| 9/29/03 We ended up spending the night at Uncle Bob and Aunt Vivian�s in their driveway. We were in heaven because it was so cool! The traffic started to die down around 11 PM. I fell fast asleep in the cool evening. The next morning we woke up and had breakfast with Bob and Vivian. We had cereal toast and OJ and talked for a while and went over maps. We were soon on the road headed for Yosemite. We followed 215 to 395. We pulled over at a sign that said Mazuma relocation camp. It ended up that 10,000 Japanese had been relocated there between 1942 and 1945. All that was left were cement slabs and occasional rocks but everything else about this land is preserved as a reminder of what happened. It was kind of eerie being there. Each family had just a small �apartment� that seemed more like a cell: 25x20 for 8 people with one light and one heater and it looked like only one window. Everyone had to wait in lines for food each day. Over 1 mile of desert land was used this way. It was a chilling reminder of what we are capable of. As we headed on, the views became spectacular. |
| 092903 Hwy 395 - Southern California |
| The road winded right between two mountain ranges with beautifully carved peaks and ripples. Volcanic rocks lined the roads at intervals and we found out that 170,000 years ago the valley we were in had been a volcanic crater and unleashed a force over 2000 times stronger than Mount St Helens. We saw a sign for the Devils Postpile and we really wanted to see it. |
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| We turned into Mammoth Lakes at the Inyo forest and followed the signs hoping to find a campground. The sunset in the background was beautiful orange and there were pointed peaks in the distance illuminated in the light. We drove down a twisting road and on the right side was the sunset turning brilliant pink and beautiful peaks around every corner. It was gorgeous but we needed to find a place to camp. We had done a lot of driving today and were exhausted from the weekend. It ended up that each campground had closed just yesterday for the season! We explored around and saw a deer and a buck with antlers. We also saw a small gray creature dart into the bushes. We were wondering if it was a coyote. We found a place to stay just outside a campground in a turn around. There was a picnic bench and is probably used for a turnaround for buses. |
| Once again we are concerned about being woken up and lectured. If this occurs, it will be lecture number 3 on a 2 week trip. Soon we will be on wanted posters across the US in state and national parks. It feels so good to stop. I took the dogs on leash to do their business and when we settled in we heard what sounded like 10 dogs barking in unison. It sounded like coyotes right next to each other just on the other side of the closed campground. It sounded so much like dogs we were speculating whether they were puppies. It was definitely a choir. We were wondering if they were celebrating the end of camping season. When Kim went outside to turn off the lights in the cab the barking stopped and we wondered if they had heard us. At one point while I was typing this Sam stared right at the door and started doing her low growl. I just about jumped out my skin! We have found home however temporary it may be. It feels good to have stopped and I have a feeling we are in for a lot of beauty tomorrow. |
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