We're in Lone Pine.

Boulder Creek RV Park, our home this week.

Looking down our row toward the Sierra Nevada.

Here we are in Lone Pine, where the spirits have led us. Our own past spirits, and those of other RV bloggers. Thanks to Al of the Bayfield Bunch, we got to meet another pair of RVing Bloggers, Joe and Nancy Carrier of RVing Beach Bums. Unfortunately, they had come to the end of a busy day and were getting ready to move on the next morning, so we just shared a couple of stories during happy hour. We won't be able to get to know them now except through their blog -- but that's better than not meeting them at all!

Joe and Nancy Carrier paid us a short visit.

If you are a follower of the Bayfield Bunch and Travels in Therapy , you've seen their pictures and read their descriptions. So, we are out to try to find some different views, something that the other folks didn't see.

Try this! On our first afternoon here, we decided to go into the town to try to find a small axe, because we didn't have one, but we have a fire pit here at the Boulder Creek RV park. But first we wanted to have Linner. (For those who don't know, Linner is kind of like Brunch, but it's in midafternoon. You get the picture.) We found a nice Linner at the Bonanza, despite its name, a Mexican restaurant.

Across the street from the Bonanza was a True Value hardware store, that happened to have one small axe left, and we bought it. Now all we need is some firewood. and we can have a fire!

After Linner and getting the axe,we went poking about until we came to the end of the town and found an intersection where we could turn around. Then we saw the name of the street, and had to turn in.

While we never found the narrow gauge railroad (Joe Carrier told us he had found the old roadbed, nothing else, quite a ways out the road) we did find this old station.

Kind of beat up and worn down, but still standing. Upon arrival we were greeted by a large black barking dog, so we let him bark while we scoped the place out from inside the car.

There were some old cars near the station, and a man called out that the dog would not bite. I took that as an invitation to come closer, and introduced myself to Rod, who had been working on one of the cars, replacing an engine. Turns out Rod and his wife had bought the old station years ago when it was in even further ruin and made it their home. They are raising three sons in the place. He told me this was the only original train station of its particular vintage (the 1920's) still standing in America. His intention is to keep it standing as long as he can.

This was a standard gauge line that ran from here to Mojave during the mining years, and the station continued in service until (I believe he said) 1990. At that point the railroad tore out its rails and ties, and the station was vandalized: all the windows broken out, some of the siding taken, and the the pump from the well stolen. Rod and his wife had a major job ahead of them, and from the looks of the place, there is still more to do.

 

Rod said he painted the place one time, but that paint didn't last as long the the kind the railroad uses.

Railroad station directly below Mount Whitney.

Another stop we made that day was at the Interagency Visitor Center. I asked the ranger if Mount Whnitney was directly viewable from there. She took us outside and pointed out the highest peak in the contiguous United States.

That peak in the middle is Mount Whitney. Lone Pine Peak, to the left, appears taller, but that's due to perspective.

That made a full afternoon, so we turned tail and came back to our Rosie and a quiet evening. Tried to wtch one of our DVD movies, but both promptly fell asleep. There's always another day in ... Our Life on Wheels!