Joan on the Road...of Life

Here's one good reason to stay at Boulder Creek RV Park in Lone Pine, CA...a great view of the Sierras. One of those jagged peaks in the center is Mt. Whitney.

About 5 miles north, in town, we drove out Whitney Portal Road. We went up and curved and up for about 10 miles to maybe 8000 ft. where there's a little store and a waterfall that comes down from Mt. Whitney. It was a wonderful experience. Pictures don't really capture the reality because the motion and sound is missing. I did take a couple of little videos with the Canon Powershot and they are great. One of these days I'll learn how to post a short video :)

We had a hamburger and fries from the concessionaire. He was telling us that he is a business man, not Forest Service employee. He owns all the improvements at this little waystop, generates all his power with propane ($100/ day) and doesn't start making a profit until July! Jim was delighted to find a Sam Adams Honey Porter...in this far out place.

We ate lunch beside the waterfall with a gaggle of Western Jays sitting overhead waitiing for scraps. Foolishly I threw one and they attacked it. Almost got beaned by a jay.

We proceeded down the mountain in first gear, stopping to check out a few Forest Service campgrounds. No power and pretty tight fit in the trees. Down at the lower level we drove out MovIe Road to see the rock formations where hundreds of movies including Star Wars have been shot. Here's an example.

Somehow it all looks familiar to an old western fan. The road up the mountain is the one seen in High Sierra where Humphrey Bogart is being chased. John Wayne and many other western stars walked these grounds. You can almost imagine the enemy positioned above in the rocks, rifles poised. It's a vast area and I just wondered how the directors would choose where to shoot.

We did a little drive back into one of the roads and it got a little hairy when we bottomed out the car...guess it was for off-roaders :) I quickly convinced the driver to head back. Here's my view!

That ended today's exciting adventure.