Mr. Sherwin's Grade

Unlike Tuesday, Wednesday came up clear and windless.  We have both remarked often in the past 10 days how little wind we have encountered on our journey south, and that makes driving so much more pleasant.....no cross winds, or headwinds to speak of.

Around 9 am I put a call into the new Resident Ranger at Rancho Jurupa to confirm they were expecting us Friday, and to find out what spot they would put us in.....it was a pleasure speaking with Robyn Jensen, and based on our conversation I think we will get along just fine.  

When we arrived in Mammoth Monday we only plugged in the electric....no water, no sewer, so getting ready to roll the wheels was easy peezy, and we were ready to motivate down the road by 9:40 am.

Our first destination of the day was Bishop, CA....about 42 miles distant, and one long 6% grade that would take us from just over 7,000' elevation down to close to 4,000' in just 8 miles.  We got to Sherwin Grade in about 25 minutes, and pulled off after a couple of miles to take in the GIGANTIC view.....TLE managed to capture this great panoramic shot....you can just see US HWY 395 slithering off in the distance.

We were in Bishop by 10:30, and headed right for the large Von's parking lot just off the highway.  Originally TLE was going to drive into Mammoth Village Wednesday morning to Schat's Bakery to buy some of our favorite bread, but since there is also a Schat's in Bishop we decided to do our shopping there instead.  From the  Von's parking lot it was about 1/2 a mile walk over to Schat's Bakery where TLE quickly loaded up on several loaves of bread.  I threw in one Cinnamon-Raisin loaf.

The weather in Bishop was just the kind of autumn type weather I love....short pants, t-shirt and flip flops weather.  We took our prizes back to the coach, then walked into Von's to pick up a few things, including some chicken breasts to BBQ that night.  On our way out we stopped at the Starbucks Coffee bar and got some frappuccino's....a mocha for me, and a vanilla bean for TLE.  We sat there just enjoying the moment, and the fact we were in no rush to be anywhere.

All in all we spent about an hour and a half in Bishop, but it was time to start rolling south again to our destination for the day.....Lone Pine, CA.....one of my favorite Owens Valley towns.  The next town south of Bishop is Big Pine, then comes Independence, and finally Lone Pine.  We noticed as we drove south that each of these little towns has spruced itself up over the past few years.  Prior to a few years ago they were beginning to look a little thread bare, but not Wednesday.

Lone Pine is only 60 miles from Bishop, so before we knew it we were at the northern edge of Lone Pine passing the familiar motels, fishing shops, parks, and restaurants that we have frequented often over the years.  The RV park we had our sights on was Boulder Creek RV Resort where we have stopped often going and coming to Mammoth and Lake Tahoe.  As is our style, there were no reservations made, and none needed....there were only 5, or 6 RV in this large park, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Lone Pine's main claim to fame is that it sits in the shadow of the highest mountain peak in the lower 48.....Mt. Whitney.

Mt. Whitney - 14,505'

We were set up by 1:30 pm, and just spent the afternoon with the windows all open enjoying the warm, balmy 73 F degree weather.....again, not a breath of wind.  Around 4 pm I started a camp fire, and we sat outside for the first time in a couple of months enjoying the early evening air, and watching the almost full moon rise into the night sky.  

Around 5:30 I began to BBQ the chicken breasts, and TLE made a great heirloom tomato salad to go along with the chicken.  Every time I don't have to move my laptop so we can sit down and have a formal dinner I fall more in love with the remodel we did at my brother's home.  It has just made living in our coach much more functional.

Our plan is to spend a couple of days here in Lone Pine, then finish the last 200 miles home on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!