Me and Lorrie in Yosemite on the ride back home.
August 29, 1983
It is Monday night. This will be the last entry in this journal because the trip is over, but, we still have the re-union which will take place at Joan’s apartment, the third Friday after Labor Day!
I have to tell you everything that went on the past four days. I kept saying to myself that I will write and explain the day’s events, but something kept happening that I was unable to.
Let’s see. Friday morning, Anne, Jim and Noreen took off early because they had to go to a wedding on Saturday. I rode with Joan all Friday. We stopped off at the General Store to get Bear Claws, orange juice and coffee for breakfast. We were to meet everybody at a cafe. I think it was the Marble Canyon Cafe. First, we drove down to Lee’s Ferry looking for them. We saw everybody driving up, passing us up. At the bottom we asked a woman ranger where the Moki-Mac warehouse was. After she gave us directions, we drove back up and saw everybody outside the cafe waiting for us, and my sister and Stephen. After, we went to the warehouse and gave the boatmen the three bottles of Jack Daniels and two bottles of another type of whiskey. I have to mention that Bruce was dressed in jeans and cowboy boots. The boots were obviously worn in. I couldn’t believe how good he looked. They all did. Harry was wearing boots, also. Mike was getting ready for a short vacation. I think they started their last trip today or tomorrow. They seemed pretty happy and surprised with the gifts. Ray, Lorrie, Ian, Alda, Leslie and a couple of others went up to Harry’s little pad. I heard that it was a tiny cabin about the size that a child draws of a house.
That night we were to meet everybody at Valley of Fire State Park. Me and Joan got there at about 10 PM. Since we thought everybody was behind us, we waited by the entrance for others to show, but for an hour, nobody showed. We had check out other roads in the site, but we didn’t see a single person. We were planning on camping at the entrance because we didn’t know what to do. Finally we went down the road that said campgrounds were on. The reason we didn’t go all the way on the road was because it was very dark and we didn’t see any lights, but after driving deep into the grounds, we discovered that everybody was already there. We both couldn’t figure out how they had gotten ahead of us. Oh well, who cares. We got there and so did everybody else.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we stopped at Zion National Park. Me and Joan and a couple others got there before Ray and the rest, so we went on a short hike up the Emerald Pools. It was a real beautiful place with some rocky trails. I bought a ham and cheese sandwich and a chocolate sundae to eat in the car, and then we drove to Valley of Fire.
Saturday, I went with Lorrie in the bug. We drove through Las Vegas and picked up some apple fritters at a donut shop and coffee at 7-Eleven. We met at 12 noon in Death Valley. From there we were to meet in Mammoth Lakes, a drive that took over five hours. The desert was very dry and one of the roads we were supposed to take was closed because of a sand storm. The road we did take was full of dirt, sand and loose gravel. The drive was pretty nice. The bug cruised the whole way between 70 and 80, which was surprising for the bug. Usually it won’t do more than 70. Maybe there was a little wind in the desert to hold it back. All of the towns were small pitstops along the road. God, I could never live in one those towns.
Me and Lorrie were the first ones to arrive in Mammoth. We thought that Joan would be ahead of us because Sarah had to be there early to meet her boyfriend. Since we were the first, we drive around the campsites and choose two units to reserve. We left notes which sites we had reserved in Old Shady Rest. We decided to go to dinner, eat, and kill some time. We ate at The Stove. It was pretty good.
We thought by the time we finished at 9:30 PM that everybody would be at the sites, but when we went back nobody was there. We were getting a little worried that we were in the wrong place, but we both knew we had gone to the place that Ray had told us about.
After checking out the town to kill some time, we went back, but still no sign of anybody. Then we decided to just go to sleep since we were exhausted. The mountain air was cold and nippy. I put on my long sleeve shirt, a pair of socks and crawled into my bag. The bag warmed up pretty fast after getting settled in.
Then about 11:30 PM, after sleeping for a couple hours, Kris’ and Stephen’s cars pulled into the site. They explained that Don’s volvo had broken down in a gross small town, Scotty’s Junction, and that it wouldn’t be fixed till Tuesday or Wednesday. Shanna, Susan and Jean had piled into Kris’ and Stephen’s already packed cars. They had to leave all their clothes in Don’s car and bring only what they needed for the night because there wasn’t enough room in the cars.
The next morning we all woke up at about 8 AM, got washed up and took off for Hot Springs, but we (Lorrie, Leslie, me, Susan, Kris and Don), never found the springs because Ray gave us bum directions. We drove 40 miles to Bishop and then drove another 10 miles past to check just in case. Then we back tracked to make sure we didn’t miss the road, but we never saw it.
Then we decided to stop in Lee Vining for breakfast. Kris picked up the tab. That was really nice of him. We changed into our shorts, said goodbye to Don since he was in Ohio and won’t be at the reunion party. There were going to see Mono Lake, but we wanted to get going home.
We drove through Yosemite. God, that is one beautiful place.
We got home at around 8:30 PM. I quickly unpacked the car and threw all my stuff into my room. I unrolled my bed, said good night and crashed.
Today KMEL played Beatles all day long while I cleaned my room and washed all my clothes. Work was pretty strange, but fun.
Tomorrow is a big day. I am driving to KPIX studios to bring Prezo to “People are Talking” show. That should be an experience.
I am dead. I have to go to sleep.
Good Night!!!!!
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