Bishop: Good Thing We Scheduled Two Nights

There are a lot of photos in this post. Click through them to see the other photos in my Flickr photostream that I took today.

I got up early and took the Astro to the dealership and dropped it off before they opened, then walked back to the hotel at the other end of town.

( I'd forgotten how spectacular the view was from here )

I made a mistake about the time of the Day Jobbe conference call, so Lisa and I had several hours to kill. We walked to Jack's Restaurant on Main Street, where we had a good breakfast. As we were leaving, the dealership called to break the bad news that the part they ordered hadn't arrived and that they don't expect it until Wednesday morning. That's not a disaster as we'll still be here tomorrow, but it is annoying. Once they have the part, it should take very little time for them to install it.

( Then I decide to take a walk by the old school )

We retrieved the Astro from the dealership and set off to explore some parts of the city that were more than a convenient walking distance away; in particular, we drove several miles northwest of town to the Highland Mobile Home Park so I could see if a particular unit was still there.

( My Old Bishop Home )

We circled around on streets I once drove on my bicycle back over to Line Street (CA-168), which forms the center point of Bishop where it crosses Main Street (US-395). Then we went back to the hotel, where Lisa hung out in the hotel lobby while I dealt with yet another Day Jobbe conference call and work that chased me through my vacation. Around Noon, we set off for the place we'd actually come here to Bishop to see.

( Road Trip for Another Time )

Then it was off to the Laws Railroad Museum, about which I will write in a different entry.

Visiting the Slim Princess

Around Noon today we drove out to Laws, California to the Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site. Laws was the northern terminus of the last common-carrier narrow-gauge railroad in the west, the Keeler-to-Laws segment of the former Carson & Colorado Railway. The C&C ran from Mound House (not too far from where we live in Fernley) to Keeler. The SP bought it, standard-gauged the section from Mound House to Tonopah Junction to connect with the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad (and hence to Las Vegas by diverse lines), abandoned in 1943 the section from Mina to Laws, and finally ended operation Keeler-Laws on April 30, 1960. The railroad pulled up the track south of Laws but donated the Laws Depot site, locomotive #9 (the "Slim Princess"), and the associated buildings to the City of Bishop. Today the site is run by the Bishop Museum & Historical Society and is open daily year around. Besides the railroad buildings, many other old buildings from the area have been moved here and restored, and the museum includes a fascinating look back at the early days of the Owens Valley.

As with other entries, click through the photos to see more related photos.

( Our Day at the Museum )

The full set of photos I took today at the museum is on my Laws Railroad Museum Flickr Album.

We spent most of the afternoon at the museum, and we effectively had the run of the place, as we were one of only three parties who visited today. It is, however, a weekday at a very slow time of the year. It was a good day to be there, though, as it wasn't too cold (except inside some of the buildings) and the weather was clear.

We told the folks at the museum that we'd made special plans (and taken an extra day off from work) just to come here, and that we've also made a point of telling the hotel and restaurant staff with whom we've been dealing that the museum was what brought us here. Having been rail museum volunteers ourselves, we think it's important for the businesses to know that supporting the museum is good for their business, too.