HOT!

We are in Lone Pine CA. Located on US 395. As mentioned earlier, a fantastic scenic highway. As it turns out, currently, we are not catching it at its best.  But more on that in a bit.  Lone Pine is the home of the Alabama Hills, a marvelous geological area of sagebrush, shrub and boulder that won location honors to so much Hollywood Western filming of the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. If you ever watched Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and myriad other westerns, and noted those big rounded rocks they were galloping through, this is where it was filmed.

We are glad we visited these hills on a prior trip. Here in Lone Pine this time, for 2 nights, we are going nowhere. It is 5:43 PM on August 17^th and it is 105 degrees out and the sky is loaded with a deep haze from wildfires near and far. So very unpleasant and not very healthy. Our rig is cranking along in our campsite with its two rooftop air conditioners and keeping us at about 83 inside. At times like this, Vilia is a moderately insulated tin box, with the sun beating down upon it without mercy. But, it is sure better than being outside. I just came back from a short walk to drop off a bag of garbage and I do not recommend the experience. Prisoners in a 5^th wheel!  Ack! Tomorrow we are off to Barstow for 1 night, (and our last night in CA),  then to Las Vegas for a few nights before we enter the Utah red rock country, starting with Zion and Bryce Canyons. Las Vegas was something like 115 today. A cool down from the heat is forecast yet a few days away.   What was that classic line from Wizard of Oz…”I’m melting”