CARSON CITY FOR A WEEK

Mono Lake from Hwy 395, north of Lee Vining

After some mid morning grocery shopping at Von's, we pulled out of the K-Mart parking lot in Bishop, and headed north on Hwy 395. From this point north, the eastern Sierras blend high desert scenery with snow capped mountains, and multiple lakes, rivers, and sections of pine forest. This area from Bishop north to Carson City, has always been one of my favorite places to spend time. As we passed by Mono Lake, it was nice to see that the lake water level has risen a few feet since we were last here. According to the Save Mono Lake Committee, the lake still has another 8 vertical feet to rise, before the court mandated lake level is reached. If the committee hadn't sued the city of Los Angeles many years ago, Mono Lake would be only slightly larger than a mud puddle by now.

Looking south down Hwy 395 through the very small town of Bridgeport

We stopped briefly in Bridgeport, where we have spent a lot of time in the past. In 1990, myself and 4 other guys started a motorcycle rally in Bridgeport that became so popular, it completely outgrew the town. After the 5th year, I stepped aside as the rally continued to grow larger and larger. During my involvement, I spearheaded a Harley raffle each year, that raised over $100,000 for the local hospital. At about year number 8 or 9, the rally had grown so large, that the town infrastructure was not able to keep up, and the town fathers voted to end the event.
We made a lot of friends in Bridgeport, and created memories that will last forever.

Just north of Bridgeport, we came to a highway construction project, and noticed that there was a fire burning on the hillside. As we were stopped, we became aware of a large helicopter that was dumping water on the fire. In the next picture, I captured the water coming out of the aircraft in the center left of the photo. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, the helicopter is a little more visible.


We pulled into the Gold Dust West Casino RV Park around 2:30pm, and after getting parked, drove over to the convention & visitors bureau to pay for the group train ride this Saturday. We gathered a bunch of goodies from Janet at the Bureau, which we'll distribute to our members when they start arriving today. The next few days will be busy, as we prepare for the activities that have been in the planning stages for the past year.