Hopping down the 395: July 21-24, 2018


Coleville/Walker KOA.  A quote from Amelia, “Nothing like a crappy campground to make you like an RV park.”


Leaving Tahoe we went down the Kingsbury 9% grade into a smoke choked Carson Valley.  People in Tahoe were saying the smoke was worse in Gardnerville and they weren’t kidding.  We took three days to get home from Tahoe.  Our first stop was a ninety minute drive to Coleville.  The next day 70 minutes to Lee Vining.  The third night two hours to Lone Pine, with a quick stop to ride legs 1 & 2 of Lower Rock Creek.

In Coleville we had smoke, thunder, lightning, and rain.  I promised to take my girls three miles down the road to Walker Burger for dinner.  The story we were told when we rescued Sara from the Whitmore Springs Animal Shelter was that she was at the Walker Burger for multiple days begging and bugging all the customers for food.  Finally the owners of Walker Burger had enough and called the Mono County Animal Control to pick her up.  She spent a few weeks at the animal shelter in Bridgeport before being transfered to Whitmore Springs south of Mammoth Lakes.  One year after we rescued Sara, we drove by the Walker Burger, but I was insistent that we not stop.  I was afraid someone would claim she was their dog.  Four years later I decided it was safe to visit.  Maybe, just maybe, we are projecting, but she sure acted like she remembered the place. She was going nuts dragging Amelia around.


Rainy day, laundry day


Sara’s old home


She was going nuts!


I’m telling you, she remembers.


Posing with Smokey


We had more thunder and just a little rain in Lee Vining.  Amazingly enough it was our first stop in weeks with blazing fast Verizon LTE.


In Bridgeport and Lee Vining they absolutely stick it to you for gas.


Cash or check only, no credit cards.  I love businesses that can pull that off.



Mono Vista RV Park.  Not as spacious as the Coleville KOA, but still better than Campground by the Lake!


Stormy shot of Mono lake


Sara loving a Mono cone.


We really lucked out and didn’t hit any awful heat on the entire trip.  Lone Pine doesn’t count because it’s always hot in the summer and we knew it would be, sure enough 100 and humid.  We stayed at Boulder Creek RV park.



Boulder Creek RV Park.  That’s our Airstream in the left corner.


Around 7:30 in the evening when it cooled down we went for a drive through the Alabama Hills.  Amelia spotted this Great Horned Owl.  It was one of the few times I wish we had something better than an iPhone to take pictures.


Tuttle Creek Rd, a must do drive through the southern half of the Alabama Hills.


Moon rising


The gods were smiling down upon us when we left Lone Pine on Tuesday at 7:30am.  We made it through the dreaded Inland Empire on the I-15 without any traffic!  The summer trip is over.  Where and when we go next I don’t know, but I’m already anxious.

4 thoughts on “Hopping down the 395: July 21-24, 2018

  1. Why not cross that great divide, and do the great mid west? We have great trails, lots of lake shore and our very own brewery (Shorts) right here!
    You ‘re always welcome!

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