"The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go"

... so now we're camped quite some lil' bit closer to those snow fields. Looking north along where our trail will stretch, I can see more snow capped peaks waiting for us... but that's another couple weeks away.

Tuttle Creek was a unique and shining time. More friends were gained there I think than any other previous camp. And the feeling of opportunities gained is strong... kind of an odd thing. I'm curious to see how "things" work out in the future... 

There was one guy, Dale, who's living, and been living for quite a while, on an 80's Honda NightHawk Motorcycle. As soon as he qualified to gather in his social security... he saddled up and left!... then there was Frank... fifteen years or so younger and "Burnt" from the demands of Soh-sigh-uh-tee...

He's been a film/video editor/producer for most of his working life... He took a break for a while hunting for some inspiration and ideas... and his way forward. He was traveling on a KLR. As we were pulling out he was saddled up and riding back to L.A. for another go. ;)

There was Joe, with an old "wilderness" looking trailer.  Just living cheap and digging out of debt... and breathing free... along with several others. The camp was full of folks just soakin' up an Alternative to what's generally force fed by the man...

There was even one fella in the Tuttle camp who spouted long and windy about what it meant if your name was capitalized on your birth certificate... and how he owned his rig, unlike the rest of us. Because he'd bought it with GOLD and not whatever we used... :) How he'd traveled around for years teaching people how to dodge this and that, and how to put judges and such in their place... I think he maybe he needs his meds adjusted.  ;)

It was actually ok though... he provided the rest with some pretty good giggles standing by the campfire! :)

A bunch of guys proving that you don't have to have deep pockets to be Free. You only have to commit to the idea.

Me? I just keep tappin' the keyboard. My 'work kamping'/RV Boondocking income writing just keeps rolling along. I'm at that point in book #4 where the story starts accelerating in my head and all the lines start to converge. This should be a good camp for that effort as well as some web work with the shiny signal we have here...

Even the Air Force got in the show for our departure from Tuttle. 

We were saying our good byes to another full timer that's been seeking a "better" way...

... When I spotted 'em coming up the Valley..


We got us a flyover to celebrate our moving camp. ;)

The plan for this move was to only bump up maybe 80 miles... maybe even "K-mart Kamp" for a night.

The rule in California is if you got more than two axles, 55 mph is your top speed... so my rolling road block fits right in to their legalities. What I don't understand is the split personality when I go from ten wheels to two...

Plant my but on the storm deck of that truck and trailer and I'm just pokey joe. No hurry... no rush... just drift along...

Now... Sling my leg over the seat of that Yamaha and a transformation happens. What's left of my teeth start showin'... my heart starts pumpin'... the wind starts whistlin' past my helmet. I gotta work to keep 'er legal.

It's kind of a cowboy time machine... back to those days on the sunny slopes when I was young and purty... 

Guess I should just be happy that I get to ride at both ends of the beauty "spectrum" huh?

We stocked up some groceries at Vons in Bishop... enough to buy us a tank at their fuel station with a 20 cent discount. Been a while since I bought diesel for $3.79!

Being still only mid afternoon, it made no sense to asphalt it for the night... so, hammerin' head or not I rolled us the rest of the thirty miles or a bit less to another BLM camp at Crowley Lake.

Again, with water and outhouses; a damn fine view from camp and two dollars and fifty cents a night... it hardly makes trying to find a "Free" camp worth the effort! :) With the wide spaced sites, most of which are empty and sizzling internet signal so I can punch away at the buttons getting some work done... this'll work fine for another long setup.

It puts us closer to some places we want to check out from Bishop to above Mammoth Lakes as well... cutting the diesel needed to get here from Lone Pine...

Maybe, if we dawdle long enough, they'll even open Tioga pass over into Yosemite. and we can go the short drive over the mountain rather than the all day drive to get around it.

It's a lot cooler up here. We're near to 3000 feet higher than the camps down there in the Alabama Hills... but what's a feller to do? Ya Gotta go where the Mountains are!

*A New Camp and a New View*

*Sunrise lights up our New Mountain*

This camp has long views in every direction... and some of  'em have that strange, pull you feel inside... that aching, longing hunger for something the full understanding of which hangs just out of reach...

Not a bad feeling... just that sort of mysterious urge that keeps you curious, keeps you moving... keeps you searching...

The desert is mostly behind us for this season... it waits for us to return in the fall. Up ahead are the coastal ranges along the Pacific. The beaches of Oregon and Washington... Mountains, roads and trails to explore...

Summer is close and like Mr. Muir said;

"The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go"
Brian