Ely, NV June 3 - 7, 2012

We left beautiful Salt Lake City around 10:00 a.m. and drove I-80 to Wendover, NV where we turned south and drove highway 93 to Ely.   I think we saw no more than 10 cars from Wendover to Ely, and there were no rest stops, gas stations, etc.   Very desolate territory!   When we arrived at the Valley View RV Park the clerk told us to "take any site but 68".   We took one that had a tree for shade and proceeded to set up.  

On Monday we walked through the downtown area and enjoyed the murals on the walls of various buildings.  The town had many casinos, but it also had a large number of empty business buildings.   We went back to camp for lunch, and by that time the wind had picked up and at times the gusts were making it impossible to see across the road!   Shades of the dust bowl!   I heard on the tv that some of the gusts were 50 mph!  

Tuesday when we awoke the temp was 53 degrees, after breakfast it was 43 with a stiff north wind.   We planned to drive the 65 miles to the Great Basin National Park so had packed a lunch the night before so we could picnic while we are there.    We stopped at the visitor's center to get a map and see the exhibits before heading for the Mt. Wheeler Scenic Drive.    Mt. Wheeler is over 13,000 feet elevation, but the scenic drive took us to the 10,000 foot level where it was a cold 29 degrees with stiff north wind and SNOW FLURRIES! Brrr.   We brought soft drinks....should have brought hot chocolate.   The "picnic" was held in the truck before starting back to Ely.   When we got back we stopped at the Old Drug Store (true name!) and I had a chocolate soda and Jack had a strawberry malt at their original soda fountain.   The waitress told us that it had snowed for 3 hours in Ely while we were at the National Park.   The snow was all gone :-(

Thankfully it warmed up on Wednesday to a balmy 56 degrees and we went down to the historic train depot and took a ride on the train to an old copper mine and back.   The engine was a diesel, and I was happy to see the engineer was a woman!   The train consisted of a coach, an open car and a caboose.   The
train yard is a working museum and is run totally by volunteers who repair the engines and keep the rolling stock in working order.   They offer several weeks a summer when people come from all over the US to work on the trains.  This site is well-known in railroading circles and has been filmed often.   It was a fun 2 hour ride.

On Thursday we pulled out at 8:45 and drove Hwy 6 to Bishop, CA.   The road was great but there was only one town between Ely and Bishop - Tonapah 168 miles from Ely and 120 miles from Bishop.    One definitely had to watch their fuel gauge!    We pulled into Bishop at 2:00 p.m.

BISHOP, CA

We were only staying for one night, so I talked Jack into dinner "out"....KFC!   We noticed a "bakkery" (their spelling) as we were driving through to get our chicken, and decided to check it out in the morning.  Oh what a delight!   The owner is from the Netherlands, and his "bakkery" had homemade breads, rolls, cakes, and sweet rolls.  YUM!   I had a cherry turnover that was so full of cherries I had them in every bite, and it was HUGE!   After breakfast we hitched up and left town at 9:30.