Day Fourteen

Mammoth Lakes, CA to Cathedral Gorge, NV
June 8th, 2009

High Point of the Day....
Low Point of the Day......
Finding a Joshua Tree forest on the Extraterrestrial Highway
Refinancing on the road
Miles Traveled Today
Total Miles Traveled
The Bus Playlist
Weather
344
4284
Ray Charles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Randolph, Spin Doctors
Rainy, Windy and Sunny
Price of Gas 
(average per gallon)
Wildlife
Night's Lodging
Where this Page was Uploaded
2.96
Antelope, a hawk, lots of cows, a 40 foot tin alien
Cathedral Gorge Campground
Cedar City, UT

Daily Didactic
It was quite a day, we refinanced our home and drove the Extraterrestrial Highway.

In spite of rising at the non-vacation hour of 7:30, we spent most of the morning and early afternoon working on squaring away the small mountain of refinancing paperwork we had FedEx'd to Yosemite. We sat in the very pleasant Stellar Brew coffee shop and signed most of the hundred or so signatures required. It turns out we had to get about a dozen documents notarized, which began a hunt for a notary public. Brian visited a local real estate office who, after realizing they weren't going to sell him anything, gave him a card for Karen the "Traveling Notary". We called and left a message for the traveling notary and also drove to a shop who advertised notary services. Ten dollars per signature for twelve pieces of paper was looking like 240 dollars. We retreated to think this through. We gassed up the bus, gave it a wash, snuck it a covert tune-up, and were talking about heading east in search of better notary pricing when Karen the traveling notary called. She offered to do the work for 100 dollars, which all of a sudden sounded like a bargain. We met her in a Mammoth coffee shop and it turns out she used to do title paperwork for a living. She made sure our papers were all in order, notarized everything, and aimed us at a place to FedEx the paperwork back to Anchorage. All said and done we were 100 dollars poorer and on the road at 2:30. Unfortunately our goal was about 7 hours east.

Leaving Mammoth, we took the lonely Benton Cutoff road to the desolate Highway 95 to Tonopah and on to the equally desolate Highway 6. We drove by strings of abandoned towns and businesses, literally boarded up motel after boarded up gas station after boarded up cafe. The only town showing a pulse was Tonopah and it looks like it has a struggle ahead. We realized G had routed us all the way up through Ely to get to our destination for the evening, Cathedral Gorge out of Panaca. Looking closer at the map it turned out the right choice was the narrower "Extraterrestrial Highway" along the southern edge of Area 51. We saw no aliens unless they were masquerading as cows, which they certainly could have been. In spite of that it was a glorious two lane through beautiful sage desert, Joshua Tree forests, and the funny little town of Rachel. We came to a rest after dark in the Cathedral Gorge Campground.


Daily Pictures (Slide Show)

thumb_P1010501.jpg nonethumb_P1010502.jpg
Morning in the upper crust Mammoth Mountain RV Park We retreated here for breakfast and a flurry of paperwork signing
thumb_P1010514.jpg nonethumb_P1010517.jpg
The bus getting a covert tune-up Brian consoling Smokey on the loss of his legs
thumb_P1010529.jpg nonethumb_P1010534.jpg
Serious rain on the road to Benton Serious mountains behind Benton
thumb_P1010545.jpg nonethumb_P1010548.jpg
Kevin Hickeys Marginal Motors Foreign Auto Repair Old Benton Hot Springs
thumb_P1010554.jpg nonethumb_P1010576.jpg
A bad valley to be in at the time A bad RV park to be in at the time
thumb_P1010581.jpg nonethumb_P1010585.jpg
Downtown Tonopah Nevada Not a lot going on
thumb_P1010586.jpg nonethumb_P1010591.jpg
We are not sure when this dogfight occurred, but it looks unfair Much of the day G just showed a straight road
thumb_P1010595.jpg nonethumb_P1010597.jpg
Like this one Theresa's feet
thumb_P1010600.jpg nonethumb_P1010604.jpg
The start of the awesomely named Extraterrestrial Highway These cows
thumb_P1010606.jpg nonethumb_P1010611.jpg
Pretty A lucky road find along Area 51 on the way to Cathedral Gorge
thumb_P1010620.jpg nonethumb_P1010626.jpg
Antelope, please tell us it's an antelope Kids and stickers on the Extraterrestrial Highway
thumb_P1010628.jpg nonethumb_P1010631.jpg
The Little AleInn Rachel
thumb_P1010644.jpg nonethumb_P1010645.jpg
Much to our surprise our favorite type of forest Joshua Trees
thumb_P1010666.jpg nonethumb_P1010669.jpg
We imagine the research scientists take turns working in the gift shop Alien Fresh Jerky


Road Trip YesterdaynoneRoad Trip HomeRoad Trip Tomorrow