We decided to take CA 395 from LA to Lake Tahoe. It was a neat idea, if slightly out of the way for heading to Albuquerque. It was not to be. As soon as I started looking for a week end place, Mothers Day no less, in Lake Tahoe it became clear I needed to have booked way back before I knew we would head this way. As we set about driving  north on 395 it seemed clear that a stop in Lone Pine was a necessity and we got a spot in Boulder Creek RV Park just south of town. 

I’m not sure I can adequately describe Lone Pine. It lies in a plain between two mountain ranges on the edge of what was once a very large lake which has gone to feed ever thirsty Los Angeles County.  In the 1930s some movie producers found Lone Pine and decided it was a wonderful location for almost anything they could imagine. In addition to many major productions, Gunga Din, the original Lone Ranger movie, it became the location for every western cowboy B  movie made in the 40’s through the 60’s later it also became the location for Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hop-along (choose your own spelling)  Cassidy Tom Mix, Lone Ranger, and I had better stop there. TV Westerns were also shot there.

We explored the height of the mountain and came down to Movie Drive where we proceeded to the trailhead for Mobius Arch 

where Carol and I took the short but strenuous hike to see the Arch.

We stopped by the rock call Shark and saw this speck up near the top

We stopped in town to have lunch at The Bakery Cafe which is in the throws of reopening and adding staff so they can open 7 days a week. Service was a bit chaotic, but the food was fine and the staff were trying real hard between training new staff and getting meals out.

We hated to leave,  but we had a sort of a plan and we stayed for the time we had booked. The short term plan was to crossover into Nevada to fuel the coach in Tonopah and stay nearby on some BLM land. {Life has taken us into strange places, in this instance we have referred to BLM Land since we started RVing 20 years ago, It is Bureau of Land Management Dept. of the Interior) We missed the turn. Eventually we found Pit 12 at the intersection of US 95 and NV 266 next to the Lida airstrip. It was quiet and unpopulated other than by a wandering herd of cattle. The next day brought us to Boulder City NV. More on that in another post.