five-day wrap-up

Recently I learned that:

• In late August on a weekday, you can find the Bagby Recreation Area campground completely deserted except for the ranger, so you get your own personal bathroom, complete with a shower. Given how close together the campsites are, I wouldn't want to see the place on a weekend, but for wildlife, you get turkeys:

• Yosemite Valley has deceptively poor air quality. It looked clear enough, and it didn't feel like particulates or ozone, but there came a point fairly early on where it was quite obvious that I wasn't going to make it without my respirator, and by then, any leak around the respirator was a complete disaster. I blame combustion products from campfires and car exhaust, but I can't prove anything.
• The town of Bishop, CA, is a surprisingly nice place to be a tourist, and in related news, the German car repair place on the north end of town has two helpful assistant mechanics, one of whom is kind of old and mostly lies down, but the other one is young, filthy, and enjoys chasing sticks. When he retrieves one, he likes to chew it to bits, then roll over on his back and fiddle with the remnants, which he clutches between his front paws. His name is Axel, and he is a character. Also, the local tire store displayed the following sign:

• Panamint Springs Resort in Death Valley changed hands about 2 1/2 years ago, and it reportedly used to be a dump. I can only report on the current tent camping conditions, but it was an excellent place to tent camp, plus you could get a beer and talk to the European tourists. Apparently all the factories in Italy close during August, so August is Italian season. Also, you can amaze the other tourists with your enormous drink until they find out it is just iced tea, which it turns out really will keep you up at night, and I realize that everybody else already knew that.
• The Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton is closing on September 1, and it may well be worth $35 per person for two 20-minute reality rides and a chance to see the museum, but if you don't have a lot of time, you will never know. I do know that Quark's bar next door looked terminally cheesy, and it was really great to see our ex-houseguest for a little while before we all hit the road in different directions.
• The KOA in Seligman, AZ is far enough off the freeway to be safe enough, but there are trains that go by a little way away about every half hour. They only make exhaust fumes for a minute or so, so it went fine. I actually felt better there than anywhere else, with the possible exception of Death Valley.

It's kind of nice to be home, but now I have to figure out how to camp in colder weather because we didn't get to see the Grand Canyon yet.