Day 14

5/28/2024

Today, we took our last trip to the dog park at Boulder Creek RV Park and then hitched up our wagon and got on the road.

Riding through Lone Pine, Independence, and Big Pine, I shared stories with Denise about our family and the many adventures we had here.

We talked about earthquakes in Lone Pine, Tule Elk just out of town, trips to Independence and I pointed out the Winnedumah statue in the mountains to the east.  We talked about reunions in Big Pine, and I share stories that Grandma Clarice wrote about her father going out in a buckboard to gather wood for sale and him kicking wood off, as though it had fallen, for families who had less than he.  We talked about Grandpa Ralph’s mill, and the Uhlmeyer/Adams crystal mine.

But then in Bishop, we stopped for bread.  Oh man…  We pulled into the park across the street and got the dogs settled in the trailer then took the hike over to Schatt’s.  As children there was a Schatt’s in Lone Pine and Grandma Clarice would take us there to meet her friends for coffee.  I remember staring into the case at all the goodies, so hard to pick just one thing.

I felt that way again wandering the isles of bread and then going through the bakery, yummy.  We couldn’t decide so we asked the guy behind the counter what his favorite was and took two of them.

We sat outside at a sidewalk table with our cream cheese filled croissant and iced tea.  I don’t think we said a word.  It was just yummy sounds and eye rolls and oh man was it good.

Up the hill out of Bishop and through the mountains we went.  It was a great ride.  We laughed the whole way.

Charlie had told me there was another Schatt’s in Minden/Gardnerville.  We found it after several wrong turns, but there was some sort of a festival going on.  NO PARKING!  Even so, we were determined.  I pulled into a weird parking lot with an exit ahead of us, whew!  I left Denise and the Dogs in the car just in case someone wanted to give us grief.  With determination in my step, I headed over to Schatt’s.  It was much smaller than the one in Bishop and there wasn’t any good place to park even without the festival, but the baked goods were divine.  We got ham and cheese croissants with chocolate cookies for dessert.  Oh, my what a treat!

Again, there was a hushed silence between us as we ate.  Almost a reverence.  The smell drove the dogs crazy, but we were in heaven for the second time today.

When we at last pulled into the Zephyr Cove RV Park in Lake Tahoe, it was dusk.  What a beautiful place.

Once set up, we packed the dogs into the trailer and took off to pay some dues at the casino.  We pulled into Harrah’s, but the parking was too complicated, then Harvey’s, all that open parking behind is gone.  Finally, we ended up in Balley’s, we still had to pay, but at least they gave me a parking ticket.

I played the Jacks or Better machine and wasn’t winning but wasn’t losing either.  In the end, they tricked me and kept me there just past the hour, so we had to pay for parking.  My total losses:  $20 for parking + $10 into the machine - $.17 I got back = $29.83 down for the night.  I did get a drink or two out of them, so not a total loss.

Wahoo!