November 2 -- Goodbye To All That (Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra), And On To Nevada...

I'd gotten pretty much everything ready in advance for my heading out to Nevada on Sunday the 2nd so I could spend a few hours in the morning to see what the winter storm  had brought. It was the first day of the end of Daylight Savings Time, so sunrise was now around 6 instead of 7am, and it was COLD, probably a bit below freezing in Bishop. I headed northwest on Hwy 395 then headed to the Buttermilks area, rocky foothills of the Sierra that are popular with rock climbers. A dirt road goes through the it, and surprisingly I was the only one out there. I waited until the sun slowly revealed the mountains, then the foothills --

I took a 5-photo panorama of the scene -- 

Considering all the clouds that had shrouded the Sierra the day before, there wasn't as much snow as I'd assumed -- but it was still enough to add to the beauty of the mountainscapes. The rising sun finally came to my location so I "thawed-out" as my hands were getting numb from the exposure, but it was worth being there for the grand, "first winter storm" scenery of sagebrush, Buttermilks, mountains and snow --

The view looking northeast towards the snow-capped White Mountains was superb, too -- 

The sun had lit the entire width of Owens Valley, so I headed east to Warm Springs Road via Sunland Drive, looking west to the Sierra; it's the height of fall colors at the 4,000-foot elevation -- 

Warm Springs Road is a great drive through ranch and sagebrush territory; there are plenty of cottonwoods and other tall trees for perched raptors; here's an adult Red-tailed Hawk, with the snowy Whites as a backdrop -- 

He was too far away for a closeup even for my 500 f/4 lens, which I used here, so I thought putting him in the scenery made for a more effective shot. I also got a photo of him without being behind that branch -- but I prefer this first one -- 

I'd earlier encountered another "RT", thinking he's "hot stuff" ;o) -- 

The views southwest from Warm Springs Road were also grand, with the blazing cottonwoods -- 

Here's a little closer -- 

Looking north towards the Whites, but I like this meandering fence line, with its all-wood posts -- 

And the Owens River intersects Warm Springs Road -- 

The road loops back into Bishop as East Line Street, which I took, heading back to the RV park where I hitched up Discovery to Tundra, and took one last shot of the two before taking off down the road -- 

My home, and welcome to it... :o) I drove north up Hwy 6, fighting a stiff headwind, and came across snow-dusted mountains and standing pools of water along the road all the way to Tonopah, Nevada, a little over 100 miles from Bishop. At Tonopah I stopped off at a Burger King as I was feeling in a "Whopper and fries" mood, and watched folks coming in from their weekend outdoors. There was an old guy there with no teeth, just sucked-in cheeks; helooked like a prospector, or a guy from one of those photos on the last page of the old Life magazine, which would have a caption underneath. Which truck outside was his? The battered Chevy with the oversized red dice hanging from the rear-view mirror? On heading out of town I see a neon sign with the outside temperature at shortly after noon, reading 39 degrees. Well, Tonopah IS at over 6000 feet...Overton's 80 degree-plus, predicted for later in the week, sounds cozily warm...It's tough to pull over on many Nevada highways when you're pulling a trailer, as the shoulders are usually dirt, mixed with glass and debris -- a potential disaster for trailer tires -- and they're usually on a slant, so if you stop you're usually teetering to one side. So you're not encouraged to pull over with a trailer, which is why I missed a probable Golden Eagle hovering just off the highway ( a large wingspan, larger than a Turkey Vulture or Red-tail) and 3 wild horses in scrubby sagebrush just outside of the old mining town of Goldfield. And official rest stops are few and far between and are pretty primitive, usually just a trash can and bare-bones bathrooms. 

I finally spot a rare, paved chain-up area, pull off and take a photo of one of the snowy mountain chains that are all around me -- 

Another random observation -- brothels. I pass 3 that I see on the way south to Las Vegas, including one that advertises in huge letters "NUDE" along with "BIKINIS". Guess you have your choice... I've programmed by portable Garmin Nuvi GPS to guide me to Duck Creek RV Park south of Las Vegas, on the same road where I have my service appointment at Camping World on Monday at 8am, and my British, plummy-toned female "guide" -- I call her "Mrs. Peel", as in "The Avengers" -- guides me through the Las Vegas freeway "gauntlet" with pinpoint precision. I get a back-in spot, plug-in the electrical cord -- and I'm ready to relax at my MacBook Pro laptop after a 340-mile-plus drive. It's now 0319am Monday, and after Camping World I'll head along Lake Mead's Northshore Road and set up house once again at Robbin's Nest RV Park in Overton, where the adventures will continue amidst high-desert scenery...