The Pacific Zone - The Lone Pine, CA
April 1 - 5, 2006
“Hi Ho Silver” the Lone Ranger rides again along with Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers and many other famous western heroes from yesteryear. Most of the action filming for these movies was done on location in the area known as the “Alabama Hills” located within 8 miles of Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine, CA, our rally home for four days.
Our Wagonmaster, Jack Spencer, and Real Wagonmaster, Barbara Spencer, chose this spectacular area for the April ‘06’ Pacific Zone Rally. Lone Pine is where the Eastern Sierra mountains blend into the Northern Mojave Desert with Mt. Whitney to the West and Death Valley over the mountains to the East. The rally agenda set by Jack and Barbara was casual. Visiting and enjoying the sights were their primary objectives.
“Charge of the Light Brigade”, starring Errol Flynn; “High Sierra”, starring Humphrey Bogart; “Gungda Din”, starring Cary Grant and the Maverick TV series with James Garner were some of the old classics filmed on location in the Alabama Hills. These and many more films were highlighted on the “Movie Road” self-guided auto tour.
A must see was the Manzanar National Historic Site and Interpretive Center where nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned during Wold War II. This location was one of ten internment centers in the United States. Other sightseeing highlights included the Eastern California Museum in Independence and the Laws Railroad Museum in Bishop.
With all of the sightseeing and visiting we managed to squeeze in a morning “Stretching and Strengthening” exercise program directed by Barbara and Sam Howe. Sam was in charge of the music and Barbara did all of the work!
Our last night banquet dinner was catered by Jaque Hickman, owner of the RV Park. She BBQ’d tri tips to die for along with all of the goodies that made it a marvelous eating experience. During dessert, Jacque entertained us with many stories about the annual Lone Pine Film Festival when the town celebrates the “Cowboy Heroes and their Horses”.
Our newest RV Fellowship members, Ron and Joan Deal, had this to say about the outing—“ Ron and I really enjoyed ourselves. Ron is retired and I am still working, so it is really great to get away to relax and have as much fun as we did. Jack and Barbara Spencer did a great job! We are really looking forward to attending another trip with the RV Fellowship. We sure recommend this to all of our fellow Rotarians. Again, Ron and I want to thank everyone for the great hospitality that was given to us, and again we had a great time……..Thanks again, Ron and Joan Deal”.
Gordon and Polly Lipp
