We spent a relaxing couple of days in the parking area of the track at Santa Maria. It was nice in the country, quiet and peaceful. Mostly we kicked back and ate and drank. A little bird kept pecking at the windows and mirrors on the motor home. He would peck at the window, and when Marlene shooed him away he just sat and stared. Even Ben didn't scare him.
On Tuesday we left the track, and headed back to the Flying J truck stop at Lodi, California. While stopped for a rest break at a rest area, we met a lady trucker who makes the run from Calgary to southern California every week. She has pink bunnies striped on her hub caps.
We took the opportunity to dump our tanks, and had a meal in the buffet. It wasn't bad, for $9.99. A couple of truckers were sitting behind Marlene and struck up a conversation with her. She was from New Mexico, and he was from Maine. They both were happy to tell their life's stories to Marlene!
In the morning we hit Interstate 80 and turned northeast towards Reno. But first we have to cross the Sierra Mountains, also known as the High Sierra. The highway climbs in 5% to 7% grades for miles and miles. We had the motor home down to second gear pulling up those hills! At least we were moving faster than the big semis, which were down to 20 mph on the longest grades.
At approximately 7600 ft. we arrived a the Donner Pass, named after the infamous Donner party. This was a group of families and single men heading west to get to the California gold rush. They were taking a new route that had been scouted out just before they left. The group got caught at the highest part of the route by early snow, and started to slowly starve. Eventually, several of the party cannibalized others who had succumbed to illness or starvation. When we were passing through the pass we saw 4 foot deep snow, but had lots of food on board!
After much chugging up and racing down long hills, we reached Reno, and navigated our way to the RV park at the Grand Sierra Resort. This is really little more than a big parking lot on the hotel property, but it will suit us because we have power, water, sewer, laundromat and easy access to a big casino hotel with lovely pool.
On Thursday we took the city bus downtown (for $2 each) to check out some of the casinos. First impressions: The town is suffering, there are closed down hotels, restaurants and stores, and lots of homeless types wandering around. In the casinos, there were few gamblers. We were saddened and disappointed to see how bad things are here. The big resorts like Grand Sierra and others outside the downtown area appear to be just as dead, despite being nice newer 5 star places. Of course, maybe they'd be busier if they weren't charging $40 for a steak and then an additional $3 for a potato!!
Friday we rented a car, and went grocery shopping at Safeway. We were pleased to get some nice meats, and even scored leg of lamb on sale that will do nicely on Father's Day. After unloading the groceries, we went to check out Idlewild Park. A real nice park, alongside the river, with lovely duck ponds, fountains and playground. There were some lovely flowers on display. We went back and cooked up a nice slab of ribs on the BBQ and celebrated the Sabbath. The ribs were fantastic, and went well with the rice and black beans, and carrots.
We chose to stay in Reno because we have several things to get done (cleaning the carpets, minor repairs, finding fuel for the car to cover the next few jobs, etc.) and we want to go to Lake Tahoe and Virginia City. To stay in Tahoe would cost us more than staying in Reno and renting a car for a week.
Yesterday we took our rented Toyota and drove to Virginia City. What a road! It twists and turns as you climb 6000 ft. up, to descend 2000 ft. into Virginia City. This place has been kept as close to the way it was during the mining boom here in the 1800's and it is really cool. The old buildings, some with old mine shafts in the back, are neat. And we just happened to arrive the day of their annual pet parade. We saw quite a collection of dogs, cats, burros and turtles. The lady who sang the national anthem to the accompaniment of her little dog was a favourite. We stopped into a leather shop, and Marlene got herself a real bargain: A leather jacket and purse for $40. We also got a new Mexican style blanket for the couch.
Today we went downtown again for a car show. They've had a whole 60's and 70's revival thing going here all weekend, and we wanted to see the cars. There were some nice ones, but not very many. We've seen bigger car shows in Redwater! Marlene insisted on buying me a shirt emblazoned with flames. Guess she's getting into this jet car thing!! After the car show, Marlene went to do more laundry (5 loads so far) and I went and rented a Rug Doctor to clean the carpets in the motor home. We'll clean the rugs tonight, so they get a chance to dry overnight.
After doing the chores, we went to see another couple of casinos, one of which turned out to be closed down. We went to a little Mexican restaurant and had a couple of pints of nice beer ("Fat Tire") each, as well as a calamari steak appetizer and a chimalinga appetizer. The food was very good, and came with a free basket of nachos and salsa. Total cost: $25, which pleased Marlene greatly!
Tomorrow we plan to drive around lake Tahoe, about 75 miles, and see the sights. Stay tuned...
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