It was a long hard drive today.
As expected, I didn’t see any other wildflowers to speak about. The run east to west to Lone Pine involves first a long climb, then a drop into the Panamint Valley. Then comes the real climb to get over the Panamint Mountains. 35 mph was the best I could do, and since it twists and turns so much there’s no hope of anyone getting around me. Luckily those following didn’t seem to mind.
I pulled in at a viewpoint near the top to let my transmission cool down. Besides the valley, the view is over a deep slot canyon. Very soon a pair of jets from Nellis came by, flying sideways and fast through the canyon well below us. It happened so fast, no one could get a picture, but they came by again a minute later. The Japanese tourists got their pictures.
It was quite a sight, breaking the ordeal of dragging myself up and over steep mountains.
Tomorrow I make another wicked climb up from Mono Lake, 8500 feet, with my destination being Washoe Lake near Carson City/Reno. I’ll cross the Sierras using I-80 to make it easy on myself.
I’m becoming very tired of driving….