6/16/2010 0656 Lee Vining CA. The sky at night is big and bright here just like the heart of Texas. There is a Lee Vining Avenue, buried back in the 3 street thick mixture of rural and urban poverty that seems to be most of the town, West of 395, but its the main highway, 7 lanes wide that really sets the tone. Smooth yet subtly textured, basic black, marked tastefully with yellow and white pinstripes, the highway fills the little town's gullet spring through fall. The motels are all full; we rented the last room in Murphy's Motel, the only dog friendly place in town. (Some of the others are positively dog hostile, with 'dog walking not allowed' signs ...presumably replacing the 'white's only' or 'no Irish need apply' signs they used to hang). The Golden Fried chicken was of that recipe that seals the bits of bird in a shell of dough hardened by deep fat..but Fuji greatly enjoyed her portion. Walking this dawn, with Mono glistening in the background under the rising sun, Fuji and I admired the large yard of snow equpment. A small boys paradise. There are small and large plows, bucket loaders with head high rugged rubber baby bumper wheels encased in 3 inch link chains, and, that machine of all machines, the mighty snow blower. Not even seasonally rusty yet. The High School is small but modern. The sign on a small brightly painted building next door says HS and Public Library. Alas, it was not yet open to sample what Lee Vining was reading last winter.
We Saved Mono Lake. I mean we the present generation; beginning in 1941 it was diverted to fuel LA's water needs (brackish though it is). Some Davis students noticed that the falling water levels endangered gull rookeries, and successfully pursuaded the Audubon Society to make it a cause celebre. Now its future seems pretty secure, as futures go. At least no one has discovered oil underneath. And it is beautiful, although most in winter, when its hard to get here.
Lee Vining is about 8000 feet high, and between incipient reactive airways and mild travel induced slow bowels, Sala and I pay homage to this. The little dog seems fine, and slept well. And its great to get up into a smogless bright new day.
Today we head towards Yellowstone and Old Faithful...maybe arriving on Thursday.
aloha
alan
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