Day three started with frosted windows, ice in the puddles and hot coffee. It ended with margaritas and a view of the desert under the shade structure. It also inaugurated our ‘desert music’ for the rest of our trip - Willie Nelson’s croon accompanied by stretching shadows, dry heat, and cold tequila set such a good note that we continued the combo somewhat religiously for the next few days.The end of our limes did not, however, spell the end of old Willie.
Anyway, after peeking out of our covers with the sun we made breakfast, chatted more with Kate and made our goodbyes. We finished our scenic loop around Mammoth Lakes and got back on the road South. We did a slow drive by Mahogany Smoked Meats in Bishop, thought of our friends Ed and Kathryn who rave about their ham, and continued on. We were freshly provisioned at Costco and, besides, who can fit a whole ham in a camper van? We were gourmet vanning, but this just seemed one step too far. From Bishop we continued on to Lone Pine and our nighttime destination: Alabama Hills.
West of Lone Pine and nestled in the foothills below Mt Whitney is a BLM site called Alabama Hills. It is famous for its use as a set in many Western movies as well as its superb rock climbing sites. We were just excited about free camping that was scenic and not terribly out of our way to Death Valley. It ended up being a killer spot. We spent most of our afternoon there hiking up rock gullies and around a few maintained trails at the site. There were natural stone arches, lots of jack rabbits, and characters of all sorts making camps in the shade of the large rock formations. Celine flew the drone a bit to try and capture the desert perspective the site gave. It was our first camp site where we were alone enough to not feel awkward about the noise of the drone and our neighbors.
The wind coming down from the Sierras chilled the evening perfectly after a hot day and we had more or less the perfect temperate environment for our evening rest. The next morning, with no check out times to bother us, we broke our fast in as luxurious of a manner as we were equipped for; we baked eggs with black beans, tomatoes, cheese, and spinach and brewed French press coffee. This caused sour cream to be added to our shopping list for day 4!
