Day 9 - a long drive

Day one of a two-day drive home. We had at one time planned a 24-hour stay in Bishop for some local wind studies. FYI, Bishop is in the Owens Valley along the eastern Sierra. Getting there from FLG meant a long drive west from FLG to Barstow, and then northeast/north through the Mojave to the Owens Valley. We left FLG at 9 am, and pulled into our hotel in Bishop at 7:30 pm - groan. Luckily at every hotel they have been ready for us, with a pack of room card keys ready to hand out.

On the FLG-Barstow leg, the speed limit in AZ was 75 - that helped! We had an interesting lunch in the small town of Ludlow, CA. We had a choice of a cafe and a DQ. I have always thought of DQ as an ice cream place, even tho' I have seen the DQ menu! But instinctively I chose the cafe (to Craig's continued irritation, continued as of Aug 13!) The two waitresses in their prarie dresses were a novelty; the food - average. I had eggs and potatoes - hard to mess that up.

As for the Barstow-Bishop leg, urgh. Don't get me wrong - I love the desert, but there was just nothing to look at, at least thru Lone Pine. I was getting suicidal by the end. Even the students were catatonic.

To save the day, we had a really nice dinner in Bishop - delicious Mexican food at Las Palmas restaurant! Highly recommended by all!

And then - drumroll - I dragged everybody out to see the annual Perseids meteor shower! We crammed all 12 of us in the van. Theoretically there are seatbelts for 12, but I would guess 12 small people! Anyhoo, the nice thing about Bishop is that a 10 minute drive out of town in any direction, and you're in almost wilderness, and there is plenty of dark to go around. As we drove westbound uphill, Craig and I saw an intense fireball in front of us. We found a good dirt area to park in, with a spectacular view east towards Bishop in the distance, with an orange half moon rising. Within about 10 minutes we had all seen really good meteorites, followed by several smaller ones.

By midnight the moon was bright enough to wash out pretty much everything, so we bagged it. Had a little incident on the way home, but you'll have to read the "collateral damage" blog to see what that was!!!