Before we headed out of camp to goof off, we had a big of work to do. As I’d mentioned, Dave has RV fever. And as a result, we’ve looked at A LOT of fifth wheels. Days ago, we’d made an offer on the fiver we wanted as we were leaving Durango. Well, it turns out that when we were in Tuolumne a couple of days ago, Dave received a message from the RV dealer in Durango. They'd pretty much agreed to the offer we’d made on the Cougar. The price was too good to pass up. So, after some additional discussion about the bleak state of the economy, investments and our future, we decided that buying a depreciating land yacht would certainly yield greater return than keeping the same money in mutual funds (or my bank which belly-upped during the trip – way to go WAMU). They choice was clear, we were destined to become fifth wheelers.
Of course there was some rational thinking behind this decision. For example, now we could take the parrots with us on trips saving $ on pet sitters. Plus instead of making many little trips and wasting gas, we could take fewer trips that last longer. Finally, with the Cougar, we’d have no reason to eat out with such a deluxe kitchen trailing the truck. The cost savings were clear. And besides, we figured purchasing the trailer was the least we could do to help our collapsing economy. We are altruistic for sure.
We’ll be picking up the trailer in a week or so. From Durango, we’ll take it on its maiden voyage to the Canyon Lands. Look for that fun blog entry in the near future.
After dealing with the RV business, we hiked into Yosemite Village to go to the new Climbing Museum - officially called "Granite Frontiers: A Century of Yosemite Climbing,". The mastermind behind the museum is Ken Yager, aka Chicken Skinner. He is also the mastermind behind the Facelift. The museum's collection has about 10,000 items, however, only the most important pieces are in the 1,800 sf exhibit now.
This exhibit was everything and more than we expected. Anyone going to Yosemite should try to see it. It will be touring the world after its time in Yosemite.
After a lunch and a bit of casual hiking, we headed back to camp. Blaine would be showing up in the evening and we didn’t want to be too late. When we returned to camp, we found several people had arrived. Nature, Chicken Skinner, Jingy, PaganMonkeyBoy, Buggs, Mr. E, Mighty Hiker, JStan, Fake Blinny, Lynn L, Happiegrrrl, A Crowley and several other climbing friends had arrived.
There was a lot of visiting going on. For some of those with tired backs, the squat-and-talk position was taken.And Blaine was there are well. Dave and Blaine spent the evening sorting gear and getting set for their big day. I visited with others. It was great seeing everyone! The night ended around the campfire with some chatting and music - including of course a kazoo. It was the first of many nights where several people stayed up very late playing music, singing and having so much fun the rangers were compelled to stop by for a visit. Ha!
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