august 26 Tue Yosemite At LAST!

The drive from  Gabb Nevada to Yosemite was monotonously puny mountains with much desolate area and impoverished little towns, mostly abandoned, shacks with piles of junk everywhere. I thought I saw one solar farm in the distance, but not sure and no wind turbines despite warnings of high winds. I wonder if anyone has ever found a good use for Sagebrush like fuel or fertilizer or something that it could be considered a crop to be harvested. 

Howthorne was much healthier apparently a military compound. Then we crossed into California. Only the color of the pavement changed until” oh my “he mountains began to grow and look majestic .

I stopped to see if I could help a rare fellow traveler, parked on the side of the road who said “no I'm just trying to get a picture of the storm”. As I looked ahead, yes ominous black clouds with streaks down to earth were developing ahead of us. Lightning bolts made it really erry, My courageous guard dog began to shiver and insist on being in my lap. Later, we found that this much welcomed rain was the first they had had all season.

 I found a perfect place to pull off to wait out the storm and to see my afternoon patient before finally proceeding with the grand adventure into Yosemite national Park.  As always “Aha Sheet”  had gone before and programmed it that this was the ideal time to visit the park between August 15 and Labor Day when you didn't need to have vehicle registration. I didn't need to pay as I had a senior pass, and there were camping spots available without reservation which never ever happens during the summer season. So now it was up to Miss Highlander to get us up to nine thousand feet. It was a good thing. There were such little traffic as we inched along sometimes at 20 miles an hour (speed limit 50.), but she hung in there and oh my !.oh my.! You drive under overhanging cliffs of sheer granite, and then they say look out for falling rocks.!

! Next time I come, there's no question. It will be with a self driving car as my neck doesn't even turn 180° and it's impossible to keep your eyes on the road, drink in what you are experiencing, watch for falling rocks, look for traffic piling up behind you, and then they say 21 beers were killed so far this season by drivers going too fast.

This is crazy. I just got a call from students for life  to thank me for my support and of course wanting some more .How in the world did they get through when I can't call out, can't send email or text get news or weather or anything and yet they get through.

We finally got to the first campground and sure enough they did have openings. later as I drove around there were in fact quite a few un used sites so the guy made reservations for me at the other end of the park for tomorrow . it's useful to be old as it only cost 18 bucks per night and for some reason he even put me in a handicap spot, I must've looked pretty handicapped. It's beautifully developed and organized, except for the darn map which led me astray to find C 74. After doing the same circle three times I finally stopped to ask a a passerby where in the world was C 74 he said oh yeah it's just a few spots past where we are down that road that says exit which of course I had assumed was not the way to go.

 They sure are serious about bears in that every campsite has a humongous food storage and trash storage vault like  Bear proof mechanism.

We had just enough time to grill up the last of the salmon fillets for dinner and then head down to the Rangers campfire talk. It was really more of a performance by a delightful young creative ranger who brought along her guitar and taught us some songs, but then did a very clever skit, pretending she was one of the pine trees helping us to understand the ecosystem of this particular forest.  It was delightful and warm around the campfire, but it was pitch dark by the time it was over and now the challenge was to find your way back to C 74 with a cell phone flashlight. I did have the common sense to at least bring the map with me and thought I recognized. some of the rigs as I walked, and then by the grace of God there she was, my little home away from home. By now it was mighty cold and so the little buddy heater was a great comfort until it ran out of propane, but it was time to crawl into my sleeping bag anyway and call it another blessed day.