Them thar mountains

We had one final week on the road before we had to start with the real chores associated with our drive back up to Washington, we aimed to stay at a free campground in the Eastern Sierras that we enjoyed last year around this time – where we got a little snowfall on us during our stay. This would make the following weekend’s hop over the mountains very easy as well. Unfortunately, and just after me bragging to Kerri about how driving in 2 inches of snow is not a big deal to me, the short dirt road leading to the campground had a few inches of snow on it – stopping us dead in our tracks.

I stand by my statement, but add the caveat that 2 inches of snow *on pavement* is no big deal. Add in a muddy road with deep ditches on both sides, AND a steep incline, and it becomes not worth the risk. I swallowed my pride and backed out of the almost certain rest-of-the-day-stuck-in-the-snow-and-mud. Kerri approved, without giving me any shit about it. Instead we backtracked (NO!) a few miles to our backup spot on the other side of the highway. It wasn’t under the pine trees like the planned location, but it was open to the sun and had one helluva view of the Sierras.

The week progressed as it always does, with us mostly hunkered down in the van, working. We had the luxury of a vault toilet nearby, which is always welcomed, and mostly peace and quiet of the high desert. The location we chose was at a off highway trail head, so there were a couple vehicles that popped in each day but all were respectful and gone shortly. It was a pleasant place to call ours for the week… or most of the week anyway. We decided to leave a day early (Friday) to get over the mountains before some weather rolled through California. The fear being that Caltrans would shut down the roads if a single drop of moisture fell out of the sky – which they often do when moisture falls. We did so without a scratch, and now had an extra day to knock out some of the long todo list before heading towards Washington.