The morning sun greeted us in Lee Vining with scarcely a sign of smoke. The mountains were clear and the temperature a little chilly.
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| A clear sunny morning, and Glen Wior loads up his F-Type for the coming day |
Two of the group left for home this morning, Mike Humphries and Deborah and Joe Harding. Deborah and Joe stuck with the tour for three whole days despite having a dead starter motor which forced them to bump start their car at every stop. We wish all a safe return home, and look forward to seeing them on future Oil Leaks.
Our first adventure today was a visit to Bodie State Historic Park, a ghost town high in the mountains which was a gold and silver mining community, occupied as recently as the 1940s.
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| View of Mono Lake on the climb out of Lee Vining on US-395 |
Bodie is located at the end of a 13 mile road, the last 3 miles of which is a dirt road. This section was heavily washboarded and a real challenge to our E-Types. Some tried to drive it at walking pace, while others found that going faster seemed to help. Either way, there was a lot of suspension action, rattling, and dust!
The remote location probably helped to guarantee that we pretty much had the place to ourselves apart from the park wardens working there. Some of the buildings and artifacts are in their original state, whilst others have been restored. Everyone seemed to enjoy our 1-1/2 hour stay there as we walked about exploring. I've included just a few of the photos I took of the buildings and artifacts:
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| Jaguars lined up after the 3 mile dirt road torture.. |
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| Dianne, Greg, Debbie, Glen and Georgia set off to explore |
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| Remarkably preserved artifacts in one of the homes |
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| Somewhat less preserved building! |
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| Dog lived well in a tin panel covered house |
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| Georgia, Deirdre and Debbie visit the hotel and bar |
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| The store, and garage with gas pumps and a 1927 truck |
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| Very heavily-built truck for carrying ore |
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| Some of the buildings looked like a strong wind would bring them down |
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| Massive mine head equipment powered by steam |
We left Bodie at 11am to return the way we came - so more suspension-jarring miles, which we all seemed to survive, fortunately. Despite the trauma to the cars, I think we all agreed that the visit was most interesting and enjoyable.
From Bodie we headed north again on US-395 for lunch at Topaz just over the border in Nevada. We had to fight our way past the slot machines of course, but we had a nice lunch overlooking the lake.
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| Lunch at the Topaz Resort in Nevada |
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| Another parking lot full of Jaguars... |
Lunch over, we had a long drive ahead of us to Quincy, California. Along the way we drove by the North End of Lake Tahoe, fortunately spared from the recent Caldor Fire.
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| Parking near Lake Tahoe seems impossible these days, so this is the best I could manage |
On our drive north from Tahoe we experienced a couple of rain showers which helped to clear the Bodie dust from our cars, though I'm sure there will be plenty of cleaning to be done when we get home. We had dinner at Sweet Loraine's in downtown Quincy. Kjell had set this up for the tour, and the restaurant had closed to accommodate our party. It was a great meal - the best we have had on the tour so far.
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| Sweet Loraine's for dinner - photo courtesy of Greg |
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| So here's one of Greg enjoying his entree with the Whiskey Bread Pudding on deck... |
Over dinner talk turned to discussion of possibilities for the 2022 Oil Leak. All suggestions and ideas welcome, and volunteers to help plan the trip. Several of the participants will be ending their tour here rather than taking the long drive to Crater Lake. The original planned route through Lassen Volcanic Park had to be abandoned due to the Dixie Fire, and snow is forecast for the Crater Lake area, which influenced some of the decisions. We wish everyone a safe return and look forward to seeing them again in a future Oil Leak.
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