Manzanar, Chuck, Stop… burger-time!
The days are getting more and more gratifying the longer I am out. This morning i woke from my hot-springs camping and got moving south soon after a eggs and toast breakfast. I figured that I could make it to my next scheduled stop (Manzanar War Relocation Center) and hang out there or in a nearby town for the afternoon work.
Manzanar War Relocation Center is the site where all the Japanese-Americans were held during WWII. I had high hopes to tour the site, but those hopes were squashed when I arrived. Yes, you can tour the site, but there is nothing to tour other than some rock outlines of where building use to be. There are only three buildings remaining on the entire site and one is the community center turned visitors center. The others are some old barracks. This is all that remains from a site that you can auto-tour via a 3 mile around road. I moved on after snapping a few photos…
Chuck, a fellow tramp
Only a few more miles down the road was Lone Pine, CA where I found a city park to hang out and planned to take care of my afternoon work. i had an hour wait so used the bathroom and toured the park. Upon arriving at the van I met a ‘local’ by the name of Chuck who asked for some spare change. We sparked up a conversation and as it turns out, he too is a tramp. He has been riding his bike for over a month, camping where he can and just hanging out asking for change from the tourists. Chuck has been living “on the road side” off and on since he was a teenager (now 59 years old) all across the USA. I gave him my spare change and the extra sleeping bag I had in the van and parted ways.
During my afternoon work, I did a little google-map recon of the area after seeing that Death Valley was going to be over 100 degrees this afternoon. I did not want to drive through in the worst of the heat, so I was looking for a place to hang out until the sun began to set. What I found was a nice little gem of a rec-area…
Diaz Lake Recreation Area was less than a mile off my plotted course. I arrived and made sure it was OK to hang out for a few hours before finding a secluded (or so I thought) spot on the back side of the lake to pop out the awning and relax until it begins to cool. I got me a little sun while reading and plan to BBQ (thanks Mom!) some beef I bought in town. I have been hankering for a burger and I will score that meal tonight. The rest I plan to make into meat-balls to add to future rice-n-balls dinners :-)
I should arrive in Beatty, NV late tonight where I will stay one night for sure, possibly two. Hopefully I can get a shower from a RV park at least.
Mileage totals: 4 days | 354 miles driven | 10 miles hiked
