Day one… Bishop

We, Steph and I and Andrew and Lisa… are headed into the Valley of Death… not the valley of the Light Brigade, the 600 and British heroic poetry, but the US National Park… Death Valley.

Death Valley is not near San Mateo, so we have started our journey with a 6 hour drive, across the Sierra Nevada, then south along the east side… We chose Bishop as our “jumping off” point… Bishop, in the Owens Valley, once a high desert garden, but thanks to Los Angeles and its thirst for water, now just high desert.

It is still winter in the high Sierra… and many of the mountain passes are closed… so we are forced to drive either north, crossing at Hwy 88 or 50, or south over the Tehachapis or via Walker Pass.    We have chosen the northern route…  this afternoon found us headed over Carson Pass, 8,500 feet high, into the Carson Valley near Minden Nevada… We note that for winter, there isn't much snow... Steph questioned the lack of snow at about 6,000 feet... as we passed the first, abet very dirty snow bank.  Even over 8,000 feet while there was general covereage, it wasn't very deep, and there were bare spots... It is looking a lot like a drought again...

Over the top, down along the Carson River, into Nevada, we reach the Metropolis of Minden... a town with a round about (aka traffic circle...) I believe the moment Minden got a traffic circle the Myth of the Wild West ended, and it is all down hill from here...  From Minden we headed south on Highway 395… (our Google directions said “take Hwy 395 south for 156 miles, and our motel would be on the right…“)

For most of the drive we were still at high elevation… 7,000 feet or so… only dropping significantly in the last 20 miles as we approached Bishop.  We passed Topaz Lake, we passed the Marine Corp Alpine training facility, we passed Bridgeport and Mono Lake...   The road to Bodie was closed, apparently due to snow, but no snow was in evidence...  We passed Long Valley with Lake Crowley, a volcanic caldera, then for miles drive through the Bishop Tuft, the ash deposit from the caldera as we drop down Sherwin Grade into Bishop.   With the lower elevation the temperature rose, to a comfortable 60 or so, even as the sun set…  We found our motel… We started a search for a restaurant… via Yelp, Trip Adviser, Google…  We found a couple of good Mexican places, tried “Amigos” and were satisfied… (the smoked jalapenio sauce for the tamale is the stuff of legends... it tasted hot and smoky, but also sweet, as if it contained rasberries or something)

Now back at the motel… Andrew and Lisa are somewhere about… likely at dinner…

Tomorrow the adventure starts… into the desert… a stop at Keeler California, Once the terminal of the SP narrow gauge, but now without the railroad, just one of the most unfortunate and downtrodden places I have ever visited, with dilapidated houses, weather beaten single wides (aka old, crappy, nasty trailers), few trees and many barking dogs… all covered in alkali dust… but still compelling enough to require a repeat visit.

Beyond Keeler, we will climb the Panimints to Panimit Springs where we will be making camp.  But for now, we are in Bishop… we have eaten,.. Andrew and Lisa have eaten,.. They have found us, and we sit and talk and consume beer…

Packing again

We (the daughter and I) are starting to prepare for the Death Valley trip... there is a duffel bag and a pile of close in my bedroom... a bag on the kitchen counter... and a rapidly growing list…. A list that includes fire wood, lamp fuel, newspaper (to start fires), charcoal and matches… you would think we were pyromaniacs (we might be, but that is not the issue…)  There is a tent, an awing, two cots, two folding chairs, sleeping bags and an oriental rug for the tent (this is not camping rough) along with beer and wine and whiskey and steak and chili, and bacon and biscuits…  Food is important…  There will be a stove, with fuel… (they work better with fuel…) a coffee pot (Coffee… if anything is important it might be coffee) and pans…

We need matches…

At least the Jeep is ready, with half a tank of gas, three jacks, a tow strap, a sand anchor, a chain, a couple of shoves and other “stuff” in case…

I need a room for Saturday night… somewhere in the eastern Sierra… while I love to camp, I do not like to arrive at a camp site late after a long drive, then try to make camp in the dark… It isn’t fun… When driving some distance on a camping trip, it is much better to spend a night in a room, presumably with a shower and food available nearby… then travel a shorter distance, make camp, then spend a leisurely day exploring…  I travel for fun, not as an endurance test…

Mean while… there are other travel plans to be made… I will be attending conferences in May and June… one in Tonapah Nevada… the other in Grass Valley… I need rooms at each… and while I am looking at rooms in outback Nevada, for a different trip, my wife is suggesting a hotel in Athens… Greece… a world away… but in reality, only 5 months and a long airplane ride from here…

Death Valley here we come…

It is time… to travel… to go off into the desert… to celebrate the emptiness that is East of the Sierra…

Steph (aka “The Daughter”) needs to find out how to camp… so, it is a camping trip… To Death Valley and the Panamints… 

Klinger the Jeep is going too… and for the first time we will explore hard core Jeep trails…

We are leaving mid day Saturday… after a morning at work for new docent training… then over the high Sierra, then south on 395 headed for Bridge Port, Mono Lake, Owens Valley, The Panamints, then Death Valley…  We will find a place to stay on the way on Saturday night… then camp three days at Panamint Springs Resort… We will camp in the desert… but there are showers… and wifi… and a bar…

It will be warm during the day, maybe 80 degrees… but cool at night… high 40’s or so… a fire will be a good idea…  A fire is a defining feature for camping…

We will visit 23 Skidoo… we will visit Death Valley Jct… (there might be a railroad locomotive undiscovered in Death Valley Jct).  We will try to visit Ryan, but likely will find ourselves locked out… We will likely tour Scotty’s Castle… we may visit Ryolite…  

Now, I find myself thinking of lists… Big things… a tent, a couple of cots… sleeping bags… fire wood… a stove… but also the little stuff… shock cord (to tie the tent down) stove fuel, and lamp mantels…   At least the Jeep is ready…

I am considering routes… Death Valley is on the other side of the Sierras, and the Sierra’s are clad in their winter coat of deep snow, so the direct route over Tioga Pass is not an option… we have to go north or south…  To the north is Hwy 88, and Carson Pass to Gardnerville and Minden, then south on 395, to the Owens Valley, then east into the Panamints… To the south is down the valley (this would be the San Joaquin) to Bakersfield or the vicinity, then over Walker Pass or the Tehachapis, and north, again to the Owens Valley, again east…  It looks like we will go north, but return south…  But nothing is certain.

Well one thing is certain... carry on luggage is unlikely to be an issue...

Heading Home

I have spent a week here in our nation's capital... but my time is up, so now, I am sitting in Reagan Airport, waiting for my flight home. (Virgin America, Flight 2, the “Best Damn Airline in the World”) I am assigned to boarding group "E"... Aka there will be no more space left in the over head bins for you..

As we head down the jet way, as we (group E) wait in the aisles, as those ahead of us, those in boarding groups A, B, C, and even dreaded D put their precious bags in the rapidly filling overhead bins the cabin crew asks us to "quickly" stow our bags and find our seats... But there is little space for bags, and others, in earlier boarding groups are block said aisles as the look for elusive empty places for their precious bags.  There is nothing quick about the process…

Our flight crew has announced a 5 hour 34 minutes flight time... The cabin crew announced a 5 hour 40 minute flight... This for a flight which left at 5:05 (eastern) and is scheduled to, arrive at 8:05 (pacific)... Something doesn't add up. 

It has been a good trip, with days filled with libraries and archives full of dusty books, files, and grand discoveries. I found maps to guide trips into the Nevada desert, in search of things long gone... I have copies of catalogs full of equipment to equip a 1890's steam powered street railroad... It is an entire system… I have text books on how to design such a system… You likely don' t care... and I don't care if you don't...
In between, evenings were spent with great nieces Maddy and Katie (and parents) and a couple of kittens... And the Spy Museum... 

So, now at 6:05 (pacific) I sit, strapped to a seat, at about 38,000 feet... Below, Utah... According to the little TV in the seat back ahead of me we have a bit more than 700 miles left to go... At a bit over 450 miles an hour (the little TV again) we might make it on time (5 hours)

Tomorrow I will be back into work... For the foreseeable future, I will be too busy to think... While I was gone, work crews "finished*" up their work, rehabilitating Patterson House, the Victorian house, now museum that I oversee... Since early September, they have re-enforced the foundation, driven pilings to stop the porch from settling, rewired the house, painted inside and out, refinished the hardwood floors, and installed a heating system.  We started thinking about the project in 2005… now 7 years later, we are nearing completion…

Tomorrow, when I return, I will find a house with most of the furniture piled in the sun porch... I should probably put it back before we open early next month... We had planned to spend a month putting things back...  starting in late January, but the project ran late, so now we have a week instead of a month... Plus docent training, and a welcome back breakfast... It should be fun...

Randy

P.S.  The flight arrived early… not 5 hours and 34 or 43 minutes, but about 4 hours and 50 minutes…

* "finished " does not mean the work crews are done... There is a punch list of unfinished details two pages long... "Done" may prove elusive... But at least I can put the furniture back.

Near midnight, SFO

I am off again… this time to Washington DC…   Into the malstrom which is a winter storm, which isn’t as bad as expected…

My flight is a bit late… we should have started boarding some time ago… but the plane  has only just arrived…  I am flying my beloved Virgin America, with purple and pink mood lighting… I plan on sleeping most of the way, but if not, will enjoy the flight.

I am visiting libraries… the Library of Congress… (I have a library, or rather “reader’s card”  It is a powerful statement of intent, and in an emergency can be used as ID to board an airplane… really, I might have once done it…) The Smithsonian Museum of American History Library… and two different National Archive sites… 

There is family, too… Nieces, Nephews, spouses (also Nieces and Nephews in our family…we ignore the “in law” in this family… we ignore the step too… it is all one big happy family as it should be…  so, with nieces and nephews and great nieces and great nephews…  It will be wonderful…  

Of course there is the worry… the snow…  It was being referred to as Snowquester…  a storm scheduled to hit between 11:00 and 6:00 am… I land at 7:00 am… shutting down DC… but now the planned snow ball fight at DuPont Circle is canceled and the snow that fell is melting and I don’ expect any problems…  but the problems would have been welcome… for I am a traveler, on vacation, and while there are goals and plans, a bit of snow, and inconvenice would have been exciting and different (assuming I didn’t crash the damn rental car… that would not have been good) and the snow ball fight would have been special.

So, one minute before scheduled departure, I sit with a beer (Lagunitas IPA) waiting to call us to board our magical silver steed… and blog…