Cathedral Canyon State Park

Thursday Sept 27thWe pulled in to a place called Cathedral State Park. A small and charming state Park, near to Panaca, with a lovely campground, where we were able to get a great spot in the shade, as we are still regularly getting temperatures in the 80's, though it gets cold at night.

We decided to take an extra day here to explore the famous Cathedral Canyon formations. Soft clay beds which have been eroded into some pretty weird shapes. Most amazing are the little slot canyons that have formed, narrow passageways which are up to 40 high, but only a foot or so wide, with completely vertical sides. As you walked through them you were enveloped in a delicious, shady, coolness. Quite fascinating.

Friday saw us back on the road, moving on to Cedar City, the local centre, with the only Walmart for about 200 miles (except St George to the south). We stopped there to collect supplies and share a meal at Applebees. Then on through the Cedar Breaks National Park to stay at Duck Creek Campground. On Saturday we moved on to Bryce Canyon, hoping to get a site in the Sunset campground, having realised that Saturday would probably be busy. However our anxiety was ill founded, as we had no trouble getting a very pleasant pull through site, ready to revisit Bryce Canyon the next day

The Extraterrestrial Highway

Wednesday Sept 26th - On Thursday we set out to travel further East, we planned to take The Extraterrestial Highway. This is a road which skirts the Nellis Air Base, famous for being Area 51, where so many UFO's have been seen. The road runs straight (and I mean straight) across the desert, interspersed with many mountain ridges, right in the middle of this road is a small town called Rachel, famous for the Ale-inn. This is a place for UFO Uber Geeks to congregate. It was made even more famous when it featured in the film 'Paul 2011', very british comedy, set in the desert.

After stopping for a drink and some fries, and to admire the geeks, we drove on along 375, to stop and get a picture of the famous 'black Mailbox', another place so beloved by sky watchers. Of course the joke is that the mail box is now painted white, however it is still known as the Black Mailbox!!. Surprisingly we did not see any UFO's, or aliens, or even super secret weapons (both the Blackbird and the Stealth Bomber were developed and tested here), however we did watch Paul 2011 when we were camped in Cathedral Canyon State Park

We covered over two hundred miles today, partly helped by long straight roads and a 70 m.ph. speed limit, though our ave MPG went down to something just over 5MPG!! I kid you not.

We left June Lake this morning to drive into Nevada, man that place is empty!! We have set up camp in the car park of the local casino in Tonopah. The road as a good one (120, which also goes over Tioga Pass, so we made good time. Good enough that we could take a side trip to Goldfield, another ghost town, more modern than Bodie, but much bigger, more than 20,000 people moved there between 1904 and 1907, they were there for the gold, when the gold ran out, so did they, so it now has a population of 250. We drove round the streets, where man of the buildings have gone. The we visited the courthouse, which was a revelation. It was amazing to see whole blocks of streets with no houses, but loads of peoples trash (like cars) lying around the place. The courthouse, jail, school, hotels, council offices are all still there, big enough to run a large town, but almost deserted.  We parked the car and had a closer look at the County Court, as we wandered round we could see the offices of the Recorder, Sheriff, D.A., Justice of the Peace. We stopped in at this little office, with its official bench and chairs for defendent etc. while we were there a lady welcomed us and showed us round the room, then got out some really old books and records to show us a little of the history, talked about the fires and the goldmines and the railways, it was fascinating. As we were standing there we started to realise that this was indeed the Justice Of the Peace for the town. we had an interesting conversation about her job, as she has to stand for re-election in November, but only needs a couple of hundred votes to keep the job. She was a very pleasant and helpful lady, so go Judge Juanita Colvin, we hope you get re-elected.We drove back to Tonopah and had a quiet evening. Tomorrow we plan to drive the Extraterrestial Highway, through area 51 and by the Nellis airbase.

From Lake Tahoe to June Lake, Via Mono Lake!

It's all lakes, mountains and deserts on this side of the Sierra Nevadas. Having spent two nights by Lake Tahoe, we pressed on to route 395, which runs North/South on the other side of the mountains. As soon as the mountains drop away you enter desert, which is broken only by a series of lakes, the most notable of which is Mono Lake. About 10 miles south is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world - June Lake. We first saw this in 1997 when we toured the West with the kids. We wanted to return, and now we have. We have found a nice campsite on the north end of the lake, with just a bit of a view of the lake. The Campground is called 'Oh! Ridge', we presume because as you drive up a desert incline you cannot see the lake, then over the ridge at the end of the lake, when you see the lake for the first time and it is difficult not to say 'Oh!' as the view is amazing. Its emerald green water is framed perfectly by pine covered slopes and high mountain peaks.
On Friday we had a wander round the lake side beach and then drove the 'June Lake Loop Road', a back road which goes past the lake and through some narrow valleys past another three lakes, before coming back out onto Route 395 and so back to June Lake.


Yesterday (Saturday) Mono Lake and Bodie.
Today we drove out for the day, back past Mono Lake, which is a large lake, maybe 10 miles wide, with no obvious way out for the water, although Los Angeles (300 miles away) has been extracting water from it since about 1964. It is a surreal landscape, the lake is surrounded by desert, with mountains all around. Beautiful, but stark. Hopeless to photograph as the scenery is far too subtle. We drove on to our goal, a ghost town, one of the most famous, called Bodie. In the 1880's it was still producing gold as many other goldfields were being worked out, thus attracting 10,000 gold workers and hangers on, the town lasted at that size for about 3 years and then declined and was abandoned by 1920. It is absolutely in the middle of nowhere, up a 13 mile dead end road. The summers are over 100 degrees, the winters get up to 20 ft of snow and 30-40 degrees below (who cares in both F and C that is cold). All wood and food had to be hauled in by mule train, so as soon as the gold ran out there was not a lot to keep people there, and since there was not means of transport they just left everything. Despite having been ravaged by fire and weather there ar still some 100 buildings still standing, complete with the bits and pieces that were left. It was a fascinating place, we really enjoyed wandering around and imagining what life must have been like in 1880 there. On the way back to the trailer we decided to eat out. A friend, called Randy Sheldon had recommended. It looks out over Mono Lake and is known as the Tioga Gas Mart, but called the Whoa Nellie Deli. It looks pretty much like a gas station, in fact it is a gas station, but the food is quite amazing, we settled for pork chop with apricot and cranberry sauce, but could have had Elk Chop, Buffalo Meatloaf or Lobster Taco. We just beat the rush, but by five-o-clock the place was packed. Great advice Randy.

Today, Sunday, Mammoth and The Devils Post Pile
We had a different venue on our menu. It was time to hit Mammoth! We wanted to visit The Devils Post Pile, i.e. a pile of posts. It is a volcanic formation which cooled very slowly underground and when the surrounding area was eroded away it left a basalt formation that was like a whole pile of wooden posts set vertically, each one roughly hexagonal in shape, very similar to the Giants Causeway in Ireland, only instead of seeing the top, you saw them from the side. As well as this outstanding formation there was also Soda Lake, where Carbon Dioxide bubbles out from the rock up through the stream, as it escapes under pressure some the Carbon Dioxide dissolves in the water, making a naturally sparkling water! We loved that.

Add into this the most amazing mountain vista of what is called the Minaret Peaks and we had quite a day.

Driving back through Mammoth we drove past the ski lifts which are currently in use for mountain bikers. this is where our son Andrew rented a bike and rode the Kamakazi Run when we were there in 1997. Now that brought back memories. After doing some shopping we again decided to eat out, this time in Roberto's, a well known Mexican cafe, where I succumbed to a Chimmychanga (a deep fried tortilla filled with meat and beans), Sally had a nice chicken salad with rice and beans. Trouble is that we could only eat half, so we have brought the rest home for dinner tomorrow.

Lake Tahoe

Wednesday 19th September We want to look at the lake today, without too much rushing around, so we are planning to drive a little way up the lake to Tahoe City, for a coffee and then come back and visit house/mansion that is in the grounds of the Sugar Pine S.P. Ou plan started well, we drove gently northwards along the lake shore towards Tahoe City, stopping to admire the lake, which is beautiful. However things changed a little when we pulled in to a lakeside cafe. On parking we noticed a number of people acting in an animated sort of a way. It is a pattern of behaviour we have seen before. People stopping and looking, yet remaining animated, not sure whether to approach or retire. That said "Bears!" loud and clear. Anyway we joined the group and inquired and sure enough, down on the edge of the lake a large Black Bear (but brown in colour) was enjoying a morning dip in the lake. For our protection a local sheriff was watching over the event, so we felt safe to approach closer and take some good pictures. By now about a dozen people were standing watching the bear, mostly tourists like us, as loclas are used to this. After a while a second officer came along and explained to us that the bear had to be moved from the public beach to a local woodland area. Their sophisticated game plan was to use a rifle with rubber bullets to drive the bear along the beach to a road that lead to the woods. So having fired at it the bear just swam along the beach and disappeared back to the woods, leaving us to go and hove our cup of coffee in peace and safety. The officer suggested that bears are in fact not dangerous (unless hungry, trapped or you are between them and their cubs) and behave like big pussies, which I was willing to believe completely, all the time the officer was there. I did however learn a slight improvement on the strategy of how to avoid being caught by a bear, the standard being to make sure that you can run faster than at least one other person. The new strategy is more subtle. Always make sure that you are in a position to be able to trip someone up at the vital moment, before making your exit at a more leisurely pace. Following that excitement we were then able to go back to Syds Cafe for our quiet morning coffee sat overlooking the lake. We drove back along the lake hsore to the Sugar Pine S.P. and turned towards the lake and the mansion that was in the grounds of the State Park, in fact the grounds of the mansion is the State Park, about 2000 acres of garden and woods and lakefront. The Sugar Pine Mansion was a turn of the century summer retreat (they had several) of the found of the Wells Fargo Bank, so cash was not in short supply. We took the tour of the mansion, a large wooden construction with eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms, when it was built the access was from the lake, so it was wonderfully secluded, with great views and nicely tended gardens sweeping down to the lake. After our tour we sat by the boathouse and had our lunch, inevitably talking to some other visitors, one couple were especially nice, and they were our next door neighbours in campground, so a short lunch break turned into an pleasant afternoon chatting. We are very impressed with Lake Tahoe, which is very big and very beautiful. It comes a close third behind Crater Lake and our next stop - June Lake.

Wagons Ho - Back On The Trail

Wednesday 19^th

We had figured that 96 miles to Lake Tahoe would be a fairly gentle drive, what didn’t figure on was that I had chosen a bendy road, also that it was uphill all the way, we climbed from 4000ft to over 8000ft. Consequently our drive time was more than four hours and around fifteen gallons of gas.

We left Plymouth and cut East on a county road that took us through Fiddletown and eventually joined up with route 88, part of which is built on the old wagon train route opened in 1844 and gave access to Sacramento and the Gold Country, along with such names as Tragedy Valley gave us some idea of the hardship and difficulties of travel in those days – they would take days to travel the distance we thought tedious in a couple of hours. We stopped on the shores of Caple Lake to have our picnic, which was very pleasant However our first sight of Lake Tahoe did not disappoint, it is a beautiful location, with deep blue water surrounded by tree covered mountains. We had decided to approach from the South and head to the West Shore, as there are several State and Forestry campgrounds, but after stopping at a visitor center we discovered that there were only two options available – Kaspian and Sugar Pine, so we settled on Sugar Pine, where we found a nice campsite in amongst the Sugar Pine trees, after following the road round the lake for about 12 miles. We set up in the almost empty campground in a very nice site.

So today we will set out to see some of the sights of Lake Tahoe.

Visiting Gold Country

Monday 17^th

Over Sunday and Monday everyone went their separate ways, while we had determined to stay an extra day sos that we could take in a bit more about Gold Country, it really is a beautiful area of rolling hills with many small villages and towns tucked into the valleys, there is a lot of evidence of the mining that went on here many years ago, we revisited the Kennedy Gold Mine, which we have passed last year when we drove up 49, this time we swung off the main road to a small town with a grand name called Amador City, if 20 houses can be classed as a city, but it was very pretty., we drove on through and parked in Sutters Creek, a town which looks as it did in the 1850s, thought the wooden sidewalks have been replaced with concrete, many of which Sally could not negotiate in her chair, but we still saw plenty. There are many antique/junk shops, also many preowned clothes shops, full of the fifties and sixties fashions that Helen is looking to have at her wedding, so of course this set us off looking at vintage memorabilia, which was very interesting. In many windows were  posters advertising a local event – Vintage Fashion Show and Afternoon Tea, for the local people Vintage included Victorian, Edwardian, Suffragette, Flappers, pre war and post war fashion (so the poster said and I a sure that it would have been a great event, unfortunately not until October, when we will be many miles away. It was here that we found a lovely shop with hundreds of musical boxes and chiming clocks, many of them Disney, so we spent a fair while there trying the different items on display.

We moved on to the next town, this one is bigger, called Jackson and list the hub town for this area. It too has a main street, which is now bypassed, so is very quiet. We parked the car and started to stroll, once again many antique and clothes shops, though we did find a huge sweet shop, which we were forced to go into and look round. We saw a huge variety of sweets, fudge and ice cream, I was forced to sample some of their homemade fudge, but not tempted to buy any. We did find a huge array of Cookie Cutters and bought a pack of various sized hearts, we think that it might be a good idea to make and decorate heart cookies for Helen’s Wedding, but we shall see, at least we have the cutters even if that idea does not fit into the plan.

It was now time to eat, we asked the Candy shop people where was a good place and were directed to Mel’s Diner, originally just a kiosk it had become so popular that it had now opened as a large diner. We chose a booth (green leather) and ordered a New York Strip, fries, one trip to the Salad Bar and two plates, we were embarking on our new strategy of trying to share meals, not only to save money, but also to try and keep the calories down (more of that later). We had a very nice meal, well cooked and ample for both of us, though we did have fun balancing all the salad on the plate you get for the salad bar. I succumbed to a milk shake – a peanut butter milk shake, which was delicious. Feeling full, but righteous, we continued our exploration of Jackson, which included the newly refurbished National Hotel, all the time feeling that we were extras in a cowboy film, because the street was so reminiscent of the towns we see in Westerns.

Our last stop was some shopping, which would enable us to resupply after a week of not leaving the campground (except to get the truck done), Sally had not left the campground at all. So Walmart was the first stop. Since beginning to lose weight my trousers have been getting bigger and bigger, so I figured that it was time for a smaller pair. I chose some Wrangler Relaxed Fit, same as I bought last year, but a size smaller – 38” and a pale blue Tee shirt, then tried them on. They fitted perfectly, the only thing being that the Tee shirt was a L, rather than the XL, or XXL I had been buying and when we looked at the jeans instead of picking out a 38”, somehow I had picked up a size 36” waist!, so from a tight 40” I have now gone down to a 36” waist! I felt quite chuffed at that. We completed our shopping and returned to the trailer to start packing ready to leave tomorrow to follow the old road which brought the Wagon Trains from the East to California, though we will be travelling in the other direction, as we head to Lake Tahoe.

More Bluegrass

Sunday 16^th

Wow what a great weekend! The weather was beautiful, nice and dry and warm. There were a number of good bands on, in particular we enjoyed The Bluegrass Brothers, with their new line up which includes Kevin Prather, who used to be part of James Kings Band. We chose a shady spot at the back, but could see and hear everything clearly as it is only a small amphitheater and just sat and relaxed, listened and watched. After the concerts Sally went to bed and I took both the mandolin and guitar to friends to sit and jam until the small hours. Our neighbours, Terry and Jeannie, were friends  of James King and had invited him to eat with them, so we got a chance to have a little conversation with him as he was passing  by. I really want to remember the people who I jammed with, as in a few months they will drift from my memory. Randy Sheldon, guitar.  Ernie, a great musician, who made the wagon circle with Randy Sheldon and Cliff. That guy has a guitar collection, which includes a guitar made in 1808! No he didn’t have it with him. Paul, patient, great and gentle guitar, Lou great bass player, Randy the excellent mandolin player, Rodney the Brit, Lolan, guitar and daughter/niece Amber, Vic, who makes his own bass and dobro, one which had a selective Tremolo Arm to enable him to play minors! Each with built in amp and speakers. Pat Calhoun, accordionist and husband George, Jeannie, guitar. Ed, guitar and church organiser. Kristen (bass), Laura and Dan, such a laugh (way out in their tent), who lent me his jacket against the night chill and nearly lost it. Steve and Mary, we didn’t pick but it was great to see them in their new RV, looking much fitter.  Jo a great tub thumper. I want to remember these people, so I guess this page is the place to do it.

Great time at the Bluegrass

Friday 14^th

So now is the eve of our festival.

We have had the prelims. But after tea we are to be entertained by James King, The Bluegrass Brothers and Third Generation.

So far we have been here for five days and spent our time keeping in the shade during the day, and playing bluegrass in the evenings. It is so nice to be able to sit out until 1.00 in the morning in a Tee shirt and shorts. Sally has not had to worry about where the Wellies are, if her waterproofs are at hand, or how many layers she needs to keep the right temperature. Instead we have both had our instruments out and taken part in several jams. Now that I have the new mandolin I have been playing that more than the guitar, not necessarily very well, but playing anyway.

The budget for car maintenance has taken a bit of a hammering this week. Two new all terrain tires, new battery, wiper blades, oil change and two new batteries for Sally’s wheelchair haver taken their toll on the budget, still it has been pretty cheap over the last five years, so we won’t complain (too much).

9/11

Today is September 11 – 9/11 Anniversary, and people are still talking about it and its effect, even over here in California. It is also J.P.’s birthday and Joes birthday. What a great coincidence.

As I sat here I have talked to those people and they have given me some books about the role of women in the pioneer wagon trains that used to come through this area on their way to California, very interesting. He also suggested we visit a place called Bodie in Nevada, where there is a large ghost town, we are looking forward to that.