Ten Miles a Day
Since my last post, eight days ago, we’ve moved along only eighty miles and, along the way, camped in 6 different boondocking spots. We could have walked those miles just as fast! But because (thankfully) we were driving, we had plenty of time to enjoy a variety of stops and activities.
We switched to a new campsite for our last three nights in Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills.
Independence, Ca
The weather got cooler for a few days and we even had some rain. Perfect weather for museum browsing. We visited three nearby – all offer free entry. The Eastern California Museum in Independance is amazing! That same day, we toured the historic Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery and had fun watching the trout in the pond surface to grab the fish food we purchased.
We spent a whole afternoon at Manzanar – a National Historic Site
In 1942, this was a War Relocation Center – one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated. The exhibits and stories depicted here are heart-wrenching. Although we’d visited six years ago, we spent three hours absorbing it all again.
At this final exhibit, the Park Service asks the public to write their thoughts and answer four questions.
The questions center around the U.S. constitution and whether what the government did was right or justified. We were also asked to share our opinion of whether this could or would likely ever happen again. Leafing back through the pages, reading what visitors wrote (both before and after last November’s national election), was pretty interesting.
Missing my kids and grandkids on Mother’s Day
Better weather soon prevailed. For us that meant more outdoor fun.
My self-indulgent treat on a Mother’s day without my kids nearby was soaking for three full hours at Keough’s Hot Springs. No, not t the $12.00 per person public pool at the resort which was full of noisy boisterous kids, but at the nearby free natural pools (four of them) just down the road. We enjoyed it so much, we returned the next day and did it again (in the rain!)
Wonder how we spend our evenings? Well, we aren’t bored too often. One beautiful evening, after a supper that included wine, we cranked up the tunes (no complaints from neighboring campers; there were none). and danced under the stars.
The Owens Gorge
Although we changed locations six times, we never lost the view of the snow-capped Sierras. That’s the beauty of California’s Hwy 395. We followed the Owens Gorge a little farther north today.
Only eight days and eighty miles later but tonight we’re camped in a whole new world. You’ll have to wait for my next post to see what I mean. I’ve got to say, it’s actually pretty neat to be following my own guide for this route. Knowing what lies ahead allows us to relax and not worry about hurrying along or needing to arrive before dark; we know exactly where we’ll camp.
Days on the road at time of posting: 69
Total camping costs to date: $62
Thanks for sharing, you have more options for boondocking sites in a smaller RV. Don’t think we could manage such a small vehicle as we travel for usually 6 months LOL…. anyway thanks again for sharing.
We’re away for 4 months this time but have done 5 and 6 a couple of times. Still, it does get cosy, so I know what you mean:-) But, FYI, of the six boondocking sites we were in this week, you could have gotten into 5 of them in any size rig.
Love 395 the eastern Sierras. Saw fire in the mountains at sunset, that was spectacular. Spent about 2 weeks from Indepedence to Mammouth.
In the autumn. Sadly, there were no spring flowers for us, rather three months of snow and rain, which made the natural hot springs even that much more pleasant. Super time. Glad to relive a bit of the memory, looking at your photos. Thanks.
Ps, I’m a boondock’s host in CT. What a great opportunity to have the travelers come to you. Lisa
Glad you’re enjoying my posts, and especially thankful to you for being a Boondockers Welcome Host! We’ll be stopping at a few more after we’re finished with this part of our trip.
And I thought we were slow travelers! Good for you!
Just taking a page from your book, Sunny. Feels great. Thanks!