Day 7, The Long Drive Back

We filled our bellies with good food and drink at the Whitney Portal store and zoomed down the mountain at breakneck speed (Andy was at the wheel) towsrds the small town of Lone Pine where we had found, through Matt (and maybe Jen's) work a place to stay. Matt and Adam had a 50s style room I think while the rest of us had a standard modern, Probably overpriced considering the bed and coach/bed options, to spend a night and get ourselves and our clothing clean. I've no doubt we left the bathrooms at least far worse than we found them. All I could really wear were longjohn bottom so I stayed put in the room instead joining others at McDonalds. No real loss. When the laundramat opened in the morning Andy and Konrad were there to do 3 small loads to get our stuff fresh and clean. Cleaned up and comfortable we went for breakfast. Adequate food and mediocre service were our lot at this busy little place. Well you get what you get.

 We planned to take a more round about route back to the other car. Through desert and mountains we would drive pausing at a desert brewery with some tasty and some awful brews and so-so service. It was going to be a long drive since mountain roads are slow and twisty things. I bet after all was said and done we used up three extra hours getting to the grove with the Sherman tree because of how we decided to drive back. Not awful but a long day. Probably especially so for Andy who was doing funky things up front in the passenger seat to not get carsick. Adam was doing his best not to get tossed into me or Konrad.

 After meandering through the park for longer than seemed needful but probably wasn't. We began the drive to Fresno. Campgrounds in the park were full and to be honest I was perfectly fine with this. Matt kept trying to get in touch with Jen to confirm she had managed to get Konrad, Andy, and I a great deal for a Las Vagas room (she had) and to find us a cheaper place in Fresno. Around 11:00PM we pulled into a Four Points and a very nice room awaited us. If doing it again I wish we could have shortened the drive maybe I'm just griping because it is tough to take part in conversations from the back at times.

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** Ken **
 
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