Even the sun sets in paradise

6 days 'til I fly to Jacksonville. The bin is "packed" & by that I mean I've tossed everything in there and know it will at least all fit. I'll spend some more time in a few days organizing & writing my name on everything. In the meantime, seriously...only 6 days. I'm freaking. Good news, I've been reassured I'm not the only one. So, while I avoid packing, here's 3 more cities.

Lone Pine, CA

• The Census Bureau has 3 designations for towns/places: urban, rural and frontier. Lone Pine is designated as frontier.
• The Paiute-Shoshone Indians have been in the region/valley for thousands of years. The abundant food supply gave them no reason to move.
• Though there are no pictures few in the town seem to refute the existence of the Lone Pine Mountain Devil. Supposedly a guardian of nature it will attack any person or animal disrespecting nature.

Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA

 

Days like this, our ride from Lone Pine to Dixon Lake-Meadow Creek, are why Google can get us from Jacksonville to Monterey in less than 3,000 miles & we're taking almost 4,000. Our ride this day will take us mostly north, as opposed to west.

Lee Vining, CA

• The town is the closest to the East entrance to Yosemite (where we'll be going tomorrow!) And relies heavily on tourism.
• Lee Vining is home to a distinctive local landmark known as the Upside-down House.
• The town is situated at 6781 ft. in elevation and will lead us to Tioga Pass. The pass will bring is into Yosemite National Park, and through the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. The pass features a gradual approach from the west and a dramatic drop to the east, rapidly losing almost 3,000 ft in elevation. We ride east to west, so what Tioga Pass really features is a steep climb and gradual descent. Greeeaaaattt.