GOLD COUNTRY, CA - The 2001 Mother Lode Tour started at our usual meeting place at Hwy. 138 & Frwy. 215. Waiting for us (The Locke's, the Adams' and the Holliers started from Yucca Valley) were Chuck & Judy Purves from Bloomington. Soon to arrive was Brad & Jackie from Julian and Margie Forbes with Ami from Oceanside.

Our plan was to have lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Bakersfield, but if we drove straight through we would arrive before they opened. So we checked out an antique mall in Palmdale. Margie and Ami found a great way to handle antiquing! Ami really has a "ruff" life.

The Chinese restaurant had totally remodeled since last year and offered a super buffet. It was fortunate that we didn't have much further to drive after lunch. We stopped at a cross roads mini-mart for ice. When we came out of the mart, Fred Group and Rod & Jerry Atchley had caught up with the Gang.

Deer Creek RV Park is located in Terra Bella, a small town below Porterville, CA. We "circled the wagon" to join Don & Judy Biggs and Gage & Tanya Enoch. They arrive a few days early so they could take advantage of some heavy duty antiquing. The first stop the next day was in Lindsey for some groceries and a few minor repairs. Our esteemed "Leader" headed for the parking lot exit which wasn't really an exit. He headed back into the parking lot while telling everyone on the CB NOT to follow us 'cause we made a wrong turn. Well, some the Teardroppers were behind us, some were going left, some were going right, some hadn't moved yet and we were heading back! The untrained eye would have sworn that it was square dancing teardrop style!! After a few more turns and lots of teasing and laughter we, finally headed to the next adventure.

Our next adventure proved to be about 14 miles south of Chowchilla. We were heading for a gas stop. In years past, David & Gage set the mileage for gas stops since their 1956 Ford F-100's gas tanks had about a 150 mile range. This year most of the classic vehicles where left home for one reason or another. David towed with a 1999 Ford Range so gas was not a problem. Gage left his F-100 (broke!) home in favor of a 1970 Ford truck. This truck is a newer twin to his 1956 EXCEPT it gets worse gas mileage then the old one! Gage was on fumes! We get off the freeway and head for a friendly Pilot station. We noticed a fire engine and a CHP car across the road but didn't give it much thought. Those needing gas pulled in, inserted nozzle and went in to pay. A traffic accident had taken out a power pole and the station had NO power, which meant NO gas! Well, Gage heads back down the freeway followed by Rod & Jerry just in case the fumes give out. The Subway in the Pilot was still making sandwiches so we had lunch while we waited for them to return

We arrived at the fair ground in Sonora, CA early afternoon with plenty of time to setup camp and kick back before time to fix dinner. Larry Burgess joined us just in time for dinner, only to find that his "wives" hadn't put his name in the pot. We had a special treat when we found out that there was to be a swap meet right next to our camp area. The next day several of the group headed off to tour the Hershey Chocolate factory and the Hillmar Cheese factory. Hershey had the nerve to be closed on Saturday. Now what better day to conduct tours! So we spent more time at the cheese factory. As we traveled through the area we noticed large numbers of huge dairy farms. We learned that most of those dairies supply the milk for the 1,000,000 pounds of cheese they produce each day! California produces more cheese than any other state in the United States. Wisconsin! Eat your heart out!

Saturday evening, we were treated (?) to a Monster Truck show at the fair grounds. Pickups with enormous tires race up a ramp and "jump" across cars. The end result was lots of cheering, dust, crashing, engines roaring to produce smashed cars and broken pickups with flat enormous tires! Our next stop was So. Lake Tahoe via lots of antique stores, beautiful mountain views and gold towns. Campground by the Lake is just across the road from Lake Tahoe in the tall pines and a few miles from the casinos in South Lake Tahoe, NV. The casinos dining facilities got us out of cooking dinner.

The next night we enjoyed a moonlight dinner cruise on the Lake Paradise yacht. The moon was full and awesome; the food was great and the entertainment was great. Everyone had a great time. Some of the Gang opted to spend another night in Tahoe and some had to head home. The rest of us traveled on toward June Lake, CA.

Mono Lake is a unique environment for migrate birds and wildlife. The State Park Service offers an informative visitors center including information about the Tufa formations in and near the lake. The lake is a major source of brine shrimp as tropical fish food and the primary breeding ground for the California sea gull. Along the path to the lake we saw yellow headed black birds, green chested swallows, and an osprey. The water at the edge of the lake was covered with alkaline flies. That sounds gross, but they are very polite flies and don't make a pest of themselves like the common house fly. These flies are a major food source for the gulls. It is a riot to watch the gulls run along the beach with their beak a gap catching the flies.

The fall colors around June Lake were in full splendor. According to some of the fishermen the trout fishing was pretty good. We camped at Pine Crest Resort again this year. Our camp area seemed to be on the edge of the wildlife path. Each morning and evening we could watch deer grazing as they headed to the lake to drink. Gray squirrels and blue jays were constant visitors. We did not have any visits from bears.

Gage & Tanya are very familiar with the Mammoth area and directed us to old Mammoth City ruins by way of Twin Lakes. Looking over the bridge above Twin Lakes we could see trout swimming below. Mammoth City was an impressive boom town in its' short hey day from 1878 to 1879. It boasted 22 saloons (a 10 square foot tent with a barrel of whiskey could be called a saloon), 13 stores, 2 livery stables, 2 breweries, 5 restaurants, and 2 newspapers. Today there is the foundation of a cabin, a few pipes in the ground ands some level places where tents once stood

In Bishop we joined more Teardroppers: Steve & Rochelle from Gorman, Paul & Lynn from Palmdale; and Don & Brenda from Ontario, CA. We had arrived early so we could check out more antique stores and tour the "Ears" in Independence. If you have ever traveled along Hwy. 395 in that area you have probably wondered about the huge satellite dishes in the distance. Those dishes are part of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory operated by the California Institute of Technology. Roughly, those big dishes send radio waves into space at the speed of light. The radio waves bounce off stuff in space and send a signal back to Earth. The object is to map the location and distance of space objects. The Institute conducts a very interesting tour. Give them a call (760-938-2114) for tour schedules and make the time to visit the facility. It is worth the effort.

Due to so many broken classic vehicles most of the Teardroppers didn't register for the Owens Valley Cruisers' Fall Colors Car Show. That doesn't mean that we didn't have a great time visiting and ogling the nearly 400 classic vehicles! After some hugs a promises to keep in touch, we headed back home after a great Mother Lode Tour 2001.

There will not be a Mother Lode Tour in 2002.

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