Vacation, Day 2

Saturday, August 18...Captain's Log (actually I am the skipper!)



The walls of the canyon are the most gorgeous deep red, but apparently only at sunrise and sunset! The rest of the day, they are kind of pinkish, with some darker stripes. We walked around and Gavin got a geology lesson and we checked out the visitor center. Well, about 10 a.m. it was already almost 100 degrees, so we packed up and hit the road! The 395 Highway and it's treasures await!

The spots of interest were already marked on the map, but we were open to stopping at whatever looked interesting. The drive from Red Rock to Bishop was probably about 3 hours (max.) but we stretched it out and it took us all day. We figured that it would be more fun and better for the kids if we stopped a lot to stretch and take a break for lunch, then they could rest for the final leg. That was the plan, and that's what we did!

First stop: Dirty Sock Springs.... a natural sulfur spring off of the (dry) Owens Lake. It is called Dirty Sock, because it is very smelly.

Yvonne: "O.K. Andy, look for a little sign that says 'Death Valley' and then turn right. Slow down, it should be here somewhere, umm... somewhere, umm. You just passed it. Why are you driving 60 mph when I told you we were going to turn?

Andy: "Boy, these things sure just pop up, don't they? Do you want me to go back?"

Yvonne: "No, it's too far now (because you are driving too fast) Oh, well, we will see it on the way back"

Andy: "Hey, Beef Jerky! Let's stop here" (screeeeeeech, goes the motorhome)

Yes, we missed our first "attraction", but found "Really Good" beef jerky. The place was an old gas station and was COVERED with stickers. The prices were inflated and the jerky was, o.k. We bought some and headed down the road.

To make up for missing Dirty Sock, Andy turns off of the Hwy at "Fossil Falls" and we rattle down a gravel road to a dried up riverbed and water fall. Reall very cool. The obsidion and granite lava flow had been covered with a roaring river some time ago and all of the rocks are polished, rounded and smooth and you can see where the water would have been swirling around before it plunged down the fall. Back to the car, back to the Hwy.

Another turn off was for the Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns. We stopped there when I was a kid and I had been impressed with these large adobe brick buildings. They are egg/dome shaped and when I was a kid, you could go inside of them. After rattling down another gravel road at 9 mph (if we went 10 mph, the motorhome rattled so much, that I thought we might leave part of it behind) we arrived, to find that time (and vandals) have not been kind to the Kilns. Both were broken at the top and there was a large chain link fence around the whole thing. We could look at them, and could even still smell the smoke from inside, even though they have not been used for at least 50 years! They used to cut down cottonwood trees and burn them in these huge ovens until they turned to charcoal, then they used the coal to run the mining machinery in the foothills! I was bummed and felt silly that I had dragged my family out to see this sad sight. I guess that things change and that time and the elements are not kind. We had lunch and headed back, to the Hwy.

Driving through the small town of Indpendence we spotted a funy home that had a small scale old west town in it's front yard. We stopped to ponder such a thing. It looked as if it was built for 3 year olds. Gavin would have been too tall for most of the doors. It seemed to just be "some guys hobby", to build this town in his yard, out of scraps of wood and metal, discarded door handles and auto parts. We drove around to the back where you could see that his ENTIRE yard, was this town! Hmmmmm... I complain about Andy's gardening and mandolin hobby sometimes, but I am glad that he hasn't picked up something as completely wacky as THIS!

We were getting pretty close to Bishop and we found the Fish Hatchery! (there are actually quite a few hatcheries in the area, I don't even know what this one's "official" name is) We pulled in and walked up and down long rows of concrete fish troughs. The kids fed the fish some smelly fish pellets, which I had the pleasure of holding in my sweaty hand (should have taken some paper cups with me). Gavin thought that it was pretty cool to throw great handfulls in and create a feeding frenzy! Ella laughed at the "silly fishies". We found out that you can actuall "herd" fish! We started at one end of a trough and held an arm out over the water, the fish, fleeing the shadow of your arm, all swam toward the other end of the trough. They would create this big wave going along and at the end, they would have a pile up and flop around and lots of them would jump! "O.K. guys, it's hot and I am sure that the fish have had enough for one day!" Back, to the Hwy.

"Bishop! We made it!" We pulled into "Brown's Town RV Park", tired and road weary. We found our camp site, set up, walked the dog and went off to shower! Ella and I showered together and Gavin and Andy did the same. The showers were $1.00 for 7 minutes and Ella and I barely got done after $2.00. Andy couldn't understand, because they only needed $1.00. I tried to explain the lather, rinse, repeat process for shampooing long hair, but he was lost. I didn't even go into the part about conditioner! We had time to relax and have some dinner and a campfire and then, we all fell into bed. Day one of touring...fun and finished. Tomorrow we would explore Bishop and Law's and make a stop at the grocery store.

Gavin : self portrait