The Round-up

It was cool at Seven Oaks this morning, cool enough to have a cup of coffee sitting in the hot tub.  What kind of BLISS is that? The all caps kind. (Creepy looking hand though.)

I could have had delicious granola with fruit and milk but I've had granola every day, or almost every day, for three weeks so I opted to go to town and have bacon and eggs. Yummy, yummy, yummy. 

I took my leave of DW and thanked him again and again for his heroic drive to come get me. I hope he knows how much I appreciated his help. 

My last activity before heading back home was to drive to Kennedy Meadows and pick up the box I had sent there as my resupply. It's a couple hour drive so I wanted to do it when it was as cool as possible. 

Along the way I stopped in Jamestown at an "antique" store to see if I could find a belt at a decent price, since my pants were falling off. They were loose to begin with but now they are very loose. I rummaged around but couldn't find anything at a reasonable price so I gave up and headed on up the hill. 

While driving I realized something. I don't need a belt. I need something to hold my pants up! So when I arrived at KM I took come para cord I had with my camping stuff and cut me up a goodly length. I tied a bowline knot in one end, threaded it through my belt loops and tied it on with a half hitch. Perfect! Who needs a new belt? Ha!

I was very torn about whether or not to stay at KM for the night or drive home today.  It being the Friday before Labor Day weekend I knew the traffic would be grim, and the heat in the valley will be well over 100 degrees. Traffic and extreme heat or campground and hot but not melting temps? 

To help with the decision I drove around to see if I could get a site and found only one left. One. It is a crappy site, being in the full sun and all, but it is a place to stay so I snagged it. 

I was warned there is a human-food eating bear roaming these campgrounds and that this bear got some steak and tri-tip from someone last night. The campers ignored the pleadings of the campground hosts and now the bear knows to come back tonight for seconds, and thirds. Too bad because if the bear keeps getting a food reward it'll eventually be shot and killed. All because of human stupidity. 

Finally it got to be beer-thirty so I wandered over to the saloon. Football on the tube, Sierra Nevada cold and some real loud folks taking up space. Can it get anymore American than that?

The day bartender left and his replacement came on duty. I watched him get set up and then took a picture. Look how he lined up the bottles of hard stuff. 

I said I liked the way he organized his bottles and he said, "Yeah. I'm a bit OCD." I'll have to agree with him on that one. 

I went to the dining room to have the rib dinner and was disappointed with the food. It was ok but for the price it should have been better prepared. It was fine, just not great. Which is too bad since they're food has been great in the past. I'm thinking they need a new chef. 

The dining room is cool though. If you are partial to dead animal heads hanging on the walls. Or if you can ignore them. 

Finally, once the sun went down, I went back to the campsite to settle in for the night. It's weird being outdoors and surrounded by so many people and very large rv's and trailers. Not bad, just strange. 

I just re-read this post and it appears I'm getting grumpy. I guess it's a good thing I'm heading back home tomorrow.