Back to California and Yosemite National Park

Jun 23 – Jun 29, Mon – Sun ... Monday, while still in Pahrump, we had to make a supply run to the local Walmart. While Dixie shopped, Mike had the oil changed in the car. We decided to leave this park a day early, mainly due to the 100+ heat days along with the fact the refrigerator wasn’t working too well. We were on the road Tuesday morning by 7:00 a.m. heading West to the town of Bass Lake where the temps were in the low 80’s. We decided to break up the trip by stopping in the town of Boron, CA after driving for about four hours. Boron is a small town between Barstow and Bakersfield. The rv park is just ok. The shore power is weak and we’re behind some big trees so no satellite TV tonight.
We decided to see the museums of the area so our first stop was the Vernon P. Saxon Aerospace Museum. This museum focuses on the flight history of the areas “Aerospace Valley” located near Edwards Air Force Base. The museum shows achievements in flight that have taken place in the area including the first breaking of the sound barrier and the first landing of the Space Shuttle. Mike spent quite a bit of time talking with one of the museum “old timers” listening to his many stories of aviation history.
Our next stop was the Twenty Mule Team Museum that honors the days of the mule-drawn carts that hauled more than 20 million pounds of borax out of Death Valley between 1883 and 1889.
Next was the Borax Visitors Center that sits atop one of the richest deposits of borax in the world and is California’s largest open mine pit. The gentleman that gave us a tour had been with the company for 55 years. He shared many details of the mine and the mining process.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we plan to again get an early start continuing our trip to Bass Lake.
The drive to the Bass Lake Resort went well even though the last few miles were very mountainous. Unfortunately, the entrance sign was not good and we missed it ... had to drive about a mile or more down a narrow road before finding a wide enough spot to turn in and un-hook the car. Mike got the motorhome turned around and Dixie drove the car back to the entrance of Bass Lake Resort. No harm done; just a few frayed nerves. The park is older but well kept and very much “in the trees”. However we were lucky enough to find a site where there was a satellite signal for our TV. Yeah!
Thursday, we decided to drive into the Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, because of a California wild fire near the park, the visibility (and air quality) was poor. Even with that, the park is still an awesome site to say the least. We watched a movie that pointed out many of the wonderful things to see and do while in the park. We were able to drive through most of it making several stops along the way. At one point, we were at an altitude of almost 9,000 feet. While in the Yosemite Valley, through binoculars, we watched rock climbers on the side of El Capitan Mountain approximately 2 – 3 thousand ft. up the side of the sheer cliff. Talk about nerve. On the drive back, one part of the road was diverted over a temporary bridge over the Merced River because a rock slide had covered the road.
Friday evening we walked down to “The Pines Resort” on Bass Lake and listened to some live Jazz music.
Saturday, we drove about twenty miles to an Escapees RV park that we’ll be moving to when we have to leave the one we’re currently in on Thursday next week. We put in a little pool time Saturday afternoon. There’s an exercise room at this park and we’ve used it a couple of times. Sunday was spent around the park as well. We also took a walk in the neighborhood of homes surrounding Bass Lake.