May 26-28
Sequoia National Park is in California’s southern Sierra Nevada
mountains, a large forest of giant sequoia trees including the world’s largest by
volume, the General Sherman Tree. Our day
started early with a incredibly winding and steep drive featuring over 140
sharp switchbacks as it climbs into the park to a altitude of 7000 ft. I did my homework and checked the weather at
that altitude. We were in long pants, sweaters and coats because it was 42
degrees with a foggy mist of rain. But
as you know nothing slows us down.
The weather started to make a turn for the worse (even
worser) the fog was getting thick. It was time to leave since we had a 25-mile drive
with those nerve racking 140 sharp turns and visibility of 10 feet in front of
the truck.
May 29-31
Next national park on the bucket list was Yosemite National Park. We were lucky and scored a campsite in the park. There are no services like water, electricity or sewer hook ups but we figured we could rough it for a few days.
This was perfect as the park was
in full swing with tourist season, cars and people everywhere. By staying in the park, we could use the park
service buses or walk, we did both. We
hiked to some of the well-known granite cliffs, waterfalls and meadows (5.5 miles)
beautiful and amazing. We were in awe
the whole time but by the end of the day we were looking for the closest bus to
get back to our campsite.
We had been watching the weather for the Tioga Pass (11,000
ft) while we were in Yosemite, because this would be the best and shortest road
to start working our way to Nevada. It
was touch and go one day the pass was open then the next closed. We lucked out the day we were leaving, the
pass was open. We landed in Lee Vining,
a very small town just on the other side of the Sierras for a down day. We were
still in California but now only hours from our family in Fallon, NV.
May 31-June 2
We took advantage of our down day and went to Bodie California to a genuine 1880’s goldmining ghost town preserved as a California State Park. Once a booming metropolis of 10,000 people before being abandoned in the mid-20th century.
Founded after the discovery of gold in 1859 by W.S. Body,
the town exploded in 1876. At its peak in 1879, it boasted 2000 structures,
saloons, gambling halls and red-light district.
The boom was short lived, and the population quickly declined. The last open mind officially ceased
production in 1942.
As we walked to park there were so many structures, some were
houses, store fronts, post office, hotel, fire house, church, saloon, barbers,
a saw mill. Many of the insides of the buildings looked as if they were frozen in time. There was even a gas pump
from 1920’s and a one schoolhouse that was used until 1942. We had always heard about this place and glad
we finally got a chance to see it.
It is time to travel the final miles to Fallon for our Grandsons
graduation and family fun for a few weeks.
But don’t worry, we will be back on the road June 26 working our way to
the great northwest before we start heading east back across the US to home.
