9:30am and we're rolling out of Reno toward the Nevada/Utah border, 400 miles distant. Some would say the scenery is boring. Perhaps if one does this route every week, but not if it's an occasional trip. Arid range land; dry lakes topped with salts; occasional towns, supported mostly by the railroads, mining and ranching; occasonal mountain grades to test one's skill. The rest? Minimal traffic, mostly big rigs that are courteous, signaling us back into their lane when we pass them, thanking us for doing the same when they pass us. Mutual respect on the road is important to safety. I personally like Nevada for its law enforcement signs indicating that if you act improperly near big rigs like ours, you will be ticketed. Yess!!! Thumbs up to that one, officer!
Sunday, 8/14 - 9:30 a.m. "Betsy the Bus" began her roll away from our "first home". With daughter Lexi waving us on, we began our way eastward toward our first destination, Carson City, NV. Beautiful weather, light traffic aided our adaptation to the realization that we were leaving the known, the friends and neighbors who support us, and our college grad daughter for the ever changing life on the road. Not a lot of conversation for awhile.
The familiar, well experienced roads gave way to the rising Sierra foothills and the ever-higher Sierra Mountains themselves as we traveled I-80. Time to really pay attention to speed control and gearing/braking. We don't need to contribute ourselves and 36,000 lbs of possessions to the scenery "down there" in some rocky canyon.
"BANG!" Just loud enough to reeaaallly get our attention, my first thought was that we'd blown a rear tire. No. The side panel tire pressure monitor indicated all was OK. As Doris got up to check the interior, I suggested she look in the pantry for an exploded chip bag. Sure enough, there was a bag that had exploded, and others looking mighty ready to "entertain us" if we climbed much further.
That was not to be. A minute later we crested the Sierras at Donner Pass, 7227 feet, parking at a vista point where we had a view of Donner Lake. With a spectacular vista from the front of our coach, we had our first lunch on the road. Doris's cooking is among the best, accompanied by those chips, newly released from captivity. It would be interesting to learn how chip makers prepare and ship chips everywhere, having to consider altitiude changes so that bags arrive unexploded everywhere. Same goes for ice cream. We've had 'fresh churned' (i.e. fluffed with air} do the same thing in our coach freezer. Bought at sea level, stored in the freezer, traveling with us as high as 8,000 feet, we found the top had been lifted and the ice cream coming out!
Continuing east to Reno, we turned south on US 395 and headed up the scenic route to the mining town of Virginia City. We soon found ourselves grinding up the mountain side on a narrow two lane highway, mostly without guard rails that really would serve little purpose if we inappropriately attempted to straigthen any of the numerous curves. Doris made it known that she wasn't enjoying her edge-of-the pavement/edge-of-eternity view seat. From where I sat at the controls, I said not to worry, I'm quite experienced with this driving environment. Retorted Doris, "You may be the driver with experience, but I'm the passenger with feelings!"
Serious as she was, we both found ourselves laughing so much that this exchange has become the lingua franca of the trip.
Virginia City. Mining in the 1800s, destroyed by fire in the same century. Rebuilt. Interesting history and old buildings. But ... very touristy. Ice cream, burgers, mulitiple shops selling the same old stuff; some antique shops worth viewing. We learned all about Pickle Castors, priced from $50 (knockoffs from China and India of poor workmanship) and $2,000 antiques. Nice people having a good time; challenging town to drive to and through.
Back to Reno for a night parked at the Super Walmart. for free. Shopping wasn't free as I cracked the screen of my touch screen camera. Do that and you know longer have a useable camera. Grrr. Walmarts usually allow overnight RV parking for a reason. They have the space and they know we wanderers will find the front door and cash will be siphoned from our pockets. They got a bunch from us tonight. At least Doris's prepared dinner at home was found to be far superior to the nearby fast food restaurant offerings.
