This morning we left the Atlantis Casino and drove to Lowes in Reno. Part of our new RV selection process was to only consider those floorplans that could have the rear bunkhouse converted into two bedrooms. For that to happen here, M will have to go through the kids bathroom to get to his room. That means we need a door from the living room to the bathroom. Sadly, the medicine cabinet and vanity are in the way:
Right now the bathroom is accessed through this door to the bunkhouse. Since this door will only go to B’s room, we have to put a door in the wall to the left so that M can enter his room via the bathroom:
The first step was to get the vanity and medicine cabinet off the wall:
There we go:
Next, I cut out the wall:
Since Reno doesn’t allow overnight parking in store lots, we repositioned to Carson City, Nevada, and overnighted at the Walmart adjacent to a Home Depot. I intend to finish the bathroom door project tomorrow.
This morning we said goodbye to our dispersed camping spot near Mammoth Lakes, dumped and filled at Convict Lake, and headed North. We waved to this helpful roadside reminder:
When I was in high school, I would sometimes wear a Bodie T-shirt to school. Apparently, this was so amusing to some that I was voted “most likely to become mayor of Bodie” by my class.
Today, the mayor has returned:
Bodie was a gold rush town in the Eastern Sierras that is maintained in a state of arrested decay, so buildings are not improved but are repaired to prevent them from collapsing. The town reached its peak in the 1880s and was completely abandoned by the 1950s.
Houses were often shingled with flattened out kerosene containers:
There was a rich guy in town:
We peeked in the window of the local gym:
These pumps are “pay inside” only:
The vault is all that remains of this bank:
The gold processing mill sits above the town:
This is the second school in town, as the first one was burned down by one of the students:
The most interesting aspect of the town for me was this structure. Electricity was delivered to here via power lines from a waterwheel attached to a generator, positioned 13 miles away. It was the first time in history that electricity was delivered over a distance via wires. The poles, some of which are still standing, are in a perfect line as engineers of the time were concerned that the electricity would fall off the wire if there was a bend in the line:
The hotel lobby:
We continued North to Reno, Nevada, where we overnighted at the Atlantis Casino. See the trip map for details.
After homeschool, we drove to Tom’s Place, CA and then up to the trailhead for the Little Lakes hike. I should have checked the trailhead elevation before heading out, as it was a chilly 54 at over 10,000 feet at the trailhead, quite a bit colder than the low 70s down at 7,200 feet where the RV is parked. We were therefore a bit underdressed, but we did out best to solve the problem by hiking fast:
We were soon rewarded with amazing views:
We soon found some snow to play on:
We approached the first of many lakes:
The snow was deep in spots:
More lakes:
We finally reached Long Lake, and decided to turn around as the trail ahead was completely snowed in:
More great views on the way down:
And another visit to the snow hill:
What a great hike! Tomorrow we head North towards Reno.
After homeschool, I took the kids a couple miles up the road to Convict Lake to do some fishing. We didn’t catch anything, but the views were stunning:
After returning from the fishing trip, I mounted an RV wiring harness in the bed of the truck. The first step was to drill a hole in the wall of the truck’s bed:
Then it was just a matter of running the wiring harnesses and screwing everything in:
Good Shabbos from BLM land near Mammoth Lakes, CA!
This morning, we drove into “downtown” Bishop to visit the famous Mountain Light Gallery, home of the work of Galen Rowell. I’ve been wanting to visit for a few years and I was not disappointed. The work on display is an inspiration as incredible photography and a promotion of the incredible landscapes of the Eastern Sierra. This is a photo of the guest photographer room, which featured the impressive work of Guy Tal:
Leaving Bishop, we drove a bit Northeast to the historic town of Laws to visit the railroad museum there:
We learned that the phrase “Breakneck Speed” comes from what happens when a Penny Farthing rider looses control at speed:
Artifacts and buildings collected throughout the Owens Valley are on display here:
Each of the dozens of buildings was set up to be a newspaper office, doctor’s office, etc.:
This caboose was built in the late 1800s:
Like a ski lift, this is one end of a tram used to bring tungsten ore out of the Sierras:
The docent demonstrated a restored period winch used to bring ore carts out of a shaft:
The docent fired up the restored engine that runs the mill. He demonstrated the 4 phases of a four-cycle engine’s operation, which was easy to see as the piston is partially exposed at the top of its stroke.
It really runs! And it drives some of the belts, although they are not yet hooked up to the mill:
Outside again, we saw how train engines were turned around, as Laws was for a time the Northern terminus of the line that ran South to Owens Lake:
We got to go inside the shop to see other trains and cars being restored:
We peeked into more buildings:
The model train display had the same 1776 engine and caboose commemorative set that my parents purchased for me in 1976:
We left Laws and headed Northwest to overnight on BLM land near Crowley Lake, a few miles outside of the town of Mammoth Lakes. The forecast in Bishop, at 4000 feet, for this weekend is in the 90s. Here at 7200 feet we’re expecting mid 70s. See the trip map for details. Tonight, B made her own letterbox stamp, inspired by the Sierras:
Yep, it’s rough living with views like this. Out nearest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away.
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