Pushing North

The surroundings were beautiful this morning with all the intricate rock formations and the Sierra Nevada background as the sun rose above the horizon.

 

Miss Travalaire remained in the shadows of our local rock formation for quite awhile.

 

We were alone here last night except for two distant motorhomes.

 

These two photos of our neighbours were taken with our camera at its maximum 24 times zoom.

 

Our grumpy rock was still eyeing us this morning!

 

Now the sun is up shining on Miss Travelaire!

 

Before taking off this morning Doreen and I went for a long walk across the desert over to some distant rock formations. There is plenty of space between the bushes to look out for rattle snakes and other creepy creatures! It was amazing to see the number of foot prints of people who had walked through here before. They were everywhere!

 

On our way back we could see Miss Travelaire waiting patiently for us to return.

 

This rock and plaque is located at the corner of Whitney Portal Road, (the road going from Lone Pine up to the base of Mount Whitney) and Movie Road.

 

It tells the story of the Cowboy movies that were filmed in this location in the Alabama Hills outside Lone Pine, California.

 

Heading north on US395, we came across the Manzana Historical Site. The is the location of one of ten internment camps where Japanese people were held from 1942 until the end of World War II. There were about 10,000 Japanese held in this camp, the size of about 1 acre.

 

Their possessions were taken and they were moved from their homes to barracks like these.

 

I think these barracks have been rebuilt to the original specifications, because the wood looked very new.

 

After traveling about 1 hour north to Bishop, the road starts to climb up through several passes at around 8000 feet. We decided to get this high elevation area behind us before we were caught in a snow storm, so we traveled beyond the higher elevations up to just below Reno Nevada. US395 is a beautiful road in this area. Most of it is 4 lane and very smooth. There is very little traffic, and you can travel along at whatever speed suits your fancy without bothering anyone. The scenery is terrific with the snow draped high Sierras on the western side and the White Mountains on the east (the ones we passed through coming from Death Valley), with US395 running between through the Owens Valley. The California aqueduct runs from this Owens Valley down to Los Angeles and supplies about half its water, much to the chagrin of the people in the Valley. If you want to travel down through California, and inclement winter weather is not a problem, this is the road to take! Unfortunately, winter snow storms can cause havoc along here in the high passes.

 

After traveling this far north today, we ended up in a pine forrest! It's looking more like home, and less like desert! We are camped for the night at Davis Creek County Park (N39 18 22.6, W119 49 56.3) about half way between Carson City and Reno Nevada. US395 runs from Los Angeles up to the Canadian border, and passes through Nevada for a short stretch near Reno. The elevation here is around 4600 feet, so it is much cooler than we were used to in southern California, but we will have to put up with the cool temperatures from now on :(