Berlin/Ichthyosaurs
by Tommie W. Whitener
When the Tour gathered for breakfast at the Coulterville Cafe on
Saturday July 27, the morning was clear, bright and beautiful
heralding another 100+ degree day in the Central Valley. But we
were going the other way.
Seven of the eight breakfasters (new word?) had arrived in
Coulterville that morning from various points in Northern California.
Jonathan, however, for obvius reasons, had ridden up the night
before and spent the night at the historical Jeffrey Hotel. He reports
that the accomodations at the 140-year old hotel were more than
comfortable if not quite commodious. Of particular note, he says,
were the hotel's three-foot thick walls and rather spartan bathroom
facilities.
Breakfast was outside on the patio at the Cafe where, with food that
was delicious and cheap, the talk was of (what else?) motorcycles,
memorable motorcycle rides and favorite camping spots.
After breakfast, the eight Beemers headed to Highwya 108 for the
trip across the pass to Bridgeport and Lee Vining. The day continued
clear and bright and revealed Mono Lake to be almost full - having
no doubt benefitted from recent restrictions on the amount of water
being shipped south to that desert called Los Angeles, as well as an
abundance of recent rain.
Fortunately, the ride to Gabbs, Nevada, and Berlin-Ichthyosaurs
Park was mostly dry and we arrived at the park just in time to pitch
our tents against threatening skies and attend the meeting, along
with 30 or so earilier arrivees.
President Bill Jarivis first of all asked Historiean Steve Kesinger to
report on the history of the Paark. We were told that we were
camping on the site of a recently worked, but abandoned mine,
which had once been at the floor of a great inland sea, inhabited by
marine dinosaurs. The dinosaurs (Ichthyosaurs) had left many of
their fossils behind, but most of us only saw a couple of fossils of the
human variety.
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