Trailer Trash Mama (Again!)

California (again) Our detour to avoid Mammoth Lake was going to involve an overnight Boondocking stay at Walker Lake - until I read about the massive spiders on the loose there.  Not sure if it had anything to do with the gorgeous but eerie turquoise color of the water but I’d had enough excitement for the day and we opted to be safe in an RV park in the nearby town of Hawthorne.  And when I say safe, I mean really safe. Hawthorne is either the  World’s Safest Town  or the World’s Most Dangerous Town. Depends on your personal persuasion. It has a distinct honor, which I’ll get to in a moment.  It’s certainly a beautifully located little town and the RV park had some lovely views and, more importantly, NO spiders. A view from our window. But spiders now seemed pretty far down on the danger list.What we didn’t know was that Hawthorne is home to an Army Base.  But not just any old army base. I was going to take a photo of the base and all the strange little conical mounds and weird littl

 Sirs, Although I count myself a lifelong admirer of your excellent, accurate and informative maps and, indeed,  have relied upon them in many a life or death situation, I feel duty bound to point out a rather glaring mistake in your most recent ‘Road Atlas’ as you now seem determined to call it, although why escapes me as ‘Map’ has served the world perfectly well for hundreds of years - but I digress.  The glaring mistake I refer to is in the naming of Scenic Routes. I recently used your otherwise excellent MAP to plan an alternative route in order to avoid one of the afore-mentioned life or death situations along a designated Scenic Route.  According to your good selves there was nothing noteworthy about the route I chose (95 then 6 in Western Nevada) which, under the circumstances, was well suited to my motoring needs, having recently been subjected to an over-stimulation of my Last Nerve. Well, Sirs, I beg to disagree.  Far from the boring yet soothing road your map indicated, thi

Nevada There was a lull.  There was even a rainbow.  As our neighbors in the RV park were packing up and heading south before the Bomb Cyclone hit we decided on an outing to Lake Tahoe.  It was just behind the mountains we had been staring at for a couple of days and the main reason for coming to this campground.  The dusting of pretty snow on top just made it that much more tantalizing. And Lake Tahoe did not disappoint.  Emerald Bay in particular was spectacular and I was very taken with the notion of building a tea house on an island, which Mrs. Knight did when she’d finished her Scandi castle in 1929.   That’s it mid left below.  You can tour the castle if you’re willing to hike down a mile (and up again), which I totally would have been if not for the coming storm etc. The tea house island. Still not quite figured out the selfie stick thing. So, I mentioned Lakes in the title.  In case you’d forgotten we were camped beside Lake Washoe which was hard to see because of the ongoing d

Nevada Batten down the hatches. Or whatever the opposite of Storm Chasers is.  That’s us.  This trip is all about staying ahead of Weather.  We were lucky to make it over the Sierra Nevada mountains before what turned out to be just the Hors d’oeuvres course of this monster Bomb Cyclone and Atmospheric River gala event. Sometimes I love this country.  I mean the people in it.  The land itself I’ve always loved - that’s the easy part.  But the people, well, that can be challenging, especially over the last decade or so.  One of the most appealing aspects of this trip was that we would be self-contained in our own little bubble while we traveled.  Covid aside, I was relieved to be spared having to interact with too many people.  Perhaps I’ve lost my “people skills”, or perhaps I just don’t want to be disappointed.   But sometimes you have to channel your inner Blanche and rely on the kindness of strangers.  When this happens I’m rarely disappointed by the American people.  Take the day w

California than Ansel Adams. Of course.  I’m embarrassed to post photos from my silly little iPhone so I’ll spare you too many iconic vistas -                        okay, maybe just this one, to prove I finally made it to the Right Y Park. I actually cried when I first saw this view.  Yes, it probably would have been better if it was in black and white, but the Autumn colors and the blue skies weren’t too shabby at all. Yosemite was one of those rare experiences that actually exceed your expectations.  I’m glad we had a few days there even if we couldn’t get to Glacier Point because of the snow.  Did I mention we had snow?  It only made it more beautiful even though it melted away quickly. The little bit of snow melt even gave us a glimpse of Bridal Veil Falls  - not exactly plunging but the only waterfall that hadn’t dried up completely. Opposite your first view of El Capitan there’s this rather wonderful sign. Talking “forest good”.  Love it.  And thank you Teddy Roosevelt and John

California  Thanks to Leslie and Her Dan we took a wonderful guide with us on our forays into Yosemite - an audio app that by some strange witchcraft knows exactly where you are AT ALL TIMES, even when there is NO  CELL PHONE SERVICE.  You can even see the blue dot that is you moving along the road and, sure enough, as you round the bend to an awe inspiring vista, Bob is right there to tell you all about it. I have a mighty crush on Bob.  When there’s a slightly less spectacular stretch of road coming up he has a store of wonderful stories to tell you, including one about Yosemite Sam, the pint sized cowboy cartoon who was always battling that darn varmint Bugs Bunny.  Apparently there were other contenders for the character’s name including Wyoming Willie, Denver Dan (!) and Texas Tiny.   We took his advice of course and made sure we weren’t arguing.  Thanks Bob! Another cartoon character made an appearance that day.  In the parking lot we saw a couple of serious looking climbers pack