I'll drink to that. One more interesting thing about Lee Vining, the town. Being at 7,000 feet and on the dry side of the Sierra, reading a newspaper here has the same effect on the paper as being in an airplane. By the time you finish, it is wrinkled and brittle from the low oxygen and very very dry air. CA 120 east traverses the shore of Mono Lake and glides past the Mono Craters, volcanic vents from long ago that spewed almost crystalline gravel.
Entire hillsides are absent vegetation from the layers of pumice and gravel.
It is otherworldly. Then suddenly a pine forest jumps out of nowhere and the road squiggles between the trees. I highly recommend it. I remembered a casino and station near the Coaldale junction from my last passage a few years ago. Nevada, land of the mindless miles.