Springtime in the Sierra

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Sacramento, CA to Lone Pine, CA – 368 miles

What is it about being on a road trip that Steve and I find so wonderful and companionable? When we first started talking about driving across country once again this spring, it was for the ostensible idea of getting the Subaru to the East Coast so we could switch cars with Lauren. Underneath all that reasoning – and we certainly always do things in a reasonable way – was this unquenchable desire to just hit the road once again. To lock ourselves in a car for 2+ weeks in our road trip bubble, experience 4,000 miles of Americana – somehow we have come to love this life. Steve still seems surprised that he loves the idea of the journey versus the destination – I think our life right now is the best time for the journey, and to hell with the destination – we’ve spent too many years looking for the destination.

So once again we have begun our journey, in a less than straightforward route as usual, and will be on the road for about 3 weeks, wending our way through the southwest and the south, checking in at Harvard graduation for Lauren, and then to the dock in Maine for the summer. The car is loaded like the proverbial Conestoga wagon, but hopefully our ride will be a bit smoother. And, yes Lauren, most of it is your stuff….

Following our habit of avoiding the interstate as much as possible, we planned on taking the Mormon Emigrant Trail off of 50 from Pollock Pines, over the Carson Pass. However, Mother Nature did not cooperate and halfway thru the Trail, the snow got deep enough on the road we had to turn around…the Trail is not plowed in the winter but who would have thought it would still be that snowy in May – oh, that’s right, we had record breaking snow this winter in the Sierra. So after a bit of backtracking back to 50, we got a pleasant surprise that the Monitor Pass was open over 89, instead of having to go up to the Carson Pass. The South Fork of the American River was literally boiling over the rocks and flooding its banks all along 50, full of wild white water, with the Carson River in similar full throated roar, with dusty brown water piling along, filled with silt from the winter snow runoff. The snow was still piled deep over Echo Summit and the Monitor Pass, with snow banks cresting at 10-12 feet on the side of the road.

One of our favorite times on a road trip is finding a wide space in the road to turn off and have a picnic lunch. Today, we graced Walker, CA with our presence, at a small local park, with a lawn filled with raucous yellow dandelions and the voices of young boys playing ball in the distance. There were hawks rafting on the air currents in the nearby mountains, seemingly looking for their next meal. The highlight of Walker – the Walker RV camp which doubled as an art gallery, espresso café and sporting goods store.

Mono Lake is one of California's wonders. We took the time to stop at the new visitors center and came away with a new appreciation of the delicate ecological balance that exists here...as well as being introduced to tufas.

Coming through Bridgeport, CA we had our Brokeback Mountain moment with cowboys rounding up cattle for the spring cattle drive to the summer pastures up in the mountains, with young heifers feeling their oats and running wild, followed by busily working blue heelers nipping at them.

Bishop, CA – Big Pine, CA – Independence, CA – we are following Ansel Adams Range of Light, so aptly named. The Sierras crow over us to the west – I am so used to thinking of them to the east of me. Their painful, jagged peaks are snow-covered way down to lower elevations, speaking of the rough winter and late spring we are having. We pass Manzanar, the WW II Japanese internment camp which we stopped at 2 years ago – still a sobering sight.

Tonight we’re holed up in Lone Pine, CA under the shadow of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 states. We’re joined by the ubiquitous biker crowd – but wait, they’re our age!

It feels so good to be back on the road again – free, in our own little bubble, able to toss off all those “responsibilities”, laugh with each other, look at this gorgeous country we live in, and know it’s just us and the open roa d for the next couple of weeks. However, we still can’t give up our electronic leashes and so we are followed by the buzz of the Blackberry and the wail of the iPod. Steve’s sometimes underground sense of humor always becomes resurgent on these trips – he likes his new water bottle, declaring it was just like sucking on a tit – hmmm.

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Photos

Our modern Conestoga wagon
Could we have gotten more into the Subaru - unlikely.

No Mormon Emigrant Trail for us
Too much snow in May - who would have thought?

Bridgeport, CA
Our Brokeback Mountain moment, complete with blueheelers.

Range of Light
Coming south of 395 near Mono Lake, the majesty of the Sierras never fails to take your breath away.

And where are you from?
We seem to have an incessant desire to identify ourselves by stickers...on the guardrail at the viewpoint above Mono Lake.

Comments

[Glennee]

Lust for life????
What a wonderful way to document your journey! Just love the way you write. You make the open road sound absolutely delightful and it makes me miss you two. Keep those blogs a-comin'!

[AMG]

Thanks
That's quite a compliment coming you, the fabulous writer. When we're on the road I really enjoy writing for the sheer pleasure of it - so different from all those years of business writing.