This be the Place, part 1

Sunday, April 10, 2011
Today didn’t start out well.  We decided to go into Minden, about 7 miles away, and have breakfast at Denny’s and enjoy a little free internet.  Since there was still no internet at the “Resort”, I checked the GPS and sure enough, there was a Denny’s in Minden.
We started out in the Wee Fit, and barely entered the highway when I noticed the tire pressure light was on.  Thankfully, there was a left turn lane just ahead so I flipped a U and headed back to the Resort.  We aired up the tires at the Resort’s gas station (extra charge!) but the warning light stayed on, even though the gauge registered the correct number of pounds.  So we went back to our site and got the tire pressure gauge and found the back tires were still a little low.  Aired them up some more (extra charge) and we were on our way.
Naturally I had neglected to bring the GPS with us but I wasn’t worried.  The address for Denny’s was right on Hwy 395 and Minden is a small place, how could we miss it??  Russ spotted it first but I was in the wrong lane.  Traffic was light so I just pulled across both lanes and into the small strip mall.  There was a Best /western Motel but I did not see a Denny’s.  Then I saw the sign:  Danny’s Steakhouse and Grill!
Okay, must not be the one.  We drove clear to the end of Minden and into Gardnerville and did not see a Denny’s.  I was ready to settle for a McDonalds but Russ suggested we go back to Danny’s and eat there.  We walked in and it was certainly a former (and not too long ago) DENNY’S!  The menu was different and the sign was different but the whole interior screamed Denny’s.  We had a decent breakfast, went back to our site, got everything ready to go and hit the road just a little after 10 a.m.
Now the trip has really begun!  Skies were blue, the sun was warm and we were rolling.  I think Hwy 395 is one of my favorite drives anywhere.  You go from scrubby sage filled desert to pine forests and back again in no time.  Although the road can be a little slow at times, that is just an opportunity to enjoy all the beauty that surrounds you.
Our first stop was the little town of Walker for a rest break for the doggies.  They did their little business then I took them for a walk down the road (no dogs allowed in the park).  Thought I could handle both dogs as they appeared to be quite finished with any “business”.  WRONG.  Suddenly Rusty stopped while Poppy surged ahead and when they had me stretched out like a medieval criminal on the rack, they took care of the rest of their business.  Just about then I noticed a German Shepherd in the yard across the dirt road.  The only fence was a rail fence and the dog was loose.  I was trying to reel in both dogs, pull two doggie bags off the roll in my pocket and keep and eye on the German shepherd all at the same time.  I finally got a bag off the roll, when a pick up truck comes roaring down the road with yet another dog barking it’s head off.  So I’m trying to control both dogs, avoid a confrontation with the German Shepherd, pick up doggie doo, and avoid getting run over by a pick-up.  It all worked out and I didn’t leave any dog droppings behind and my dogs never opened their yaps the entire time.  They just wanted to get back to the safety of the motor home!
Leaving Walker is one of my favorite parts of 395.  For quite a while you follow the Walker River and its myriad twists and turns.  The campground were still closed for the winter, but there were multiple places to pull over – if you were a car!  Not so easy for us so this photo so the Walker River along the highway was taken through a very dirty windshield.

I don;t know what it is about the mighty Sierras that draws me.  I am not a rock climber, nor a mountaineer.  I don’t ski or snowmobile, and I don’t even hike very far.  But every so often, I HAVE to get to this area.  I wasn’t born here, but it feels like home.  There is a draw to the Sierra Nevada and to the Owens Valley that goes beyond reason.  My brother feels the same way.  It’s like something calls to us and every so often we just have to go to Bishop and see the mountains and the rivers and the trees and all the beauty that resides in this area.  Russ thinks it’s much simpler.  He thinks it’s just the call of Schat’s Bakery!
Around every bend in the road there is another breath-taking view.  Snapshots taken through a dirty windshield are actually an affront to the grandeur of this place, but it’s all I got!

Sometimes it seems like you are driving directly into the mountains. 

None of the passes are open yet, but I wouldn’t try them with our set-up even if they were.  The quest for beauty only goes so far.
Further along the highway is the little town of Bridgeport.  I snapped the shot just past Bridgeport.  I just liked the looks of this house and the contrast of the still winter-dead trees, the grass just coming alive and the mountains bearing evidence of winter’s reluctance to give way to spring.

Not too much farther along, you come around a corner and there, all of a sudden, is Mono Lake.  Not one of my favorite Lakes, the sudden and stunning vista from way up high on the mountain road is breath taking.  This photo does not do justice to the view.

Not too much farther from Mono Lake, Hwy 395 begins its steep descent into the Owens Valley.  Look closely and you can see how the road turns back on itself and yes it is that steep – perhaps even worse than it appears.

I can remember coming over Conway Summit as a kid, going back and forth between Bishop and Reno.  The road was just a two lane highway back then and Dad always carried a canvas water bag with the rope handle slung over the hood ornament.  At the top of the 8123 foot summit, and along the road, people would leave containers of water for those vehicles that had trouble making the grade.  We often had to stop at the top and make use of that canvas bad.  There used to be a water fountain at the top of the grade but not anymore.  Things have sure changed, and no one worries much about that kind of thing anymore.  Our Therapy done us proud!  She took both the uphill and the downhill in stride with no problems at all. 
Well, this is much too long, but it was such a wonderful day.  I still have pictures to share of where we are camped tonight.  SOOOO much better than that urban parking lot where we spent the last two nights.  And would you believe it?  Russ and I got so warm this afternoon, we both had to change into shorts!!  Glory be…I think we found the warm weather. 
Come back tomorrow for photos of the creek, the campsite and Russ wearing shorts!!  Night all.