Tuesday and Wednesday, March 22 and 23, 2016 (Tuttle Creek BLM Campground, Alabama Hills, Lone Piine, CA)

The wind woke us up at 4:00...as forecast, wind gusts came through rattling the trailer...and then at about 6:00, we heard the snap of the mouse trap...yup, we have an unwanted visitor. I guess the little fellow was caught by one leg and was trying to get back out through the tiny opening in the cabinet but couldn't get through because of the trap on his leg. When Steve tried to pull him out, the trap came off and the furry critter got away...likely with a broken leg. Sheesh! Time to refresh the
Fresh Cab

So that was how our day started. With the wind came a dramatic change in the temperature...from 74F/23C yesterday down to a high of 54F/12C! And with the wind, it was even chillier outside! But the sky was blue and the sun was shining!

Our original plan had been to off-load the quads on Movie Road and explore the dozens of 4-wheel roads that go throughout the Alabama Hills. But it was a blustery day out there...so we decided to postpone until tomorrow, hoping the weather improves.

So we had a pretty quiet day, not doing much other than getting out for a brisk walk around the campground.

We woke Wednesday to a chilly morning...and it was still windy out. The forecast is for the wind to subside but temps are only to go to a high of 57. This is our last day here, and we really wanted to take the quads out to explore the side roads off Movie Road...so shortly after 10:00, with lunches packed, we took off. We found a spot on Movie Road to park and off-load the quads.

Now...I would imagine by now that you all are getting tired of "rock pictures"...so I promise, this is the last day!

With the GPS co-ordinance from the Arches of the Alabama Hills book this was going to be like geocaching...

Hey our first find and it's not on our list...

That would be fun!

There are roads everywhere...they were all made for various film locations...

No info on what this was. There was 1888 marked in the cement...

Two arches...

Unknown 2 Arch...

Surfer Arch...

Whales Head/Wave

See the daylight shining through the arch in the rock on the right...

Slit opening...

Craggy Arch showing 3 openings...

Different angle...

We found a cool spot at the end of a road for lunch...

See the rock climbers...

Another rock climber...

There's "Buster." We had off loaded just before the paved section of Movie Road ends,,,

We arrived back at the truck shortly after 2:00...wow, what a fabulous day! We managed to cover about 14 miles of roads that go all over the place in 3 1/2 hours...and there are still some further north. We didn't find all the listed arches but did find many that weren't listed in the book. They will have to wait for another visit. Time to load the quads... mine first...

...and then Steve's...

We got back home at about 3:00. After getting our quad stuff put away, it was time to get a few things put away outside in preparation for leaving in the morning. We also hitched the trailer to the truck. The wind had died right down to just a slight breeze and it was really quite warm in the sun...we even managed to sit outside in our shorts and flipflop and enjoy a bevie...certainly didn't expect to be able to do that again!

After almost 6 years on the road this is the best campground we've been to. $5.00 per night, awesome 360 degree views, lots of trout in the creek behind our site, clean pit toilets, water, sani dump and dumpsters, and everything is only minutes away. Oh and there is the daily air show too,

Once inside, I downloaded the pictures so Steve could get started on his editing. I really want to try and get this blog posted before we leave in the morning...no idea what, if any, internet we are going to have over the next week as we head north back to BC....stay tuned!