Howdy folks. Well, Kathy and I are setting out on another Epic Road Trip Adventure this summer, this time to the Canadian Rockies. This time the blog is going to be a little bit more stream of consciousness, since I’m dictating it on my iPad.
We left home about 7 AM on Tuesday morning heading for Mammoth Mountain.
It was a nice sunny day, and we had almost no traffic. On highway 15, going through the El Cajon pass, we could see the traffic backed up in the other direction for miles and miles. We were so thankful that we weren’t going backtowards home.
By 9 o’clock we had reached lonely Kramer Junction on Highway 395, right where it meets with Twenty-mule Team Road. Twenty-mule teams were teams of mules (I know, duh!) which transported Borax and other minerals from mines in Death Valley across the Mohave Desert starting in the late 1800s.
We were hungry, and there was only a gas station and the Roadhouse Restaurant. I thought we should try to get food at the gas station, but Kathy agreed with me that sitting down at the restaurant would be far better. That’s one of the things I love about road trips; finding these unique yet quintessential American diners, in the back of nowhere.
The food was excellent. I had chicken fried steak and eggs with hash browns. Kathy got her vegetable scramble. Both of us were in our happy place.
After breakfast, we drove north through the Owens Valley, passing the partially dried up Owens Lake. Those of you who saw the movie Chinatown will remember that the plot revolves around Los Angeles Department of Water and Power attempting to divert the water from the Owens River into the San Fernando Valley.
They were successful and Owens Lake dried up. In 2006 a lawsuit forced the DWP to divert 5% of the flow from the river back into the lake, so now there is a little bit of water. Owens Lake is still, however, the greatest producer of dust pollution in the United States.
A little towns of Independence, Lone Pine, and Big Pine were all cute. We got to Bishop, the turn off for Mammoth Lakes, about 1 o’clock and stopped for gas, 45 minutes later we were in Mammoth.
We couldn’t check into our B&B, the Cinnamon Bear Inn, until 4 o’clock. So we decided to drive around the town in the surrounding area.
Our first stop was the Inyo National Forest Earthquake Fault. This deep crevice, about 500 yards long is much more impressive in person than in my pictures.
It was a pretty short hike (most of you would call it a stroll) from the parking lot. But, at more than 9,000 feet, I found that I got winded pretty quickly.
After the earthquake fault, we drove to the end of Minaret Road and looked out on the viewpoint over the Reds Meadow Valley and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It was a beautiful view, overlooking the valley where the Pacific Crest Trail and the Muir Trail meet. We wanted to go down into the valley to see the Devils Postpile National Monument, but they’re rebuilding the road and it is only open on the weekends.
Back in town we stopped at Vons to pick up some supplies and then went across the street for an early dinner at Distant Brewery. Again we were really lucky with our food. I had the biggest Cuban sandwich I’ve ever had, and Kathy had a feta-rich Greek salad.
Back at our B&B we checked in around 4:30. I slept very poorly for the last week of Summer school, waking up at 2:00 or 3:00 AM, so, by 7PM I was pretty tired, and so both just turned in.
Tomorrow we are heading up to Lake Tahoe to see our friends, Toni and Larry Pilgrim, who we haven’t seen in 20 years or so. Larry was the pastor who performed our wedding ceremony, so it’s gonna be good to see him again.
