October 14, 2013---Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA

While Bill moved the motorhome back to the Alabama Hills this morning, I took some things to the thrift store on Main Street.  Every time I have cleaned a cabinet, etc. in the house, I have been collecting items to donate.  The Honda is so full that we decided to take them to the little thrift store here, or the CRV might burst at the seams.

I stopped at Johnson’s Grocery Store for a few items before going up to the Hills.  As far as I know, Johnson’s is the only grocery store in town.  And their prices reflect the lack of competition.

Bill was really tired today and took several naps.  While he “inspected the insides of his eyelids,” I caught up on some office work.  Have I told you how much I am enjoying our new desk/table?  It is wonderful!  I still haven’t learned how to successfully put pictures on my blog, so until I do, please take my word about the desk.

Today, I booked my tickets for Thanksgiving with Brent and his tribe.  November 20-December 4.  I am really looking forword to seeing them.  I had told Sara I would talk to her dad about spending Thanksgiving with them.  She said, “Oh, you can come.”  I told Brent what she said, and he just chuckled.  “That’s my Sara!”

The weather was nice for the Film Festival.  We hope it continues.  Blue skies and cool temperatures make this a very pleasant place to be this time of year.

October 13, 2013---Lone Pine, CA

Bill left early this morning to watch the last two Westerns on the program that he had any interest in.  He’s such a good cowboy.  He has really enjoyed Lone Pine and so have I.

Today, however, I chose to stay home and clean out the freezer.  What fun, what fun!  I surely know how to have a good time.  Wow!  After taking care of that domestic chore, I finished a bracelet I had started a couple of days ago.

When Tex got home, we went across the dirt lot to McDonald’s for lunch.  We came back to the MH to eat and watch the Bronco game, but, alas, it wasn’t on our network.  Lori couldn’t get it either, but she was listening to the game on the radio.  She would text me every time someone scored.  The Broncos won!!!!

The bracelet I finished today was orange and blue...Bronco colors.  I was supporting the team in my own way, eh?

We have been using McDonald’s free wifi since we are so close.  We will be moving the coach back to the Alabama Hills tomorrow so we’ll be back to our own Internet connections.

October 12, 2013---Lone Pine, CA

We went to the VFW building for breakfast this morning. The sign on the railing of the ramp going to the building read “Tie your horses in back of the building.”  That’s a new one for me, I think!

After eating, we went to the rodeo to watch team roping for awhile.  Small town rodeos are usually very entertaining.  This one was no different.  It was a little strange seeing some of the cowboys and cowgirls in baseball caps rather than western hats.

While Bill went to watch a movie, I went to the craft show at the city park.  There were quite a few booths there as well as food vendors.  I was looking for Kristy, whom I met at last year’s festival.  She makes fabric baskets.  

I finally found her in a building on the main street.  That is where the celebrities sell their books and pictures, and sign autographs.  I didn’t get anything signed, but just walked around talking to some of them.  Some of them were very nice, and some of them are snobs, like Roy Roger’s daughter.  I have seen her at several festivals and she is always the same.

I went to a panel discussion on stunts.  It is always an interesting topic, hearing how a stunt scene might take 10 or 12 hours to set up and prefect.  And all for about two or three minutes of film.

We watched the Ducks game Bill recorded.  Oregon won against the University of Washington.  Hooray!  We also watched the NASCAR race from Charlotte.  Bill had recorded it, too.  He loves fast forwarding through the ads.

October 11, 2013---Lone Pine, CA

Today was a busy day at the Film Festival.  Bill started out at 7:00 with a movie.  Needless to say, it would have had to have been a “once in a lifetime” movie to get me up that early, but Old Tex was raring and ready to go.

At 11:00, I went to a panel discussion about Hopalong Cassidy.  It was very interesting.  One of the guys on the panel was a Hoppy impersonator.  His costume was very authentic and his knowledge of Hoppy was amazing.  Two of the others on the panel had a lot of interesting things to tell about the cowboy that Bill was named after.  I really enjoyed the presentation.

We went to McDonald’s for lunch.  While there, I saw a young woman (Monica) in full Western costume.  I was especially interested in the beaded hat band on her cowboy hat.  It was beautiful.  I commented on it and she said that her mother had made it.  The lady with her said that I did beading, also.  I don’t know how she knew, but she did!  Monica wanted to see some of my work so I pointed out our motorhome and invited her over. 

Monica came and spent about an hour with us.  She comes to every film festival and dresses at Linda Sterling.  She explained that Linda Sterling was in the very, very early Zorro movies and played the part of Zorro’s sister who took over the “cause for right”  after Zorro was killed.  We had never heard of that series.  I tried to find it on Wikipedia, but our Internet connection wasn’t able to get the information.  I’ll try again another time.  

Tonight we saw the movie, “Ride the High Country” starring Randolph Scott and Joel McCrae.  It was the first movie for Mariette Hartley.  She’s one of our favorites!  After the movie, there was a panel discussion with her and L. Q. Jones, who was also in the movie.  Joel McCrae’s grandson was in the audience, but he didn’t go on stage to talk about his “grandpa.”

I saw something very interesting today.  A man and woman were riding a motorcycle.  There was a side car attached and in it was a Golden Retriever, with his tail just wagging and wagging.  He was so happy!

October 10, 2013---Lone Pine, CA

We moved the coach into Lone Pine this morning and parked at a temporary RV lot that the city set up close to most of the festival action.  We are between McDonald’s and the rodeo arena.  We parked here last year, and it was very convenient.

After getting everything in order, we went to Karl’s Jr for lunch, took it back to the MH, and watched NASCAR practice from Charlotte.  Qualifying was set for 4:00.  We completely forgot about it so we didn’t get to see Jeff Gordon win the pole.

I am still trying to learn how to add pictures to my journal.  So far, I am not getting all the steps done correctly.  I want to show pictures of the Alabama Hills where so many movies have been filmed.  Some of our favorite Westerns were filmed here.  

Tomorrow, we start full force with the film festival.  Yee haw!

October 9, 2013---Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA

Just as we went out geocaching this morning, it started to sprinkle.  When we got to the location of the first cache, it was 52° and more than just a few sprinkles were falling.  Br-r-r-r-r!  After logging our find, we decided to go into Lone Pine to continue the hunt.

The first one we found in town was at the Forest Service office complex.  Of course, it was closed because of the government shutdown, but that didn’t slow us down a bit.  It was a quick one to find.

From there, we drove south on Hwy. 395 to Diaz Lake.  The cache was at the edge of the lake and Bill was able to find it very quickly.  Since we have never spent time here, we took a drive around to the other side of the lake.  There were lots of dry camping spaces, many of them reserved for the film festival weekend.

When we got home, we both decided it was a good day to stay inside, sit by the “fireplace,” and drink hot chocolate.

October 8, 2013---Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA

We went into Lone Pine this morning.  I needed to go to the Post Office and to register for the Film Festival.  The PO was open...the registration place was not.

When we got home Bill finished installing our new LED lights.  That was a big undertaking, but the results made it worth it.  We have so much better lighting now and the new lights should take less power to run.

I spent some time today taking care of odd jobs around the house.  I can’t actually say I accomplished very much.  That seems to be the story of my life lately.

Mid afternoon I went back into town to mail a package and to register for the festival.  There are going to be some interesting panel discussions.  Hopefully, I will have great things to report.

Did you know that insanity in inherited?  We get it from our kids!