Blog - Frugal RV Travel

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Boondocking Guides
  • Contact Us

Eight Days. Eighty Miles

May 18, 2017 By frugalrvT! 6 Comments

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.

Alabama Hills
There are no bad campsites here
Lone Pine boondocking
Still not a bad view  and, although there were 30 or more other campers, none within sight
Full Moon over Alabama Hills
Full moon rising over the 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.

Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery
Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery

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.

Manzanar Barracks
The barracks, arranged in blocks
Manzanar
Families had to share living quarters – 8 per room
The Manzanar story
Many exhibits plus a film tell the stories of just a few of the 10,000 people who lived here.

At this final exhibit, the Park Service asks the public to write their thoughts and answer four questions.

Manzanar -was it right?
What do you think?

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!)

Keough Hot Springs
Ahhh….the perfect temperature

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.

Boondocking near Bishop, Ca
This was our dance floor. Our bluetooth Shark speaker  (in the foreground) puts out an amazing sound!

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.

 

Owens Gorge
View into the Owens Gorge. The river winding far below

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

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Pinterest Share

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Mary Jo Ross says

    May 18, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • frugalrvT! says

      May 19, 2017 at 12:06 am

      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.

      Reply
  2. Lisa McInnis says

    May 18, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    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

    Reply
    • frugalrvT! says

      May 19, 2017 at 12:03 am

      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.

      Reply
  3. Sunny Harvy says

    May 18, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    And I thought we were slow travelers! Good for you!

    Reply
    • frugalrvT! says

      May 19, 2017 at 12:01 am

      Just taking a page from your book, Sunny. Feels great. Thanks!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA
Refresh

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • Adventures and Misadventures. We Return to the Mainland
  • As Hardy as a Newfoundlander?
  • Amazing Islands of Newfoundland
  • We Made it to the Top!
  • Gros Morne National Park

Archives

  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016

Categories

  • Arizona
  • Boondocking
  • California
  • Campground
  • Camping
  • Canada
  • Festival
  • Free Camping
  • Hiking
  • New Brunswick
  • Newfoundland
  • Nova Scotia
  • Ontario
  • Overnight RV Parking
  • Prince Edward Islan
  • Prince Edward Island
  • Quebec
  • Road Trip
  • RV – General
  • RV Travel Budget
  • RV Travels
  • Scenic Camping
  • Scenic Hike
  • Uncategorized
  • USA
  • Web Site and Blog

Older Blog Posts

Older Blog Posts
My older blog entries are hiding here.

Keep Updated

Subscribe to my RSS

Copyright © 2019 · Daily Dish Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in