from the ancient security guard on duty, via a walkie talkie (and then in person
when the technology failed). It was like a ghost town with hardly anyone
around, but plenty of cats, so we stayed in the van to eat.
Johnsondale is obviously very busy during peak season, there is a
store, ranch, dining and dance halls, but no paved roads and deserted and
creepy in winter. A weird place to grow up, more of a holiday resort than a
town.
We left the Kernville area late in the afternoon and headed to the other side of
the mountains so we would be close enough to drive to Death Valley the next
day. We passed through Onyx (where a sign proclaimed ‘World famous
sausage since 1851’) and then were back in ranch country. We got onto the
interstate and had glorious views of the sunset with desert in the foreground
and mountains in the distance. That night we stayed in Lone Pine, a small
town stretching along the interstate, in a campsite called Boulder Creek.
This turned out to be one of the nicest we stayed in. Facilities were
good (although we declined the hot tub in the sub-zero conditions), staff were
helpful and friendly, there was a cosy lounge to sit in in the morning, free (if
slow) TV Internet, and coffee and homemade muffins – lovely, the campsite of
our dreams. It was just a pity that we had to move on, though in truth we
would have soon got bored, as the town was so small that it was well
deserving of its name.
Following a recommendation we spent the next morning driving in the
foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, on 'Movie Flats' road. Here such classics as
Bonanza and The Lone Ranger had been filmed due to the incredible