Mt Whitney V

Day 4

The drive from Portal to Vegas takes about 5 hours.  We needed to get Patty to the airport by 2 PM for her return flight to Portland; I would take a later flight, using frequent flyer miles that were about to expire.  We'd sacked out early the night before (big surprise, huh?), woke up with the usual post-climb aches and stiffness, but exhilarated by our accomplishment - and ravenous for a hearty breakfast.

We headed out at 8:30 AM with Pat in the driver's seat.  The rest of us lounged around, enjoying the spaciousness of the RV, reviewing our climb, chatting about this and that. Around 11 AM, I popped into the shotgun seat and told Pat to look for a place to pull over so I could relieve him at the wheel.  A few minutes later we passed a sign that listed the mileage to various towns ahead, including Reno.  Reno?  What the hell?  Reno is hundreds of miles north of Vegas.  Shit!  We're headed the wrong way.  Have been for nearly an hour.

Pat may have been distracted by this sign when he made the wrong turn.

The guy who crash landed the plane surely was,
and he overestimated the length of the pull through.

I wonder if he did (pull through).

We stopped and switched drivers.  It would be a near thing and I'd have to drive well above posted speeds, but I was determined to make the airport by 2 PM.  I didn't, though.  We were just a few minutes too late.  No big deal, really.  Patty caught the later flight I was taking.

Beatty, NV (black arrow) is where we made the wrong turn

and headed north instead of south on US 95.

PS: I asked Mary Kay to help me with some of the details in this story, had to chuckle at her emailed response.  She called the trek a Death March, said it was inhumane.  She reminded me that she had injured her big toe somewhere along the trail, whacked it really good, lost the toenail later.  Sorry about that, MK.  You really should be more selective in your choice of hike coordinators.

The end.