05/10/21 Monty the repair guy showed up as promised at 8:30 responding to Patti’s phone message. He said he called back because she sounded calm and nice and he could tell they were not going to be “jerks” (actual wording not used here). The motor and wiring will need to be replaced. He disconnected the motor and with great effort, they were able to push in the slide so it could travel. We changed our plans to continue driving north on the more scenic stat...

05/09/21 Unexpectedly we are still at Mono Lake. We were getting ready to leave when one of Patti and Wayne’s slides would not go in. Everything possible was tried but without success. Since not only is this Sunday but also Mother's Day, it's not surprising they were unable to reach anyone. We are staying an extra day to find a RV repair service to fix it or at least get it to retract and lock so we can travel. We are grateful that we can continue to stay in a ...

05/08/21 Today we explored the actual lake area which is only a few miles from the campground. Mono Lake is three times as salty as the ocean and the salts and baking soda make it very alkaline and create tufa structures near the shores. This desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp and alkali flies which thrive in its waters and provides critical habitat for more than 2 million annual migratory birds that feed on them. At sunset, P...

05/07/21 We arrived at the Mono Vista RV Park in Lee Vining CA after driving only 126 miles. Originally we had planned on using this as a base to see the area and drive over to Yosemite. Unfortunately the Tioga Pass going from here to Yosemite has not yet opened this spring. We are all very disappointed. Even though it's closed, we drove up 9950 feet in elevation to the entrance of the park. It was a spectacular drive but indeed it was closed (see the extra phot...

We are still in Lone Pine. The original plan was to go to Death Valley but it was over a 220 mile round trip and over 100 degrees. Instead we decided to stay locally. Shannon had a wonderful time playing with two other dogs in the campground’s large dog park. Thought this would tire her out before going on our hike but I was wrong. This morning we hiked Mobius, another easy trail in the valley below Mt. Whitney. Mt. Whitney at 14,497.61 feet is the highest poin...