Looking north

The Mono Basin is very volcanic with the youngest mountain range in the US.  For example, Panum Crater only erupted 650 years ago.

As we left, we went to the Panum Crater, and climbed up the side to view the lake and the crater, before heading into Lee Vining to enjoy an ice-cream on the first sunny day in a week!  And on to Nevada where we planned to visit friends, for the Memorial Day weekend.

Panum Crater

View from the rim towards the lake.

The Sierra Nevada from the rim of Panum Crater.

Everyone knows you need a modern 4×4 for these trips!

This time our departure was rather rushed as we could not leave until the new wheels arrived from Germany.  (http://www.expeditions-lkw.de/felge-11-75×22-5-8-loch-et-110-kronprinz.html  Thank you, Fabian!) They made it by the skin of their teeth and we drove to Baltimore on the Wednesday to pick them up and then dropped them at the tire shop.  Fred had them installed with the new tires on the Friday and then it was all systems go for departure on the following Wednesday. Thank you all of the wonderful folk at Alban Tire, Springfield. (https://www.albantire.com) 

New, round wheels and tires!

It always takes far longer to get ready than one thinks it should but we made it out about 11 AM with most of what we planned to take with us!  And in the U.S. one can always buy what one forgets!  In other parts of the world that is not always the case!

We were heading for Overland Expo West, (https://www.overlandexpo.com/west) so had a limited amount of time to make it to Flagstaff, Arizona which made for long driving days. We could see considerable flooding as we approached the Mississippi River and as the river was cresting further north at that moment, we were glad to get through without problems. Perhaps as result of all of the rain, the spring flowers beside the interstate were lovely, even into the desert.

We took the shortest possible route, Interstate 40, but were frankly shocked by the state of the road surface in several of the states and by the general lack of open rest areas. Oklahoma had not one rest area available, so no wonder all the truck stops advertised “clean toilets”.  Even a camper needs a rest area for a lunch stop.  Eating lunch in a truck stop parking area is no fun. 

That said, there were some pleasant surprises en route. The KOA in Grants, New Mexico is not impressive from the road, but it turns out to be lovely and right in the middle of “El Malpais” (badland). (https://koa.com/campgrounds/grants/) They even have a short, annotated lava/nature walk which gives you a sense of the unique geology of the region.

As it was warm and the sun was shining, we made a flying return to the Painted Desert and stopped at the same overlooks we had visited on our first trip west in 2014. That time it was cold enough to chill the proverbial monkeys! This time it was lovely and the sunlight made the colors so much richer.

But we made it to Flagstaff in time, met up with friends at the KOA and headed to Overland Expo. And the new wheels and tires? Round and wonderful! We could make as much as 60 MPH!

Overland Expo is in a new venue, Fort Tuthill Park, which is right in Flagstaff, a boon for day trippers and those who stay overnight in hotels. The event is now up to 22,000 people, and, as Denise’s brother would say, it was “heaving.”

We showed the 917 at the XPCamper display and were busy dawn to dusk.

We were able to slip away and catch Dan Grec’s wonderful presentation on West Africa. (http://theroadchoseme.com)

Fred was also able to catch a presentation on driving to the Eye of Africa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richat_Structure a cool looking hole that can only be appreciated from space. Go figure! Still, we may put it on our agenda for the coming years. This link gives a good impressionistic view of the event: https://americanadventurist.com/overland-expo-west-2019/

True to the history of Overland EXPO in Flagstaff, it snowed on Monday morning!

We even saw Rob and Nina Blackwell’s old truck in the camping area. The new owner is said to be delighted with it. (http://whiteacorn.com)

An old friend from EXPO’s past. (This is the truck they drove across Asia to Europe.)