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Oct. 15
We got out of Dodge so to speek. The weather alert on my smart phone was warning of wind and gusts up to 70 mph for where we were just north of Bishop, CA. We have been trying to keep ahead of the pending northwest storm for the last several days. On Friday we had horrific winds and could hardly stand up outside as Terry had to go out and reset up our TV dish. He had it tied down with lots of ropes and weiights but not enough for wind you could hardly stand up in. And yes I had the Internet dish on top of the trailer stowed. We had good 4G so didn't need it.


 So the first thing Saturday morning was pack up and head south on US 395 to Lone Pine and to Tuttle Creek Campground.


Well we are here and still have wind alerts for Sunday night to Monday till 11 AM up to 55 mph.
Kind of hard to keep the mat in place... Need more rocks I guess.  But it's nice and warm 81 today and 75 on Monday.


But the views are what can I say... and for $2.50 with G Age Pass  Water and dump station. Love the BLM.


Our current made in jello plan is to stay here through Wednesday and watch the debates and then move on through Death Valley to Beaty, NV and stay at the Bailey's Hot Springs for a few days.  I know the road through Death Valley is not trailer friendly but I think we can handle it. We hve new brakes and with radiator work we don't heat up going up mountians anymore. The deal is to take it slow.

Haven't been able to have campfires due to the windy weather but we have wood when we need it. Went  wood hunting when we were at Glass Creek Campground which was between June Lake and Mammoth Lakes on CA 395. Lots of forest access roads for us to find wood. We have a small electric chainsaw and with a Honda 3000is generator in the truck bed we are able to go wood hunting in style.



Plus we have this stored in the up front storage trailer compartment.


Now ready for great campfires in Quartzsite.

Oct. 14
Talking about the big storm we came off the mountain to avoid and headed to Bishop, CA. down US HW 395. We were at about 8000 ft and now 5055 ft. It's nice and warm here at Horton Creek BLM LTVA Campground. $5 but 1/2 with Golden Age Pass. Has water and pay for $5 dump station and trash dumpsters. What's not to like.
Last night we sat outside and had a great campfire but about at day break today the winds came up and it is like living on the south pole in winter except it's not cold. Trying keep our DirecTV dish tied down and on satellite signal. The trailer is just rocking back and forth with the wind gusts. Kind of scary. And the latest it will last from today Friday through Sat and Sunday. But after this passes should be sunny and great for the next 10 days going down US HW 395
Campsite listing https://freecampsites.net/#!5919&query=sitedetails
Do see my posts and pictures about our day trip to Yosemite NP. at 
www.fulltime.hitchitch.com










See the new post below for Oct. 11 on our day trip to Yosemite.
Oct. 12
You know you are not having a great day when you look at this picture. After setting up for the night in the campground I noticed a flat spot in the rear tire and the tread was well worn. So it needs to be replaced. Called around and found a tire dealer in Bishop, CA who could get us a tire. We felt lucky as these tires and hard to get. But it is never that easy. Terry took off the tire and was placing on the spare (which is not G rated but after he had it on noticed it was short of air pressure. I had asked him it check spare pressure. He kicked it and said Yup. Well not so much as it had 30 lbs and should be 80 lbs. Now the shit story... He tried to get the old tire back on as we needed to take the spare and get air in it. But it was too heavy to get back on. So it sat on the ground and hoping no movement to cause a problem. These at G rated tires. The spare is not a G tire and not as big. He went to Lee Vining back up the road and got air in the spare and now it will be on down the road to Bishop tomorrow to get the tire replaced. Called ahead a few days ago as they will order one in and have one ready for us. Life on the road... always something. BTW we need to get the hell out of here as a BIG storm is heading in on Thursday. We are so happy I found this tire issue as we know how bad things can get when a tire blows going down the road on a trailer. 
BTW A & L Tire in Bishop treated us great. They had the trie ready and went right at it getting it changed. The price was right and would go back to themnn a minute.



Oct. 11
Looking at the weather we decieded today would be the day we took the big day trip over Tioga Pss Entrace fornt the east side on HW 120.
BTW the pass is 9945 ft. Click here to get the Whole Yosemite Park map.



It was a great drive and views we could not even imagine. But when we finally got to the Valley floor we were not impressed as even at this time of year was busy and roads closed for construction. Woulld never ever pull even a small camper and try to stay there.  The drive to get there from the east entrance was the best part to be sure. But now for some pictures.

East entrance at Tioga Pass.


It's so nice to have a Golden Age Pass for free access. The guard agent didn't even take a close look at it but just said great and gave us a map and brochure.


So impressed with the trees. So majestic.


















As now back on the east side a drive on June Lake Road looking at the fall color.



After a long day was glad to back in the campround. Will get out butts to Bishop to get a new tire put on the trailer as the weather is closing in.
Oct. 10
Moved on over to California from Hawthorne, NV to Lee Vining, CA. BTW NV HW  359 and CA HW 167 are great Highways to get from NV to CA.

 Found (with advanced search) Glass Creek Campground which is between June Lake and Mammoth Lakes on CA 395. Free and  at 7600 ft. From here we can explore the area.
While leveling the trailer I noticed a smooth area on the the street side rear tire of the trailer. So Ya we need a new tire. So glad I saw it as when a trailer goes it can wretch havoc on all around it on the trailer. These Goodyear G tires are hard to come by. But I after a couple of  calls found a Tire place in Bishop, CA just down the road from us and is where we are heading. They could get one next day. BTW the tire is G614 RST 285/85/R16 Quoted price $335. We pad about $450 in NM a couple yeas ago. So am happy. Now just so they don't call back and say they couldn't get the tire. No call back yet so we will put on our never used spare and head on down to Bishop on Thursday.  We need to get out of here by Thursday as a huge winter storm is heading this way. Snow and high winds. But should be in the upper 70s in Bishop at 4500 ft as to here at 7600 ft.  Note some campgrounds use big rocks to mark the drive boundaries. Here they used HUGE tree trunks.

We have explored the close byways and have found a great supply of firewood for us to gather and put in the truck bed for use in Quartszite. More on the after we gather it.
You can see looking at Lee Vining HW 120 going west the way to Yosemite Valley. That's our next day trip on Tuesday.







Oct.  9
Just spent several days at Walker Lake just north of Hawthorn NV on HW 95. 200 miles south of Reno. It doesn't get much better than this. The weather was great. Sat outside with campfires and watching MSNBC with our TV that we moved to the picnic table. Have now on Monday (after watching the second debate) moved on over to California to HW 395 and going south and camped near Mammoth Lakes. More pics later but tomorrow going to enter the east entrance to Yosemite. Should be a great day trip. Need to explore the area this week as two BIG early winter stormare heading this way late Thursday. So will move from here at 7600 ft to Bishop, CA at 4100 ft. Where it should be nice. Got to keep moving south ahead of the weather.


Sept 21
We went on a drive to Bayhorse Goast Town and then up even higher to Bayhorse Lake.

In the Yankee Mining District, some 40 miles east of what would become the boom towns of Bonanza and Custer City, Bayhorse got an earlier start in 1864 when a few small gold veins were found and a small camp began. Though there are several tales of how the settlement came by its name, the most popular is when area prospectors met a miner who had been digging between Clayton and Challis with the help of two bay horses. The man told the others that he had discovered rich mining opportunities up a steep canyon on the north side of the Salmon River. Because the other prospectors couldn’t remember the man’s name, they simply referred to him as the "man with the bay horses” and the name stuck.
 

Though prospectors continued to comb the area for the next several years, finding small amounts of gold, it wasn’t until 1872, that the Bayhorse area really began to attract numerous miners when three men by the names of W.A. Norton, Robert Beardsley and J.B. Hood discovered a rich vein of silver. Robert Beardsley and his brother soon started the Beardsley Mine which overlooked the mining camp. When a prospector named Tim Cooper found another rich silver vein, he started the Ramshorn Mine. Other mines soon followed and within months, men, machinery and cabins quickly populated the area.

 

The size of the mining camp increased again in 1877 when hard rock mining began for silver and lead. By the following year, the mine was operating on a large scale, with numerous tunnels spread throughout the area. A stamp mill and smelter were completed in 1880 and businesses quick.

 

Bayhorse’s peak years were during the 1880’s and 1890’s, when the hillsides were dotted with cabins and the town included numerous saloons, boarding houses, assay offices, banks, a stone Wells Fargo building, a post office, six beehive kilns to make charcoal for the smelters, several ore and timber mills, and two cemeteries. The town’s population reached a high of about 300 residents.
More on this goast town at Bayhorse



















We have a Buick Encore that thinks it's a Jeep so on we went.  Well not up this road but there was another one that didn't look as bad. So we took it. Onward. And we found this way up high.




Sept 20
We moved south from Darby, MT and up and over the divide heading south into Idaho.  So glad we had new brakes put on the truck as the drive was a peace of cake.
Now at Deadman Hole BLM campsite on the Salmon River. And it's FREE. Just under 15 miles west of Challis, ID on HW 75. Terry got an ID fishing Lic. so we will be spending some time is this area. All you have to do is look at the pics so see just how nice this area is. Now this BLM site is boondocking of course but we have all the equipment to do that. Solar, AGM batteries, Magmum charger/inveter/ and Honda 3000ie generator. So we can go to places like this and stay for as long as we want.









On good day we can watch DirecTV outside.  Ya you can say this is not camping but we are not camping we are fulltime and live a normal life while still boondocking.
Yep we are the only ones here and that's just the way we like it as boondocking is better that way. If for no other reason we can run or generator later at night and not disturb anyone.



Sept 9
The weather has turned nice to almost great today Sept 9 (Friday) and should last throught the weekend. Terry has been fishing late today (he likes to fish late afternoon) and has caught 12-14 in trout. And had to come back to tie more flys.
Fly fishers floaters comming off the river


Montana views go on and on.

We are staying here for the weekend and then move to Jellystone RV park in Missoula for Sunday and Monday as the weather shows a couple of days of down weather so we can do laundry and explore the area.  And then move on down the Bitterroot River south of Missoula. I have searched and foound a MT FAS (fishing access site) with camping down there. On Google Eatrh it looks great.  We as usual will take a day trip when parked like in the Jellystone RV park and go check it out to so see if this is a palce that we can fit in and find a place as we say a Big Rig Looking for a Tent Experience. The weather shows sunny and temps in the upper 70s for next week so we are looking forward to great times ahead.


I had a email inquery asking if our rig was too big to find that Tent Expereincas as they are going fulltime? My reply was all our campsites we have posted about over the years on our blog were done in our 38th ft 5th wheel. Yes we have to pass up some sites that we could not fit into but have found many that are just fine. When we find a great site we go exploring on day trips looking for our next stop down the road. But now that we have been doing this for so long we kind of know where the good sites are at. AND we love www.freecampsites.net
And we also like to take day trips up into the higher mountain Forest Service campsites just to see what they are like. We love day trips exploring the area we have landed in.
Sept 6
We left Gibson Dam near Augusta where we spent Labor Day and have now landed 50 miles east of Missoula at Russel Gates Montana Fishing Access Site on the Blackfoot River. Yep more fly fishing. We have been here in the past. When we pulled in we were the only ones in the campground. The site we got was about the only one large enough for us and where we could get a clear sky for our satellite dishes. A light drizzle of rain but should be better tomorrow and by the weekend 75 and sunny. Now for the pics.







Sept  2
We have been having a great time in upper Montana but for Labor Day and more the weather has taken a turn. It will get better but up here Labor Day may be a bust for the locals. We can just hold out for better weather. OH and I see Iowa is having a great holiday weather outlook. Enjoy. Could be on the East coast I guess. Will be moving on next week to Missoula to Jellystone RV Resort to regroup. Laundry etc. Yep we have to do that.
While here we went to Great Falls and visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lcnf/recarea/?recid=61458 When there don't miss it.



Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center
NO expense was spared to build and produce the exhibits. I am not a fan of museums but this is one of the best.


Great Falls is not so great anymore


Pics from inside the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center
 
Go this link to see lots of pics inside the Interpretive Center