A lovely young family from British Columbia was in the site we had originally reserved, and they were leaving early and graciously let us move our tent down the hill to that site. We had arrived a day early because of our skipping Reno due to the fire. We got successfully moved and headed to Martinez where we had a quick sandwich and a quick tour of John Muir's house, which is NPS site 352 for Bill. From there we were bussed to the Port Chicago National Memorial, site 353. This is a tragic story of the explosion of two ships being loaded with ammunition in 1944. It killed over 300 men, the majority of who were African-American stevedores. The dock was replaced in six weeks, but 50 black sailors refused to go back to work without more training and provision for safety. They were charged with mutiny and found guilty. They served a year or so before President Truman granted them clemency. It is a significant story in the history of the American Civil Rights movement. We were on the bus with several other park and park stamp aficionados. By the time we got home, we had a quick supper, checked email, read the paper and fell into bed.
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