We started out at 10:30 am from Tonopah, stopping briefly to top off the tank, then headed northwestward through the Great Basin desert. Our goal was to get across the Sierra Nevadas.

The road was slightly congested since this was the main route connecting Las Vegas with Reno and Carson City. The first "town" we hit, 40 miles out, was Coaldale. I had heard of it when I worked at the Tonopah Test Range, but it was vastly smaller than I expected, consisting of a couple of vacant trailers and an abandoned gas station. We turned off the main highway heading westward, and the next "town", Basalt, was equally desolate. Wow! These parts of Nevada are really lonesome.

Before long, we reached the California state line, and a little further we reached an agricultural inspection station, where the signs said "All Vehicles Must Stop" and directed us to an overhang where a brusque uniformed lady asked us where we were coming from and if we had any fruits or vegetables, then gave us a tourist pamphlet. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a tractor-trailer hauling roofing shingles whizzed by the station at 30 mph. What's up with that?

A little further, we reached an interesting little town called Benton, which was tucked in a small valley and was surrounded by a stream and irrigated fields. A bed & breakfast and upkept, old-fashioned home store was in this town, which was very quiet and I wondered whether they got much of a tourist crowd. We turned onto Hwy 120 which climbed through rugged but beautiful terrain, taking us 48 miles to the Sierra Nevada foothills and to Mono Lake, which was nearly 10 miles in diameter and was surrounded by sagebrush desert and scattered ponderosa pine forests.

Needless to say, Highway 395 was quite busy, as it's the main north-south artery running out of southern California. We only stayed on it a few miles before turning west on Hwy 120 towards Yosemite Park. The road climbed steep granite mountains, ascending from 7000 ft to nearly 10000 ft in only several miles. Then we were in the park proper, where vehicle traffic increased considerably. The park was quite beautiful and full of natural scenery, but the windy road continued for nearly 40 miles before we reached the mammoth El Capitan rock and Bridalveil Falls.

Somewhat exhausted from the long drive through the park, we pointed westward on Hwy 140 and encountered an equally tortuous descent into the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, which took at least an hour. Along the way was the town of Mariposa, whose economy was completely based on Yosemite tourism. Once we reached the flat San Joaquin Valley it was smooth sailing as we drove past extensive farmland and orchards. Upon reaching the small agricultural town of Planada we drove south about five miles, then got on Hwy 99 for about half an hour, eventually reaching Fresno. We got a room at a nice Best Western motel.

As the sun turned orange over central California we enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant's Gaslight Steakhouse over some Guiness and Newcastle Brown Ale. About five tables and the bar were being served by one waitress/bartender, and after dinner we were amused to see a mouse scurry across the floor, vanishing under a customer's table (and yes, there were two women at the table who didn't see and probably would have been hysterical!) The manager happened to be standing nearby and we discreetly pointed it out. He seemed a bit concerned at first but eventually we got into a long discussion about Monterey, the Hearst Castle, and the coast.

The plan for tomorrow is to meet up with Cathy in Mendota, just 30 miles west. Cathy is a friend Shannon went to school with at Bard College, and she works as a herpetologist at the Mendota Wildlife Refuge. I'm looking forward to perhaps seeing some snakes there! We'll then head up around the Sacramento area that evening before pressing further northward.

Miles travelled: 327

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