August 30 Avery satisfying Saturday

I am sitting here at my makeshift campsite at the bottom of the Sequoia National Park listening to the babbling brook, the chatter of some kind of bird. I wish I knew something about birds, and enjoying the mountain View. So I finished up my journaling and tried in vain to make coffee. First the little container of hot water slid off the grill  onto the ground because I had not parked the Casita flat enough.So I leveled the Casita and then proceeded to re-grill some water only to have the little coffee bag dump over spilling out most of its contents. I salvaged as much as I could, and then proceeded to set up my little chair and table to sit down to enjoy my surroundings. However, when I went to have my first sip  of much treasured partial cup of coffee, I found several bees had gotten to it first. They didn't drink much, but had taken a bath so I carried forth uncaffeineated.

As it turned out, I still had about 5 miles of twist and turns before going through the official exit.

Note to self: Never Ever try to enter a national park on Labor Day weekend. The line of cars stretched all the way to Three rivers. The host at the great little museum there told me the line takes about three hours to get in and then you have to climb the serpent highway to get to see the sequoias.

The museum was filled with all kinds of fascinating old stuff like the whole history of how Walt Disney's plan to turn Mineral King into a first class ski resort after 10 years of fighting finally died in 1978 where Jimmy Carter signed the omnibus Parks bill officially annexing Mineral King  into Sequoia National Park.

Contemplating how they got a 295 lb luxury wood stove up 25 miles of winding roads with  a 7000 ft elevation in a horse drawn wagon to the cabin.

Oh and a quote from John Muir.” And into the forest, I go to lose my mind and find my soul”

I looked at the gas gauge as I got into the Sierra foothills. It was just a smidge less than FULL. I had hardly used any gas as I ran on battery most of the time , recharging it going down hill most of the way. Hybrids are really great.

Then for the trek out of California. Fruit trees, almonds, dates, cherries. and miles of new seedling plantings. I wonder how long before they get a return on investment.

Then there were wind farms, solar farms, and grasshopper ( oil well) farms on  the flat land before we got back into the mountains.

Two hours to go to get to Las Vegas. I stopped at a rest stop but had some negative vibes about the place  with a panhandler on an e -bike outside the restrooms. So I  moved on.  Needing gas already I took the next exit to a gas station  $5.60per gallon. Wow, that’s more than in the park.  It is now 7:30 the sun’s down and it is still 97degrees. Finally the generator I dragged all over has saved the night. We pulled up next to a trucker at the station and called it another satisfying Saturday.