Oh!

Oh! is right!

We've stirred the Jell-o once more, changing our route. We had originally planned to travel straight north on Highway 395 to Carson City, with a stop or two. Then we looked at all the mountain passes we have to negotiate, and found what looked like a longer but more level route, turning east just north of Lee Vining on CA 167 to Hawthorne, NV, then northwest to Carson City.

A neighbor advised us that, once we get to Lee Vining, we've done the main part of the climbing; from there on, it was a little more and a little less. He recommended staying the course on 395, and suggested we spend a few nights at Oh Ridge campground in the Inyo National Forest. Oh! He was right!

On our route north, we stopped in Bishop for gas. At Von's, a Safeway affiliate, we were able to use a 10 cent per gallon discount on gasoline -- and we bought 47 gallons to fill up our Rosie! We stopped into the store to get some milk and fruit, ended up spending a bunch and earning yet another 10 cent per gallon discount!

Because of the long uphill route ahead of us, we unhitched the Suzuki, following our neighbor's suggestion. Suzy drove Rosie and I followed all the way to Lee Vining. And I actually did what I have disdained in others: the scenery was so splendid, I pointed our point-and-shoot out the windshield or the drivers window and shot picture after picture. These are the best of them.

I'm not used to following Suzy and Rosie, and it looks like as if they are heading for  a big wall of mountain!

And then we came to the Ponderosa Pine - our favorite tree.

What an unusual sky!

At last we came to CA 158, turned south for a mile, and then west on a forest road (well-paved, two lanes) for a half-mile, and into Oh Ridge Campground. It took no time at all to discover where the name Oh Ridge came from. This is the view from our site. Oh! That's all we could say, "Oh!" And we are still saying it.

This is our front view.





We are in site 29 on the Duck Loop (all the loops have loopy names like that), with no hookups at all. Gosh, are we dry-camping? Yes, for four nights. We're here at 7700 feet of elevation (Lone Pine was 3800), and at 7:00pm the temperature is 50 degrees. We'll be down near freezing overnight, and light snow is predicted. Are we worried? Well, Suzy brought only one sweatshirt, I brought two. We didn't plan for this, but we will be fine! Full propane tanks, full freshwater tank, empty black and gray tanks, and a generator. Food in the fridge, and a view that won't stop. Our best classical music is soaring from our iPod. And it's happy hour in ... Our Life on Wheels.