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20050527 Minden NV 53/89 Picture Link
We ran the 101 miles to the Silver City RV Resort in Minden, Nevada, easily. The resort is actually on the south side of Carson City.
The resort is a huge place with concrete runners for the camper wheels and good gravel inbetween. Towed cars or towing trucks are invited to park on the gravel next to the camper. Very nice store (with about five electronic slot machines) with good wine and beer selection as well as camper necessities. Nice large TV/game room, good laundry, and so forth. A little pricey, but.... We set up the trailer using the tripod again and found it level and steady.
We went out to lunch and the fun began. Walking into Wendy's, we heard a woman scream, "Get away from me!!". We could see her pushed over to the middle of her pickup by a man almost in the truck with her, looking as though he was talking to her.
We went in and got the manager, who looked for a second and called 911 from a payphone on the outside wall. In a few minutes the guy (maybe he saw the gathering crowd) eased back and let the lady back out and go away as he got into his old Tercel and left.
He hadn't been gone more than a minute when the sheriff's deputies arrived, lights and siren. I gave the deputies the license plate numbers and descriptions of both vehicles. They asked me to fill out an incident report, which I did while eating. Then they asked a few more questions (descriptions, etc.) and thanked us for our help. I hope those people's problem gets resolved without violence.
Gray Chevy Silverado pickup (Nevada 932NCG), and cream or yellow Toyota Tercel (Nevada 726RAC), just to note this here in case I have to refer to it later.
We got groceries at an Albertson's and brought them home to put away. Then we got onto the internet using the local phone number and our phone connection in the trailer (these folks have a weird pricing system for wi-fi oriented to monthly users - those who stay here for months at a time).
Later, I went out to get a serpentine belt for the truck - the current one has more cracking than I like. I got it at the local Dodge dealer, then checked prices for travel trailer tires at Les Schwabs (hmmm..), then got the truck washed. Then I checked out a JiffyLube for transmission flushing - they do it, so maybe I'll run over here tomorrow.
Now its 5pm, so we'll watch the early news. Then we plan on grilling steaks outdoors, nuking potatoes indoors, and eating either indoors or outdoors depending on the temperature and breeze outside.
Tonight will be reading and internet.
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20050528 Minden NV 51/84 Picture Link
We departed right after breakfast for Virginia City, Nevada, a famous mining town (Gold first, then silver) northeast of Carson City. One road up to Virginia City has a good grade and winds all over the hills; the other has a long 15% gradient.
The streets in Virginia City ran level along the length of Sun Mountain and were lettered "A", "B", etc. "C" Street was the main street. Cross-streets were named and were very steep as they went up or down the mountain. A joke was that it was the only place you could fall off the street.
Gold was discovered here in the 1850's but not much came of it. Finally, the miners worked their way up the valley and up the mountain and found a tremendous silver strike around 1862. At one point there were 130 active mine shafts sending ore to the surface. In 2004 dollars, some $4 to $5 billion was shipped from here.
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) started his career as a journalist for the Virginia City Enterprise newspaper and remained here a couple years before moving upward and onward.
The entire town is a historical district, the largest in the US.
The Virginia & Truckee railroad ran from Virginia City to Carson City and thence to Reno. Another branch went to Minden. The last run on this railroad took place in 1950. Now, about three miles have been restored to operation going downhill from Virginia City to Gold Hill. Even this short trip is very interesting. You can see mineshafts all over the place.
We parked and then walked "C" Street, looking in shops and reading plaques. There are lots of tourist-money separators in this place. Then we noticed people sitting facing the street. We asked and found out the Memorial Day parade would start at noon. We picked a place to watch.
The grand marshals were older decorated veterans, mainly from WWII. They were well applauded. Old cars carried the dignataries. Several organizations riding horses participated. One tour bus was right smack in the middle of the parade because he made a wrong turn and then couldn't get off "C" street. The feature I liked most in the parade was Beauregard the Driving Dog. Beauregard is a large retriever who sat behind the wheel of a Model A Ford and looked for all the world like he was driving it. The guy seated next to Beauregard kept him happy with nibblets while they drove along.
After the parade, we had lunch in the Palace Saloon. Sandwiches were good and the Moose Drool beer was outstanding.
We drove to the other end of town and back to get a few more pictures, then went down the 15% grade out of town. We stopped at Walmart so Dolores could replace a pair of shorts that found a greasy thing somewhere, and at Best Buy for a DVD.
Dolores found a church to fulfill her obligation so I took her there and left her while I scouted the area. I didn't feel dressed right for it. I found a Mexican place for a light dinner after church, after which we returned to the little house and settled in.
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20050529 Minden NV 47/71 Much cooler Picture Link
On the advice of locals, we took off early to look at Lake Tahoe. We went west on US-50, passed 5,000', passed 6,000', passed 7,000, and went over the pass into the Tahoe Basin. We went north on NV-28 to look at the North Shore first.
The Nevada side of the north shore contains a lot of little parks and viewpoints. D took a mess of pictures, many of which we deleted later as duplicates. We found a viewpoint up the road to Reno and took pictures there for the distance shots.
Continuing into California you see the beautiful lakeshore homes. As the local wag put it, this is where the millionaire's homes were ripped out to build billionaire's homes. It's very nice here in the pines. But the usual Wendy's, Staples, and other chains mar the scene.
We dropped off the round-the-lake-loop to go down the Truckee River to Truckee. It's a beautiful river and not too bad a road (at least in summer). We passed the turnoff for Squaw Valley, site of the winter Olympics years ago.
At Truckee, we turned west onto Donner Pass Road, which happens to be old US-40. We stopped at the memorial to the Donner party who wintered over there in the snow (or died, or died and were eaten). You could think of it as a monument to stupidity, since they started their journey over the pass far too late in the season, but most think of it as a monument to human endurance.
We came to Donner Lake and kept going west and gaining altitude. At one turnout, we took pictures. Then we noticed an Amtrak train going into a snowshed (shed over the tracks to let snowslides go over the tracks rather than bury them). Took pictures of it coming out.
We kept going west on old US-40, up and up, constantly turning. We finally reached a very fancy curved concrete bridge, and then the summit. We turned back to a turnout and took more pictures of Donner Lake and the road up.
We saw some rock-climbers on our way up, and a four-wheeler convention at the entry to an unused snowshed, and lots of hikers.
We went down and back to the Tahoe loop, continuing down the west shore. It's nice and probably really nice to live there, but you can't see much of the lake due to the private property. We went around Emerald Bay at the southwest end of the lake, which is absolutely beautiful. But by this time, a third of the population of Sacremento and part of the inhabitants of the Bay area had arrived. It was impossible to get a parking place to walk out and take pictures.
We continued to where the west shore road connects with US-50 and turns east to go to Carson City. Soon we arrived at the Nevada border. That's where the traffic became incredible. Four-lane street, casinos on both sides (Harrah's, etc.), wall-to-wall traffic. Finally we broke out of it some distance east of the Nevada line.
Then we just kept going over the pass and back toward the campground. We stopped at Walmart to get bread and came back to the little house in mid-afternoon for a late lunch. We didn't stop for lunch when we should have (north shore) and weren't about to stop later (south shore).
After lunch, we loafed for a bit, then I looked at the propane tank levels. One was just about empty, so I got that refilled and refueled the truck. Even later, we decided to do the laundry so we got that out of the way. We re-arranged where each of us stores folding clothes after an observation that neither of us had everything in one room.
Now we're going to snack and nibble and watch TV and read.
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20050530 Minden NV (actually closer to Carson City) 54/82 Picture Link
We decided to just take a small ride today - then it wound up being over 100 miles.
First, we went back to Virginia City, going up the steep road. We cruised through town on the main drag (C Street) and kept going on NV-341 over the hills to the north, via Lousetown (or where it once was). These hills are really barren - just a few ponderosa pines to an acre with nearly no grass.
Then over Geiger Pass and down into the valley via a very winding and steep road.
We drove into Reno on freeway US-395, turned off onto I-80 and got off at Virginia Street, the heart of downtown Reno. We drove south and passed under the sign that decrees, "Reno - the biggest little city in the world". We took some pictures of casinos as we passed - there are dozens. I suppose the most known casinos are Harrah's and the Nugget.
We got back to the freeway and took it to its end at NV-431, which goes up over Mount Rose Pass (8900'). We followed it (not a bad road, open all year) up and up, finally getting to the snow at about 8,000' and finding a lot of people playing in the snow in a rec area just past the summit.
Then down and down to the loop road around the lake. We went over to the California side of the north shore and stopped for a late breakfast. Dolores had crab cakes benedict and I had blackend baby shrimp omelet. Both good.
Then back around the shore to the side facing Carson City, over the hill and back to the little house (after a stop at Border's) about 3pm.
Since then we've read and done computer chores. Early to bed tonight, we're off for Oregon in the morning.
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