Independence was a pleasant place to spend a rest day. It's the county seat but is much smaller (population 669) than Bishop. The 6-10 thru-hikers plus a sprinkling of JMT hikers in town were the dominant transient life forms -- hikers often come out to Independence via Kearsarge Pass to resupply or recover. The new malady we heard about was snow blindness. One was a case of fully-developed snow blindness in a JMT hiker who had lost his sunglasses -- he had to be led out. Others were less severe -- like Tina's face burn only with a feeling of "gritty" burning eyes thrown in. I'd always read about snow blindness but somehow it never clicked about just how dramatic it is and how quickly it can develop with high altitudes, a blazing sun, and a 3D snow-covered terrain.
Incidentally, if you do someday find yourself traveling up 395, a very worthwhile stop is the Eastern California Museum in Independence. We walked down (about a 1/4 mile off the highway) expecting the usual county museum scene but found something several cuts above. We wound up spending several hours there and didn't even get into many of the exhibits outside. The museum was founded in 1928 and so it covers Indian history, Manzanar, LA vs Owens Valley water politics and development, Sierra mountaineering, and so on in detail. Fascinating stuff and also a very pleasant shaded creekside picnic spot.
Tomorrow we have several thousand feet of climbing before we get very far down the road and so it's likely to be a long day!
/David
p.s. A quick shout out to Brian at Aerohead Cycles here in Bishop. We rolled up looking for gloves and a handlebar bag. When we walked out we found we had a rear flat (first of the trip!). Brian found the problem (a small wire) and replaced our tube for free! Thanks!!