Bishop to Mammoth....

Aspen Trees along  Bishop Creek

The drive down to Bishop was "ever-descending", for at a point in the road the whole of the Owens Valley stretching North and South of Bishop was revealed. It was breathtaking. Bishop appeared to be no more than a bug smear on the windshield. None of the landmarks were recognizable. I think I met only two or three cars on my way down and no one was visible behind or ahead of me on my side of the road. It was early afternoon and I wanted to be in Mammoth later in the day and find a room for the evening. A few more side trips around the neighborhoods of Bishop brought me into the Paiute Indian district.

I have no idea if the proceeds from the Paiute Casino trickle down to all the tribe members. That is the usual arrangement. However there is little or no evidence that any such flow of cash has improved the general condition of the reservation homes and environs.

The Paiute Indian War in the mid-1800's was a tragic conflict and it took the course of most such conflicts between the native Americans and the miners and settlers. The town of Independence was the site of Fort Independence....established and manned by U.S. Cavalry units expressly to subdue the Paiute bands that wandered the valley attacking isolated mines and ranches.

Tribes......We are all members of a "tribe". We don't think of ourselves as members of a tribe....but I think we are...... perhaps not in the popular sense or the strictly defined sense. But we belong to large groups of individuals loosely allied in classes defined by education, economic opportunity, race and culture, geography and environment. Passage from one's tribe to another is difficult if not impossible. Without overdrawing the analogy, that apple core demonstrated in a very real sense the difficulty in achieving transition from one "current", or tribe, to another.

When I was a teacher escorting my high school students on field trips I observed the boldest, most confident punks (they were punks with behavior problems) when in their social milieu, hesitate and virtually cower when required to enter a music hall or museum. They felt terribly inadequate and insecure when confronted with what to them was a different world. But then, I wonder how I would contend with Buckingham Palace and an audience with the Queen.

Not everyone thinks alike. Not everyone shares the same values. Not everyone has the same education...... Interests conflict. .......Ambitions are different.


I made preparations to leave Bishop...buying Sheepherder bread at Schat's, filling the tank at the Shell station, buying odds and ends at Von's and Target. Then on to Mammoth Mountain and the High Country and to a bed.

SRH

Red Foliage/Red Mailbox........Bishop