Damn, back to work....

Highly-traveled Scotty here again; this time from Lone Pine, CA. Vacation's over (well, at least the 1st half), and I'm in the midst of a 5-day trip to the Eastern Sierra, an area I know well. So well, I married a woman from this area! Mammoth Lakes is about 100 miles north of me, but that's a "ballpark figure" for this big country. So, what's Lone Pine known for? Anybody over 45 or so would appreciate this: Like most kids who grew up in the '50's, I had a steady diet of Westerns on our old Zenith B&W TV. You know, the "bad guy" lurking behind the boulder, waiting for the posse to come along, so he can shoot as many of them as possible? And the Lone Ranger, or Roy Rogers, or somebody coming along and saving the day? Well, guess what.... most of those Western action scenes were filmed right here in the area; Lone Pine has the Alabama Hills, a natural movie set. There's miles of rugged terrain, just begging for a film crew. So, why aren't Westerns still done here? Unions. The Actor's Guild raised a fuss about compensation for coming to such a remote area, and it killed the industry here. The local's biggest hotel, the Dow Villa, boasts a "John Wayne" room, the one Duke liked best. He spent LOTS of time here in Owens Valley, there's a ton of pictures of him here in town. So, "Hey, Pilgrim".... this is where I'm spending Labor Day weekend! I hope your holiday is going well too. Grover Cleveland was the President who signed the bill creating Labor Day, in case you didn't know....